Everyone loves a good candid photo. Everyone. Well, unless they are making a funny or awkward face, but assuming that it’s a nice capture – we all love candid photos! The problem though, is actually getting the candid photos – especially when your subjects are more than aware you are there taking photos and having…
For most of us, when first starting our photography businesses, we aren’t too picky about exactly “who” our clients are. Rightfully so, in the beginning, we are focused primarily on building our portfolio, gaining experience and making some money to help offset the costs of our new and often growing collection of equipment. That’s totally…
Having the latest and greatest camera or most expensive lens won’t make you a great photographer. It takes knowledge, creativity and motivation to excel at photography. However, there are certainly equipment and tools that are available for you that can drastically help make your job a bit easier. Today I am going to share with…
[fusion_text] Ordinary to Luxury is Now Only One Click Away! The Endless Elegance Lightroom Film Presets Collection “Cole’s film presets will open your eyes and provide you a new perspective on film style photography. His presets gave my photographs a nice soft classic feel, yet with a modern flair. What I love most though is how…
Let’s face it, it’s often a sigh of relief when we arrive at our photo location and it’s a photographers paradise, right? We instantly know that our job is going to be just a tad bit easier given our “location perfection.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way and it is our job, as…
Summer is here and with the USA’s 4th of July/Independence Day just about upon us, I wanted to share with you some quick tips on how to photograph fireworks. By the end of this tutorial, you will have the preparation needed to bring your camera along with you for the fireworks celebration and actually be…
We may all be photographers now, but most of us come from very different backgrounds before getting ourselves into this crazy business. As I have discussed in detail in many of my other business or photography pricing tutorials, being a photographer today is no easy task. Why? Because everyone is doing it. It’s simple as…
Once you are in ready to import your photos in Lightroom you will see a panel in the upper right hand side titled – “file handling”. Understandting what the heck the different file handing options are can be a bit confusing so I am going to break it all down for you in a quick…
I don’t want you to be like me. You see, despite always being a raving fan of Adobe Lightroom, I only was familiar with my normal routine within the program. I knew what I knew (and very well at that) but there is so much more to Lightroom that I didn’t even know about for…
What Is The Exposure Triangle? Switching the camera mode dial from auto to any non-auto mode is a nice start, but to truly be a proficient photographer who must truly understand the exposure triangle, is tough. This exposure triangle is simply the relationship between three elements: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. These three components work…
Earlier in the week I was asked by a loyal Cole’s Classroom subscriber if I had any guidance on the best “camera settings” for sunset photos. While I did give some guidance and suggestions, the key to taking great sunset photos is more involved that you might think. So today I am going to share…
It’s been about nine weeks since I got dumped, and duped. I have never ever felt so betrayed, taken, mistreated and robbed. Robbed from the months of time and hard work I invested, robbed from my dollars spent and robbed emotionally. Nine weeks ago, I wasn’t ready to share my story. I was too angry…
When you need to go wide, you need to go wide! While I managed to photograph over 47 weddings with only 3 prime lenses (the 28, 50 and 85) I decided that I want to add a couple lenses to our collection that would add versatility to our clients’ wedding photos. In addition to adding…
Many photographers struggle with how to consistently get sharp photos within each and every photo shoot. I was once one of those photographers too. Sometimes I’d get an awesome winner and other times the photos wouldn’t be as sharp as I’d expect, or want. Once I “cracked to code” and figured out exactly what to…
Not all shadows are created equal. There are good shadows and there are bad or even….horrendous shadows that can make or break our photos. But which are the good ones and which are the bad ones? After reading this quick post you will know exactly the how to utilize shadows to add a lot of…
If you are like me at all, when first learning the fundamentals of photography, your main objective is to learn to take photos the “right way”. Intriguing composition. Perfect exposure. The right amount of depth of field and I can go on and on and on….but those are just rules, and as artists, shouldn’t we…