It was another beautiful early summer morning over here at the new aperture academy location. And today Elle and I are getting ready to teach Perfect Portraits and Post workshop, double checking that we have all the batteries charged, power point up and running, and most important- coffee cups full!

A little after eight thirty the student began to pour in to the lobby, many of them had never been to this location and were walking around wide eyed looking over the large, but beautiful landscape photography from Stephen Oachs. I introduce my self and Elle catches up with some of the students who have had previous workshops with her. And as the last student arrives just before nine a.m. we head into the new class room to begin the introductions and power point.

Introductions were made, exposure triangles we talked about, and the tuff questions begin to flow, but as always Elle and I had a blast walking them through each and every question the student may have had from best digital ISO to use while photographing portraits inside, to the always tuff questions about camera bodies, and the “perfect,” portrait lens for the common portrait. I mentioned that my favorite is the Canon 85mm prime lens. There are several lenses that work well for portraits; Elle the other Aperture Academy instructor mentioned the Canon 70-200 F2.8L lens that she uses. The great part about this class is that there are basic portrait photography concepts that we teach, and from those ideas and guidelines, you can make your choice on the portrait lens that works for you.

Finishing up in the classroom section of aperture academies perfect portrait and post class. We head outside. The models ready, the sunshine shining bright, and the cameras come out and the fun begins. We start out with now applying the principles just taught in earlier section of the PPP Class at aperture academy, starting out with choosing the right aperture for portraits. Aperture is the first part of the exposure triangle. Once we get our cameras dialed in, and we now start working with directing the models. Breaking off into two groups, I take five students, and the Elle takes five and the two models go one with each group. We spend the rest of the morning shooting in various lighting conditions, and moving and adjusting the model in the best way to the light. And before we knew it we had to break for lunch, but before we did that we do the ever-famous Aperture Academy group shot. These are so fun, and Elle has this great saying, F8 and be there! Talking about our group shot. After that silliness, we send the students out for lunch while we get ready for the last part of Perfect Portraits and Post aperture academy class.

Post, my personal favorite part of the PPP class. As the lunch break ends and we finish uploading the memory cards to the computes and the Post Production begins. In the Perfect Portraits and Post class at Aperture Academy, we use Adobe Light Room for the postproduction. And I find it the right about of control for what our editing needs are for portraits. This section concludes our day.

From everyone here at Aperture Academy, thank you for joining here in the Silicon Valley.

Until next time,
Ellie, Ajay and the rest of the Aperture Academy team!

If you'd like to join us at one of our workshops, you can find the schedule/sign up here.