Story Telling and Set Building

Heather Harvey
Track: Specialty & Technique

At a Glance

• Turn an idea into a meaningful portrait by using emotion, symbolism, and intentional storytelling.
• Design and build dimensional sets from affordable materials.
• Use lighting creatively to build mood, guide the viewer’s eye, and strengthen the story.
• Plan wardrobe, color, props, and composition so every element supports the final image.
• Gain the confidence to create storytelling portraits that feel personal and purposeful.

Class Description

Great images don’t happen by accident, they’re designed, built, and executed with intention.

This immersive five-day class is for photographers at every level who are ready to move beyond the technical and step fully into their creative vision.

If you have ever looked at a stunning fine art portrait and wondered how… “how did they build that, how did they think of that, how does every element feel so intentional”… this week is your answer.

Through a guided journey of concept development, set building, wardrobe styling, lighting, color theory, and Photoshop, you will learn to approach every image the way an art director would — with a story at the center of every decision. Powerful images start with a powerful idea.

You will learn how to develop a strong concept, build a visual narrative, and make intentional creative choices before you ever pick up a camera. From there, we move into the physical build, constructing backdrops and sets from raw materials that transform into rich, believable environments.

You will explore wardrobe as a storytelling tool, learning how fabric, texture, and color work together to deepen the narrative your set already begins to tell. Lighting is explored with a theatrical mindset, not just to illuminate your subject, but to craft the mood, dimension, and atmosphere.

You will learn to see light the way painters do, using it to guide the eye, evoke emotion, and give your images a cinematic quality that’s impossible for clients to ignore. Color theory runs through every layer of the week, from the palette choices you make when building your set, to the way you style wardrobe, to the tones you pull in post.

You will develop a deeper understanding of how color creates feeling, and how to use it deliberately to make your images resonate on an emotional level. And in Photoshop, you will discover how post-processing becomes the final creative layer, not a correction tool, but a place where your full vision comes together and your images reach their highest potential.

This is a week of creative thinking, building, and seeing differently. It’s for the photographer who is ready to start creating the right moment.

• CLASS INTENSITY: Blue
• CLASS BREAKDOWN
  Classroom instruction & demos: 30%
  Hands-on: 60%
  Post-production: 10%
  • PREREQUISITES:
    Lighting 1: All Levels 
    Post-Production 1: All Levels

What do these mean? Learn More