Understanding light is probably the most important skill a photographer needs to learn and it’s also one of the hardest concepts to really master. Swedish light shaping giant Profoto understands this, and wants to give photographers of all levels the opportunity to learn about light from the masters themselves with the launch of their online Profoto Academy.
There are currently 4 different lighting series each featuring a different master photographer to choose from:
- Fashion Lighting w/ Lindsay Adler
- Wedding Photography w/ Yervant
- Family Portraits w/ Sandy Puc’
- Professional Portraits w/ Hannah Couzens
And within each of these series, there are 3 different 60 minute videos that make up the course content.
Potential students have the option to either purchase each series as a whole, or, to purchase individual classes within each series.
The full course packages are the better deal and will cost you between $269 – $329 CDN while individual classes are priced at $89 CDN each.
So what do you get for that?
- Short, focused online light shaping courses up to 1 hour
- Scenario-based teaching with real life photographic shoots
- Practical step-by-step PDF guides with useful tips to take away
- Personal feedback directly from one of our leading photography instructors
- Unlimited access forever to all your courses from any online device
- Profoto Academy certificate on completion
- Full refund if you’re not satisfied
How it works
Profoto knows that not everyone has access to their lighting systems and has designed the courses so that students can follow along and use their own existing lighting set-ups, Profoto or otherwise.
At the end of each series, students will be able to take a “photography challenge”, receive personal feedback from “a leading photography instructor” and apply to become a Profoto Certified Image Creator.
Certification process
According to the Profoto Academy website the process to becoming certified looks pretty straight forward.
- Enroll in a series: A series consists of three or four courses from the same photographer. Each course is up to 1 hour long and includes real life shoots. As you watch all the courses, pay attention to the content and answer the in-course quizzes.
- Download the PDF Guide: After each course, you get a free, step-by-step PDF guide to take away. It offers lots of useful tips, so you can apply what you’ve learned.
- Take the photo challenge: Once you’ve completed all courses in the series, you just have one final task – your photo challenge. This is a chance to show us what you can do. Simply download your assignment, follow the instructions and start creating your magic.
- Submit your image: When your image is ready, simply send it to us for review and assessment, along with the form. Then wait for our feedback.
Once you have completed the above steps, your image will be assessed and you will be provided with personalized feedback letting you know the strengths and weaknesses of the image and your score out of a potential 100 points.
A successful image needs at least 60 points to pass and if it does, you will receive your certificate. If it doesn’t pass the first time, you have the opportunity to resubmit an improved image by following the feedback provided.
Want more information? Click here to visit the Profoto Academy website