Step #4: Choose a Road

Okay folks, steps 1-3 of your on-boarding was mostly about getting you in the car with our SPS Community. Now you need to drive it somewhere!

The only question: where?

If you don't have a clear destination, things can get pretty overwhelming pretty quickly. We've ALL been there! So don't feel weird if that's you. But PRETTY PLEASE let us help!

The first way we can help is to offer up some suggestions on which road to head down first. We've helped thousands down these roads before, so if you trust us, we think you'll make great progress and have fun in the process.

That said, let's just keep it simple and choose 1 of 3 roads.

Road #1: The Photo Fix

If you are new to photography, there's no better place to start than with The Photo Fix course. Period.

The Photo Fix is actually how Shultz Photo School started. In fact, the Photo Fix was just called "Shultz Photo School" at first. It wasn't until Kyle realized he actually should create some more courses and programs that SPS became the "brand" and that original course was renamed "The Photo Fix."

All that to say, the Photo Fix is all about helping parents take better pics of their kids. You might be thinking, "hmmm, I don't have kids, maybe I should start somewhere else?"

But here's the deal, IF you're wanting to learn photography concepts like:

  • Basic composition techniques for portraits (rule of thirds, leading lines, negative space, drawing the eye to the subject)
  • Mastering the fundamentals of natural light, including shooting outdoors, using reflected light, and window light
  • Shooting in manual exposure mode
  • Understanding your camera (shooting modes, focus modes, white balance, etc.
  • And even the basics of photo editing in Adobe Lightroom...

The Photo Fix covers this all!

Even better, The Photo Fix covers this all in a step-by-step format that has been proven by 10,000 Photo Fixers to just flat out WORK.

Even better (just keeps getting better I guess), The Photo Fix IS YOUR SHORTCUT to learning the basic, timeless aspects of photography. We think it's the most efficient "photography 101" course on the internet, truth be told. Because we designed it for busy parents, there's just no fluff. Kyle ruthlessly eliminated all non-essential stuff that would just clutter progress and get in the way of completing the course.

The result: the Photo Fix teaches ONLY the 20% of photography concepts that make 80% of the difference towards mastering photography.

So. Even if you don't have kids, but you're new to photography, start with the Photo Fix.

Road #2: The Lightroom Fix

Once you know how to create great images in camera, the next thing that will have the absolute BIGGEST impact on the quality of your photography is, hands down, photo editing.

If you feel like your images are good but there's just something missing, trust us: IT'S EDITING! Quality editing just makes a night and day difference to any photo. No other way to say it.

And as of now, Adobe Lightroom is still the tool of choice for enthusiasts and seasoned pro's alike.

Lightroom can be a love-hate relationship for a handful of reasons, but at the end of the day there's no other program that offers such an incredible combination of power and ease. IF you take the time to learn even the basics of Lightroom, it can be a game changer for your photography.

Furthermore, if you have a business or you're shooting any kind of volume at all, learning Lightroom is absolutely critical for your success because of the TIME it will save you (think batch editing).

For these reasons and more, if you've completed the Photo Fix (or know for certain it's all review) and you don't have a firm grip on your editing style nor process, then start with the Lightroom Fix!

Road #3: A Topical Mini Course

If you have a firm grip on Photo Fix material (composition, natural light, shooting in manual mode) and you're comfortable with editing (The Lightroom Fix), now it's time to start specializing on specific topics!

We have a variety of mini courses available to choose from and we add a new mini course every single month!

Don't know which one to start? Maybe try Love Your Light or Backlight. These two topics are sure to up your game!

Road #4: The Caravan

As you may already know, we cover a new topic / photography theme every single month. And we do this with YOUR input via polls, live casts, interviews, and the Facebook Group in general. At the end of the month, we package it all together in a "mini course" of sorts for easy reference down the road.

So basically, during any given month, there's already a couple hundred folks on the road of the current month's theme. The more folks jump in and travel this road together, the better!

Seriously though, please jump in the current month's theme! 🙏👊🙌

  • Check out the photo prompts and submit your image so we can make our weekly magazine beautiful with your images!
  • Ask questions so we can answer them (for everyone).
  • And show up to our live casts and interviews.

The more you give, the more you get! True in life...and also in SPS. 😊

2 roads at once?

Finally, it's possible that the road you start with involves more than one.

Hey if you're in a season of life where you can eat the whole buffet, more power to you!

That said, we've found the 9 out of 10 folks go further by completing one road trip (course) before starting the next one. Otherwise you're always driving but never arriving to your destination.

So we suggest starting a course, finishing it, and moving to the next one.

BUT WITH ONE VERY IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: THE CURRENT MONTH'S THEME.

Because the current month's theme has a few hundred other active participants on average, this "power in numbers" factor is a MAJOR trump card!

Few things accelerate growth like community. So when a few hundred others are focusing on a topic over an extended time (month), asking questions, showing (gorgeous) images related to the topic, helping others through their struggles with the topic...you can quickly see why you need to be on this road!

So we highly encourage you to be active with the current month's theme and chisel away at just one other course at a time! Or if you're a brand newbie to photography, hammer out the Photo Fix, then move forward with one foot always in the monthly theme!

Complete and Continue