Week 9 Session: Translate the Picture Into Direction
Convert a visual reference into short instructions for place, body, action, gaze and timing, then improve them through subject feedback.
Before the session#
Bring one reference portrait that both photographer and subject like. Write the intended feeling in three words and identify one element the subject does not want copied. Prepare five directions without using “natural”, “relax”, “pose”, “look good” or “smile”.
In the session#
1. Make the shared brief#
Agree on purpose, feeling, time limit and one boundary. The subject explains what they like in the reference before the photographer explains how to make it.
2. Translate the image#
Break the reference into place, body direction, action, gaze and timing. Give one instruction, photograph the result and ask the subject to repeat the words they understood.
3. Test vague versus specific#
Use one deliberately vague prompt, then replace it with a visible action and destination. Compare the subject’s comfort, movement and expression.
4. Practise feedback#
After each sequence, name one specific thing that worked before giving the next change. Show one representative frame and agree on a single revision.
Afterwards#
Submit five final direction lines and a four-frame sequence. Annotate what each line controlled and how the subject rated its clarity and comfort.
End with one instruction you removed because it served the photographer’s idea but did not respect the shared brief.
The spec
What you bring to the session. Written so a reader can tell whether it has been met without asking you.
- the shoot begins with an agreed purpose, feeling and boundary
- each direction changes only one or two observable actions at a time
- vague phrases are rewritten as place, action, gaze or timing cues
- the subject evaluates clarity and comfort before the photographer evaluates the frame
Teaching team
- Suika Wang — tutor
- Lion Yuu — convenor