Photoshop Insider

For my last post of the year, I thought I’d take a quick look back at what has just been an amazing year of change, innovation, and growth for our industry. I’m going to focus on what’s happened in the Photoshop arena, in photography, what’s happened here in my Photoshop Insider blog, and how it’s impacted our lives (and my own work), throughout this year (which seems like it literally just flew by).

ADOBE SYSTEMS
First, the “over achiever” award for 2007 has to go to Adobe Systems. I don’t think anyone there has slept all year. Here’s why:

• In February of 2007, after four groundbreaking public Beta versions had been released, Adobe released Lightroom 1.0, and for many of us this changed the way we work with our digital photos forever. (Side note: I’m still amazed at how many people, after all this time, still think Lightroom is just a replacement for the Bridge).
• At the end of February, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen blew everybody’s mind by announcing that Adobe was developing a web-based online version of Photoshop. Also in February, Adobe relaunched Adobe magazine as a downloadable PDF, free from Adobe.
• In March of 2007, Adobe announced that for the first time in history, there will be two versions of Photoshop: Adobe Standard and Photoshop Extended. I didn’t see that one coming. Also, Adobe announced in March that over half-a-million people had downloaded the free public Beta version of Photoshop CS3.
• Then at the end of the month, Adobe had the biggest new product launch in the history of the company, with the launch of the CS3 Creative Suite, and a total of 25 new or updated applications being announced that day in New York City.
• By May of 2007, Adobe had announced that a major new update to Camera Raw (version 4.1) was coming, and it would have many of the same raw processing features as Lightroom’s Develop Module. This is bigger than it sounds.
• Also in May, Adobe announced the end of the road for Macromedia Freehand, and started the migration to Adobe Illustrator. This one I actually saw coming.
• By June of 2007, Adobe had released Lightroom 1.1 (a free update), adding significant new features, and answering the prayers of many Lightroom users around the world. Also in June, Adobe announces record revenues.
• In July, Adobe continues it’s record-breaking year of new product announcements by shipping the CS3 Production Premium Suite, and Cold Fusion 8, and they announce Captivate 3 (I’m not even sure what that does). By this time they also have a number of “Public Beta” programs running on a variety of new and soon to ship products.
• In August, Popular Photography names Lightroom as “Imaging Software of the Year”
• In September, during the Photoshop World keynote, Adobe’s John Loiacono gives a quick sneak peek at the online version of Photoshop, now dubbed “Photoshop Express.”
• Also in September, Adobe releases Lightroom 1.2 (free update), and Camera Raw 4.2, and they revealed the first ever “Photoshop Logo” and the tagline “See what’s possible.” I like the tagline, but to me, the logo looks like a cartoon bubble. Hey, that’s just me.
• September was a busy month, as Adobe also shipped Photoshop Elements 6, with an entirely new interface (which is great, by the way), and new features.
• With all these new products, and CS3 kicking butt, it’s no wonder Adobe announced record financial results in September.
• In October, Adobe was buying up more companies (like Virtual Ubiquity), and launching more products (like Flash Lite 3).
• In November, after years of leading Adobe to new heights, Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen hands the reigns over to current President and COO Shantanu Narayen (A great choice for CEO by the way, and way to go Bruce on an amazing career!)
• In December Camera Raw and Lightroom both get free updates, and Adobe continues sneaking in new little improvements in their Lightroom updates. This I love.
• Adobe ends the year reporting record quarterly and fiscal year revenue. It’s all good, baby! An amazing year all the way around. My hats off to Adobe for not resting on their laurels for even one minute.

PHOTOGRAPHY
It was a wild year in the photography business as the two major forces in digital photography, Nikon and Canon, both refreshed their high-end lines, and brought us the best digital SLR cameras ever made.

• Nikon’s D3 raised the bar by lowering noise, increasing its speed, going Full-frame, and adding amazing new features. Their D200 got a huge makeover and became the bigger, badder D300 (with a larger LCD screen, and lots of juicy features, including some from the D3 itself).
• Canon had big intros this year as well, with their amazing EOS 1D Mark III and 21-megapixel 1DS Mark III, and they took their popular 30D up a notch with their 40D, with new features and a larger LCD. Canon also intro’d the G9, which is probably best described as a point-and-shoot with features like a DSLR.
• Sony started to make some big noise in the high-end DSLR market this year, and the Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot cameras won lots of fans this year as well.

NAPP (The National Association of Photoshop Professionals)

• It was a huge year for NAPP (The Photoshop education organization that I head), as we went over the 70,000 current member mark earlier this year.
• In September, we unveiled NAPP’s H.E.L.P. system, which features hundreds of online videos, just for members, that go over every feature, every tool, and every command in Photoshop. Each video is just 60-seconds long (maximum), and cover just that one topic, making it easy to get to exactly the information users need. It’s currently in Beta 2.0, and we’ll soon release the final version, with many more videos and incorporating members ideas and suggestions.
• Photoshop User TV continued to grow in popularity around the world, and we were on location for Adobe’s CS3 launch, and got exclusive interviews with Adobe’s CEO Bruce Chizen, and Adobe’s new VP and all around genius guy John Loiacono. We also helped launched Layers TV, the weekly how-to show for Everything Adobe.
• In 2007 launched a new magazine called Darkroom (for Adobe Lightroom users) and later wound up rolling that inside Photoshop User magazine, which made Photoshop User even bigger than ever before (which makes sense, because now it’s cover two separate applications).
• Also in 2007, for the first time in our History, our Photoshop World Conference & Expo sold out in advance. It was really weird to put the “We’re sold out” sign up, but it made for an amazing event, and both our Photoshop World conferences this year (East Coast and West Coast) broke records for attendees, number of exhibitors, number of instructors, and number of sessions.
• This year we launched a nationwide one-day Lightroom Seminar Tour, that was originally scheduled for only six cities, but was such a huge hit (with as many as 800+ people showing up in some cities), that we expanded it to many more cities around the country.
• We also launched the hugely popular “Lightroom Killer Tips” weekly video podcast, and blog, hosted by our own Matt Kloskowski. (NOTE: Matt posted a “2007 History of Lightroom” today, and you can check it out right here).
• We added another way cool Photoshop guru to our in-house crew of Photoshop talent, as we brought on RC Concepcion earlier this year, and he’s already having a big impact on our training and education (he also co-hosts Layers TV with our own Photoshop Laddy, Corey Barker).
• This year we also inducted two new members into the Photoshop Hall of Fame, as we honored Adobe’s Kevin Conner, and author and trainer Andrew Rodney for their contributions to our industry.
• Video tutorials played a much bigger role in NAPP member training, and we added new videos every week to the member Web site, from our in house team of gurus, and special guest, and columnists from around our industry, as well as loads of new step-by-step tutorials and articles.
• 2007 will always be remembered as the year where our product reviews, both in the magazine and on the site, really gained maximum velocity, with more in-depth product review, video product reviews, and more emphasis in giving our members guidance as we’ve become one of the most trusted sources for product and services reviews.
• NAPP’s Executive Director Larry Becker started his weekly video NAPP News Reports, which have been a big hit with our members, and in 2007 Larry was able to negotiate more member discounts and deals than in any time in our history, and for our members, that’s big, because taking advantage of just some of these discounts can easily pay for their entire membership. Perhaps most notable was a $100 discount on Adobe Lightroom, (which just that savings alone was enough to pay for NAPP membership), but there were also special savings for upgrading to CS3 exclusively for NAPP members as well.
• We launched our 3rd annual Photoshop User Awards, with the Best of Show winner going on an all-expense paid vacation to Maui, Hawaii.
• This year we hired the world’s most highly regarded digital artist and instructor, Bert Monroy, to join NAPP’s staff full time, and since then Bert has been doing some amazing training for our magazines, our Site, and on the road with our Photoshop Creativity Tour.
• This year, for the first time ever, we were able to offer Equipment Insurance and professional liability insurance to NAPP members, through a special arrangement with insurers Hill & Usher.

The whole year was a year of “more” for NAPP members, with more training, more discounts, more features on the web site, and more communication and community.

MR. SCOTT’S WILD RIDE
2007 was a particularly busy year for me professionally, and here’s a quick recap why:

In 2007 I wrote a number of books, including:

• The Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers
• The iPhone Book
• The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers
• The iPod Book
• The Digital Photography Book, Vol. 2
• The Seven-Point-System for Photoshop CS3

I did Lightroom and Photoshop CS3 seminars in:

• New York (both Lightroom and CS3 tours)
• Boston (both)
• Atlanta
• Tampa
• Los Angeles
• Washington DC (both)
• Chicago (both)
• Honolulu, Hawaii

I taught at photo workshops in:

• Santa Fe, New Mexico
• The Great Smokey Mountains
• Glacier Nat’l Park (In Montana)
• Cape Cod
• Yosemite
• Pensacola, Florida
• Detroit, Michigan

I taught sessions at both Photoshop Worlds (in Vegas and Boston)

I taught a 2-day hands-on Lightroom workshop in Sarasota, Florida

I posted to this blog each weekday (with a few minor lameouts)

I co-hosted more than 40 episodes of Photoshop User TV

I played keyboards for Big Electric Cat, and drums for the band Phoenix

I lost over 100 lbs. on a physician’s weight loss plan of diet and exercise.

I published Photoshop User and Layers magazines

I helped launch “Kelby Training.com” which features an online subscription service for Photoshop training, where I unveiled my Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers online class.

I spent a lot of time this year learning from some really great photographers, like Moose Peterson, David Ziser, Joe McNally, Bill Fortney, Vincent Versace, Joe Glyda, and Anne Cahill.

I got to shoot NFL games from the field, National League Baseball from the 1st base dugout, and NASCAR from the pits. I had a ball!

I got to shoot in Monument Valley, The Antelope Canyon Slots, The Grand Canyon, and I hiked for hours in 112 degee desert heat to photograph “The Wave” with two of my very close friends. It rocked!

For the fourth year in a row, I got the honor of teaching the dedicated photographers of the FBI.

I got to see my Tampa Bay Bucs win their division and go to the playoffs, in a year nobody thought they had a chance. Me included.

And somehow or another I managed to take nearly a month off with my family, on vacation, or just doing nothing. I have no idea how, and I’m not sure I remember that month off, but my calendar swears it was so.

I worked a lot, shot a lot, played a lot, traveled too much, and I had just a wonderful year. I made a lot of new friends, and became more thankful for the ones that have stood by me throughout the years. I had an absolute blast with my wife and kids. Life doesn’t get much better.

That wraps up my not-really-quick but rather drawn out look back at 2007.

Thanks to everyone who reads this blogs, who has joined NAPP in the past year, who’s dropped me a line with words of encouragement and support, or just to say hi. I know that I live a very blessed life, and this year just reinforced that once again, so my sincere and humble thanks to you all for an amazing year, and for allowing me to do something I truly love for a living.

My best wishes to you all for the coming year, and may it be a year of peace, joy, happiness and prosperity to you and your family!

Happy New Year!!!!

-Scott

P.S. I’m not blogging tomorrow. That’s right, I’m starting out 2008 with a “No Blog” Tuesday.

Last night I read through all 120+ ideas you all came up with from yesterday’s post regarding my upcoming Online Portrait Retouching Class, and they were just spot on!!! There were so many angles I hadn’t thought of, and you guys totally came through for me (once again!).

Here’s what I learned:

(1) A lot of folks posted similar ideas, which is great because it means a lot of folks needed something I would have left out.
(2) A number of things that were posted were already part of my outline (which is cool), and there were others that would have been covered under my existing outline, but that may have been hard to tell with just the short descriptions I provided yesterday.
(3) Many of you are as concerned as I am about “overdoing it” when it comes to retouching. Over the past few years, when it comes to retouching, I’ve been embracing the “less is more” idea, so this class isn’t going to be an “Extreme Makeover,” but rather a collection of subtle retouches that, when they all come together, make your retouches look real (in other words; the goal is that the final photo doesn’t look at all retouched).

So, I’ll be staying away from the “Porcelain skin with super sharp eyes” look or any of that over-the-top retouching you see so often. Instead the class will focus on topics like skin smoothing while maintaining realistic detail and texture, and retouches that look natural and flattering, not fake and plastic. A special signed book goes out to Chris Joyce for her (his?) post called “Don’t lose the reality.” She/he said just what I was thinking.

(4) I also found that you asked for some retouches that I simply don’t know how to do. Well, not yet any way—but I soon will (and soon so will you).

(5) I found that you had some ideas that are really outside the confines of this class, but would make a great separate class (a lot of requests about removing, limiting, and editing backgrounds, and group shots, and shadows, lighting, posing, and more.).

The following people had ideas that I loved, and I’ve added them to my class outline. Sadly, not all of them will actually make it into the class because I have to find (in my archives), or shoot, a photo for every single technique I add to the class. And I’m not sure I can find all these people, with all these problems, and shoot them in the next few weeks. Plus, each image has to be model released, because I’m making the images downloadable for every technique, so my students can follow along using the same images.

So….we’ll see how many I can come up with, but of the following list, I’m going to at least attempt to add them all. The winning ideas (and the signed book winners) are:

• Removing Tan Lines (Richard Murray)
• Fixing gaps between teeth (Bill Chinn)
• Crooked or chipped teeth (Edwardson)
• Neck one color; makeup on face another color (Tom Vollick)
• How to remove a double chin / Five o’clock shadow (Bruno Waes)
• Removing hair over your subject’s eyes (Thomas)
• Reducing the size of ears (Joe Stone )
• Glossy look on women’s lips (Steve)
• Touching up Hair Roots (Martin E. Morris)

NOTE: The post popular ones were removing tan lines, double-chins, and reducing ear size. Touching up roots was right behind.

Also Penny gets a signed book because I really wasn’t planning on doing a skin color correction thing, but her post made me change my mind.

My humble thanks to everyone who participated, and took the time to share their ideas. I consider it an honor that I get the help and input of so many talented people like yourselves, and that you give so willingly to help make the course better for everyone. That means a lot, and it says a lot about you all, and about this community we’ve created together. My sincere thanks.

Hey, one last thing: scroll down to catch one more post from me today.

RC and Corey Barker were kind enough to have me as a guest on their very slick weekly show, “Layers TV: The how-to show for everything Adobe.” What might surprise you, is that on this week’s episode I’m showing my 10 favorite Adobe InDesign tips. Now, you might be thinking, “Scott, do you even know Adobe InDesign?” Nope. Not really. (I’m kidding, of course. I actually use InDesign every single day—have been for years, and I even co-authored the book InDesign Killer Tips, so I’m a bit of an InDesign freak at heart). Anyway, you can watch the show right online (click here to check it out).

A new episode is posted every Wednesday afternoon and these guys have loads of cool tutorials and tips on Adobe Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Flash, Acrobat, and all the other Adobe stuff we don’t cover on Photoshop User TV. It’s one of the coolest shows out there, and if you watch it once, you’ll be hooked.

Note: if you want to see how “RC and I roll,” check out the silly little clip the editor, who will almost certainly be fired by the time you read his, put at the very end, right after the credits. It’s funkalicious!

The December 31, 2007 entry deadline for the 2nd Annual Worldwide “Photoshop User Awards” competition, (produced by Photoshop User magazine, and sponsored by Peachpit Press, Imagenomic (developer’s of “Noiseware”), B&H Photo, and Layers Magazine), is right around the corner.

Remember, if you’re chosen as this year’s “Best of Show” winner, we’re sending you and a friend on a trip to beautiful Maui, Hawaii (including round-trip airfare, hotel, and daily expenses) to get you totally inspired to have your work featured as the cover art for an upcoming issue of Photoshop User magazine.

Besides the grand prize, there are also thousands of dollars in other prizes and winners in a variety of different categories. The contest is open to any Photoshop user, anywhere in the world, but you can’t win if you don’t enter, so for all the details, visit PhotoshopUserAwards.com. Don’t forget to enter by midnight on December 31, 2007.

I’m working on a new online course called “Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques with Adobe Photoshop” and I hope to have it “up live” on KelbyTraining.com in the next two weeks or so. Before I wrap it up, I hoped to get some input from you, to make sure I cover the techniques you think should be included.

First, some background: This is a class on portrait retouching, so it’s not going to cover color correction, or fixing lighting, or anything that’s not directly related to portrait retouching in Photoshop (both head shots and body sculpting). Also, there won’t be any retouching of nudie naked nakedness. In fact, there will be no nudity at all (other than my own, of course, as I usually record these in the nude. I’m kidding. You knew that, right?).

Anyway, here’s the list of individual lessons from the class, but it’s not too late to add a few more. Here we go:

• Eyes (making them larger)
• Eyes (whitening the eyes)
• Eyes (Enhancing eyes, and changing eye color)
• Eyes (Adding or enhancing makeup)
• Eyes (creating longer lashes)
• Eyes (Making them sparkle)
• Eyes (removing dark circles under, method 1)
• Eyes( removing dark circles under, method 2)
• Replacing closed eyes with open eyes
• Fixing reflections in eye glasses
• Teeth (Brightening)
• Teeth (Removing yellowing)
• Turning a frown into a smile
• Making lips fuller
• Removing Blemishes (Method 1)
• Removing Blemishes (Method 2)
• Reducing acne or freckles
• Removing wrinkles
• Reducing nose size (Method 1)
• Reducing nose size (Method 2)
• Reshaping Nose
• Smoothing Skin (basic)
• Smoothing Skin (advanced)
• Removing Hot Spots
• Sharpening skin
• Sharpening Female skin
• Making your subject look thinner overall
• Removing shirt creases and wrinkles in clothes
• Making arms and legs look thinner
• Reducing Jowels
• Adding highlights to hair
• Changing hair color
• Removing stray hair
• Digital tummy tucks
• Removing love handles
• Complete start to finish retouching Workflow 1
• Complete start to finish retouching Workflow 2

So that’s the current lesson list, but your ideas posted here on the blog can certainly have me adding to it. If I wind up using one of your suggestions in the class, you’ll get a signed copy of my upcoming book, “The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2″ and my sincere thanks for making the class better for everyone who takes it.

Thanks in advance for your input and advice. It’s most appreciated and it really makes a difference.

I’m back, baby! I had a wonderful, relaxing, fun-filled Christmas, and although I’m still somewhat in Holiday mode, I’ve got a “lite” post-Christmas update for you.

• First, I had a wonderful Christmas Eve surprise; I took a look at Amazon.com’s top selling titles for the entire Computers & Internet category, and saw that I had four of the top five bestselling books (see above), which really made me grateful to all my faithful readers who are kind enough to give my books as Holiday gifts. That’s about the best present you can give a writer like me, so my humble thanks go out to all who passed on my books to family and friends. You guys rock!
• Adobe’s own in-house Photoshop genius, Russell Preston Brown, has announced the location and theme for his 11th annual “ADIM Conference” (Art Directors Invitational Masterclass), held each year in a different location. This coming year it’s being held in sunny San Jose, California on April 30th - May 3rd, and its has a clever “Classic Movie Monsters” theme. It’s really an amazing event (ask anyone who’s been), which includes creative opportunities, events, and classes you simply can’t find anywhere else. Here’s the link to the site (the site design itself is very cool), for all the details.

• Designorati did an in-depth review of my “Photoshop 7-point-system” book and while I did flinch a bit while reading it (the reviewer Jeremy Schultz was very clear about what he didn’t like about my previous books), it’s still one of the most complete and fair reviews out there (in the end, he said “I almost never give a perfect ten, but Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 deserves it.” Click here to feel my pain (or joy, depending on how you look at things).
• OK, to wrap up this truncated version of the news, how about a little photographic and Photoshop inspiration: check out Motor Image Works site. They specialize in car photography, and putting CGI generated cars into photographic scenes, and they have a section on their site where they show a breakdown of how the images where compositing (showing just the car, just the background, added CGI elements, and the final image. Definitely worth checking out (here’s the link).
• Santa (in the form of my wife and friends), got me lots of cool photo gear for Christmas, and although I haven’t had a chance to take any of it out for a spin yet, I’m heading out with some of it later today, so hopefully I’ll have some field reviews for you by next week.

That’s it for this “Lite” version of the news. See you all tomorrow!

Before I get to my list, first I have to tell you; I am just so thrilled at the response to our launch yesterday of our subscription-based online training. The first-day’s sign-ups were beyond what any of us had even hoped for, and we’re so excited to have you all on board. It’s going to be an amazing year ahead (with lots more surprises right around the corner). Thanks to everyone who came onboard, posted comments, and showed their support. It means a lot.

Now, if you’re looking for some last-minute Holiday gifts, here’s a list of my six favorite print magazines, and you can give gift subscriptions to any of these online at their Web site (I’ll include the links for each one). Here we go (not listed in any particular order):

> Outdoor Photographer
I can’t wait to see this one in my mailbox each month, and I particularly look forward to the monthly columns from people like George Lepp, Bob Krist, Bill Hatcher, William Neill, and Frans Lanting. Great stuff for the nature, landscape, and outdoor photographer on your list. Also, lots of great info on gear for outdoor photographers and they always end each issue with a photo that makes you smile. Here’s the link.

> PDN (Photo District News)
This is for the pro photographer on your list, but anyone will enjoy the wonderful images and article on industry pros. It has a heavy lean toward advertising and commercial photography, but here’s the thing; it’s amazing photography, the magazine is very well written, beautifully laid out, and is just slick from top to bottom (with a beautiful print job as well). Here’s the link to subscribe.

> Digital Photo Pro
The newest magazine of the bunch, but it rocks. A great layout, and lots of digital photography focused content (including Photoshop and Lightroom feature stories and tutorials), make this one of my absolute favorites. Good info on gear, on printing, and I really enjoy the Misinformation column on the back page. Lots of great photography and a layout that works beautifully to show it at large sizes that really make it hard to put down. Here’s the link to subscribe.

> HOW magazine
This one is for the graphic designer/art director on your holiday list, and nobody covers this market like HOW. As you might expect, the layout is just beautiful, but not the least bit “over the top.” It’s elegant, very readable and engaging. Lots of design-business articles, and one of my favorite columns has always been their “Workspace” column, which shows the interior of some of the coolest ad agencies, design shops, and creative companies in the world. Very inspiring. Also, lots of cool stuff on Type, which I dearly love. Here’s the link to subscribe.

> Shutterbug
In the last few years, I feel that Shutterbug has really moved to the next level, and it’s one of my favorite to sit down and read as soon as it arrives, because they focus on a lot of new gear, and I just love that. Of course there’s lots of great photography and feature articles, but when it comes to gear, this one has no peer (hey, that rhymes). A great pick for the photographer on your list. Here’s the link to subscribe.

> Popular Photography
The grand-daddy of all photography magazines still shows how it got to be that, with great articles, great photography, and perhaps most of all; really great in-depth product reviews. They also have a very nice online site as well. Great writing, a touch of Photoshop training, and lots of info on gear make it one of my favorites. Here’s the link to subscribe.

There you have it; my six picks for my favorite magazines. Now, I’m sure you probably noticed that I excluded the two magazines I publish (Photoshop User and Layers Magazine), because I’m kinda (very) biased about those two, and I figured those were implied.

Have a great weekend everybody. I’m going to take Monday (Christmas Eve) and Christmas Day off to spend with my family, so it’ll be “No Blog Monday and Tuesday.” I wish you all a wonderful joy-filled Christmas, and I hope Santa brings each of you a D3 or a Mark III (hey, that rhymes, too!).

Merry Christmas!!!!!

OK, this is really, really, really big news; today we just launched a groundbreaking new online training program, featuring the best teachers on the planet, and it’s subscription-based so you get unlimited access to ALL of our online courses for an amazingly affordable price.

Here’s a Q&A with all the details:

Q. Before we get started; do I have to read all this stuff, or do you have a quick video clip that explains it all?
A. Yup, we sure do. Here’s the link.

Q. So what is subscription-based online training?
A. In the past, we’ve offered online training courses, and it was always “Pay as you go” (basically, you’d pay individually for each class you took). But now you can pay one annual subscription fee and then you have unlimited access to all our online classes.

Q. You said this is amazingly affordable. OK, how affordable is it?
A. Our annual subscription is only $199, or you can pay $19.95 a month. By contrast our online classes used to be around $70.00 each. If you took just three classes, you were already paying more than our new subscription tuition. Now, you get unlimited access, all year long, for only $199. That’s just 55¢ a day, for unlimited access to the best Photoshop and photography teachers on the planet.

Q. What if I’m a NAPP member? Do I get a discount?
A. Absolutely! You get an annual subscription for just $179 (or only $17.99 a month).

Q. How many classes do you have online right now?
A. We just launched today, and we already have 34 classes up online, right now, with more waiting in the wings (and I mean literally waiting in the wings; including some amazing new classes going up next week!)

Q. What makes you guys different?
A. We knew we had to do something really special to stand out from the other online training options, so we asked ourselves what is the single most important aspect of any online course. Is it the topics? The price? The technology? The quantity? The look? What is it? We think the single most important thing is “The teacher.” It’s who you’re learning from, and their connection with the students. It’s their passion, their knowledge, their ability to communicate and share in a way that makes sense, that’s engaging, and even fun. That’s why we built our entire program around one thing; bringing you nothing but the very best teachers on the planet. Period.

Q. So who is on your faculty?
A. Only the most gifted teachers like:

• Katrin Eismann
• Bert Monroy
• Dan Margulis
• Dave Cross
• Ben Willmore
• Matt Kloskowski
• Eddie Tapp
• John Paul Caponigro
• Terry White
• Moose Peterson
• Joe McNally
• Rich Harrington
• David Ziser
• RC Concepcion
• Fay Sirkis
• Corey Barker
• and Vincent Versace (with more announced in just the next few weeks).

They don’t all have classes up live yet, but we’re working on them all as we speak, and as soon as one of their classes is complete (they’re all doing multiple classes), we’ll open that class up to our online students.

Q. Scott, are you teaching any classes?
A. You know it! Today my “Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers” class went live and I’ve got two more classes on the way: (1) Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques, and (2) A class I’m co-hosting/moderating with photographer Andy Greenwell on “Building Your First Studio From Scratch” (which is scheduled to go live in the next 10 days).

Q. If the teacher provides files for us to practice along with, can we download them, or do we have to pay extra?
A. You get ‘em without any extra fees whatsoever. It’s part of your subscription.

Q. OK, I’m a photographer; tell me something that’s going to get me really psyched!
A. How’d you like to learn landscape photography from Moose Peterson, the man behind the renowned “Digital Landscape Workshop Series.” We flew a camera crew out on location to Montana to take you on a live landscape shoot and training workshop with Moose himself.

Q. Now you’re talking. Tell me more!
A. OK, next month we’re live on location in a beautiful church with world famous wedding photographer David Ziser, where you’ll learn the secrets of pro wedding photography. Learn from the master as David photographs the formal bride and groom shots, and you’re right there with him as he explains everything from lighting to posing to how to turn this all into profits for you.

Q. That’s what I’m talking ’bout! OK, can you give me just a little more, cause I’m getting pretty psyched?
A. This week our video crew was in the studio with Joe McNally and on location for an amazing environmental portrait shoot with a ballerina that will blow you away. Imagine learning location lighting, and professional off-camera flash techniques from the man who literally wrote the book on location lighting. During the taping our crew said (and I quote,”this one class alone is worth the entire year’s subscription”). This is just a peek at what’s already “in the can” and what’s coming in the weeks and months ahead.

Q. How ’bout spilling the beans on a cool unannounced class?
A. No sweat, cause I’ve got a killer class for ya. How about an Adobe ACE Certification “Boot Camp” class from Matt Kloskowski, the same guy who taught the live ACE Boot Camp pre-conference session at three Photoshop Worlds! That’s coming online in the next couple of weeks, too. How cool is that!

Q. Can I get a sneak peek at how it all works? How about letting me try a couple of lessons?
A. Sure, why not. Head over to the KelbyTraining site, and click the “Try it Now (Free)” link at the top. You can watch the first three lessons from any of the classes to get a sense of what we’re doing, how the player works, and stuff like that.

Q. This sounds just amazing. How do I sign up, because I want to start taking classes today?
A. I knew you’d say that (’cause I wrote it). You can sign up right now at the site, and start taking any one of our classes today. Plus, you’ll have unlimited access to all new classes as soon as they go live.

Q. Thanks for taking the time to do this Q&A. It was really helpful. It’s like you knew what I was going to ask before I even asked it.
A. It’s a gift. I have to say, I really felt a connection with you. (Or, with me. Well, you know what I mean).

So that’s it folks. You’re seeing the ground-floor launch of something that we’re very committed to, and very honored to be developing for you. I invite you to subscribe and join me and Katrin, and Dan, and Bert, Matt, Dave, Ben, Eddie, Vincent, JP, Rich, Terry, RC, Joe, Fay and the whole gang as Kelby Training brings you the very best training, from the very best teachers on the planet, with a tuition that’s affordable for every one, and every company. Here’s the link to start learning with us today.

That’s it for today. Hope to see you back here tomorrow for my Friday wrap-up. Have a great Thursday everybody!

Here’s some stuff. On Wednesday. It’s Wednesday stuff.

First, I’m really excited to announce that our show, Photoshop User TV, was named by Apple as one of their “Best of 2007 Podcasts” in the Video Podcasts category. We’re totally psyched, and our humble thanks to the Editors at iTunes for the honor of including “The Photoshop Guys” in your Editors’ Choice for 2007.

If you’re thinking of getting someone on your holiday list an HD camcorder, check out the DV Confidential blog, where Rod Harlan reveals his pick for the best HD camcorder under $1,000.

Joe McNally’s upcoming book, “The Moment It Clicks” has already created a huge buzz in the photography community with it shooting to the top of Amazon.com’s bestsellers in the photography category this week, and get this; I saw it get as high as 246 of ALL books on Amazon.com. I hope you got to watch Joe’s video (I posted a link earlier this week), but beyond that, take a moment to go back to Monday’s post and read the comments posted by people who’ve taken a class from Joe, and you’ll see exactly why it’s going to be book of the year. Our hats off to Joe for sharing his gift of teaching, and his amazing images with us all. (Here’s the link to Amazon.com to preorder yours).

The amazing Katrin Eismann has teamed up with Sean Duggan on a new book called “The Creative Digital Darkroom” (from O’Reilly Publishing) that’s being released this coming week, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. They’ve got a blog about the book with all the details, and you can check it out right here.

That’s it for today, folks. See you all tomorrow for more food and fun! (I’m not exactly sure what that means)

The day before my seminar in Honolulu a couple weeks back, I got to spend some time shooting with just a great guy and photographer; Steve Dantzig (who wrote the book, Softbox Lighting Techniques for the Professional Photographer).

Steve and I wound up as guests on the same radio show a few months back, and as our interviews crossed paths, the host introduced us to each other, and as luck would have it, I had just bought his book (which is great by the way). Anyway, Steve lives in Honoulu (lucky dog); one thing led to another, and before you knew it, Steve had invited me to go shooting with him, at a beautiful cove about 30 minutes away (he even picked me up from the airport). Long story short; we got rained out, so we wound up shooting in his studio instead, and he quickly arranged to have a local up-and-coming model (and her entourage) meet us at the studio.

Anyway, once we got the lighting set up, Steve invited me to shoot as well. I was shooting my new Nikon D300. I was swapping cards during the shoot (using one for shooting, while the other was downloading into Lightroom; I couldn’t shoot tethered because I couldn’t get Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 to work with Mac OS X Leopard, but thankfully, it now does —no problem). So, here’s the “School of Hard Knocks” lesson. When the D300 ships, by default when you take a shot, it shows up on the camera’s LCD monitor (here’s the stinger:) even if you DON’T have a memory card in the camera.

So, as you might expect, I did an entire series of shots which vanished into thin air, because I forgot to put a card in the camera (On my D200 and D2Xs, I had turned that “go ahead and shoot without a memory card” feature OFF long ago, so I couldn’t accidentally take shots without there being a card in the camera. To do this on your D300, go to the Custom Settings menu, under Controls, and change control f9 [No memory card] to Release Locked [as shown above]. This locks your shutter release if no memory card is in the camera).

Luckily, this wasn’t a paid client gig, but had it been, this could have been a really serious situation. I have no idea why Nikon choose to set up the D300 so by defaul it shoots without a memory card, but it does, so all you new D300 owners be forewarned, and learn from another one of Scott’s famous “School of Hard Knocks” lessons from the field learned the hard way.

NOTE: Don’t forget to scroll down to the next post for some tasty Tuesday News Nuggets.