How does FotoFly Academy work?
Four months short.
The curriculum is designed to be rigorous as we teach you all areas of portrait photography. Four months is the perfect balance between efficient and thorough. You'll feel stretched as you progress through each subject.
After four months, you'll feel ready. You'll have the confidence that comes from receiving formal training when most photographers are self-taught.
Materials
Every student will receive an electronic manual created by Eric. The manual is currently 617 pages and includes examples, illustrations/diagrams, video and audio. This manual will be provided on a 9th generation iPad.
You'll also receive a workbook that follows the material taught each class. That means less notes and more paying close attention. :)
Four-hour classes.
Every four hour class is designed to be impactful. Almost all classes involve a review of your assignment, discussion, demonstration and practice with live models. All types of learners will benefit from class time.
Eric will be personally teaching all classes these first two semesters. This means each class will be challenging but you'll develop quickly into a talented photographer.
Between classes, you'll have specific assignments that will generally require a subject. You'll know the assignment schedule ahead of time and can therefore reach out to your friends and neighbors who are the right age/type.
These assignments are substantial and will generally require two hours to complete. For the training to take hold, assignments should not be skipped.
Plan on assignments.
There are three options for class times:
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Monday 10:00-2:00, Wednesday 10:00-2:00, Friday 10:00-2:00.
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Tuesday 4:00-8:00, Wednesday 4:00-8:00, Saturday 10:00-2:00
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Monday 4:00-8:00, Wednesday 4:00-8:00, Friday 4:00-8:00.
There is some flexibility for bouncing between schedules but we want to keep the class sizes as balanced as possible each class.
Choose mornings or Evenings.
Location
The Academy is located inside of our working studio. We will take over half of our City location. This location is ideal for teaching in a classroom style and have the opportunity to teach outdoor lighting in the varied scenarios of downtown Salt Lake City.
55 Exchange Place
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Our Curriculum
Our curriculum is designed to empower you to immediately begin a photography business after graduating.
You will learn how to create beautiful portraits of any category of session - from newborns to seniors. This will allow you be versatile but will also help you decide if you want to specialize in one type of portrait photography. See below for the many subjects that you will be taught at FotoFly Academy:
Camera Settings
You'll have complete control over your camera. Whatever you're envisioning, you'll be able to create with this powerful tool. For example, you'll learn how to:
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Narrow your depth of field.
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Stop or show motion.
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Get everyone in the group in focus.
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Shoot in low light or sunlight.
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Use your lens to add creativity.
Master your speedlight so you can create one of a kind shots or simply a beautiful portrait in a challenging location.
Understanding how to use speedlights will help you to be a completely versatile photographer. You'll be able to create one-of-a-kind, amazing portraits in dark and dreary basement!
Speedlights
Natural Light.
Perceiving how natural light is flowing is one of the greatest abilities a portrait photographer can have. This ability allows you to create beautiful portraits in almost any situation - whether it be indoor and outdoor.
This ability is a super-power and will set you apart from most photographers. Photography is all about light and so we'll spend a while ensuring that you know how to use it.
Studio lights are powerful tools that, if used correctly, can allow the photographer to create any type of look that he or she is wanting.
You'll be fully functional with Profoto wireless lights. Profoto is the industry leader in studio light equipment. Using Profoto is the perfect instruction tool to teach you how to wield the power of studio light.
Studio Light
You'll be able to control newborns! Yes that's right! This is about the only age group where you can hold them in position and wait until they calm down. We'll teach you the poses and calming techniques that are necessary.
You'll know how to perfectly swaddle a newborn and light him or her using a flash or natural light.
Newborns
Controlling small children will be your superpower! We have a very specific, repeatable technique to motivate children to be where you want and then make them smile.
Many photographers avoid children because they feel out of control. We'll help you feel completely able whether you're photographing one or ten children at a time.
Children
Creative Composition
Composition is storytelling. Composition is one of the ways that you will set your images apart from other, basic photographers. Being able to see things differently/creatively is a skill that we'll help you develop.
You'll know how to creatively tell a story and develop a style that's uniquely yours.
Getting real expressions from every age is a very specific talent that must be learned. We've developed proven technique that works for every age.
Connecting with your subject is the foundation of bringing out an authentic, flattering expression. We'll also teach you how to initiate other expressions that are NOT a toothy grin.
Expression
Almost all photographers struggle with posing their subjects. The typical challenge is that the photographer is attempting to place people in poses that may or may not match your subject's personality. If a pose doesn't fit the person, it will always look posey.
You will learn a method of using body language to design poses. When focusing on body language rather than poses, the subject always looks natural.
Natural Posing
Seniors are incredibly fun, rewarding and challenging to photograph. Many seniors are self assured and will almost pose themselves. It's as if they can't look bad even if they tried.
However, there are other seniors who are incredibly uncomfortable and feel awkward. These seniors come with a huge opportunity for you to help them by building their self-esteem by making them look and feel their very best.
Seniors
Brides
Of course, photographing brides is a big responsibility. She'll be wearing the most important dress ahead of the most important day of her life. As the photographer, there is immense pressure to help her feel comfortable and look gorgeous.
Brides come in all shapes and sizes and photographers must be good at seeing and capturing what is beautiful about them.
Capturing a relationship in a picture is a developed skill. We will teach you how to do it.
We'll also show you how to provide a lot of variety of flattering portraits without ever being stumped about how to pose them. We have a proven formula that allows you to capture their relationships in a variety of ways that is stylish, authentic and beautifying.
Engagement
Families come in an infinite combination of sizes, ages and relationships. How can a photographer possibly know how to correctly pose all families if every one is different? We will show you how.
You’ll be able to beautify any family and show the best in each of them and capture their feelings for each other.
Families
Business Setup
We’ll walk you through the legal process of creating a business: including setting up your business license, registering with the state, setting up insurance and accounting.
We’ll also give you some tips on being effective through social media.
We will show you how to build and maintain a working website that will be an avenue to show your work and turn interested people into clients.
We will use the platform WIX - which is an industry leader in making websites for small businesses. You won't need to hire a web designer!
Website Design
With Lightroom, you'll be able to edit an entire session with hundreds of photos in 30 minutes. This is a big deal in preventing your life being taken over by editing!
For some images it may require some extra work (performing a head-swap). We will teach you how to expertly edit your images in tricky situations.