Review of “Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes: Your Guide to Today’s Most Popular Lighting Techniques”

– A guest review by Brian D. Reed

If you were to ask a photographer the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the name Scott Kelby, the response most of the time will be Photoshop. This is because Scott Kelby is, in the opinion of the author as well as many others, the world’s foremost expert on Adobe Photoshop. He is the gentleman that a lot of photographers turn to for tutorials or learning how to create certain looks to their images once the frames have been captured. Scott Kelby, again in the opinion of the author, is the best source of information and the first this author turns to.

What may not be known to many photographers is that Scott Kelby is also a world-class photographer. This part of Mr. Kelby is very much over-shadowed by his knowledge and expertise with Adobe Photoshop. One could assume such a characteristic of Mr. Kelby because how else would he have such intricate knowledge to write books and articles as well as produce training videos and seminars on Photoshop.

With the Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes: Your Guide to Today’s Most Popular Lighting Techniquescombo-pack, both a DVD with 16 lessons and a book, you are taken into the world of lighting in photography. The product has been developed as a companion to Mr. Kelby’s “The Digital Photography Book” chapter entitled “Photo Recipes.” This combo-pack includes information from all three versions of the book in order to bring the viewer of the lessons as much up to date information as possible while still teaching the important materials and information. Each lesson runs approximately 8 – 10 minutes per lesson but the amount of information that is contained within each lesson is intense. If the individual listens closely enough to what Scott is doing you will pick up little “Tips of the Trade” that come only from someone who has a lot of experience in the industry. Mr. Kelby does a marvelous job of pointing out some very important tips, of course, but there are also a lot of very subtle tips if you are listening closely.

“Mr. Kelby’s Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes” is good for beginner to intermediate level photographers who are interested in learning how to use various lighting techniques. This is not to indicate that the advanced photographers cannot learn, or re-learn, some of the points that may have been forgotten over time. Some aspects may have become “second nature” to the more advanced photographers but sometimes it is good to go back and review as there may be some points that have been forgotten that can help advance your skills even further.

The combo-pack comes with a DVD with 16 lessons contained that cover various lighting techniques that are used by photographers. The book that comes in the combo-pack is a companion to the DVD in that it contains some of the highlights of the materials and information presented in the lesson. Not only are Mr. Kelby’s words put to print, but there is also a “Time Stamp” indicating where in the lesson Mr. Kelby is discussing that particular piece of information so you can skip to that section if that is what you are wanting to hear more about. The Adobe Flash Player is a bit tricky to get used to but once figured out you can skip around the lessons pretty easily.

It is the belief of the author that Mr. Kelby, by providing training of this type, has been able to pass on much more information than can ever be learned by reading his book. This is not to degrade his ability as an author whatsoever. This author has been a huge fan of Mr. Kelby’s writing style for many years and have learned quite a bit from reading his books. The video method of instruction, however, has proven to be much more useful. As it states on the back cover of the case (paragraph 4), “Best of all, Scott explains everything in simple, plain English, just like he’d tell a friend, using the same casual, conversational style that made his series of books a worldwide sensation.” Very easy to understand and you don’t get the indication that Mr. Kelby is “lecturing” you in any way but instead is talking you through each step of the process to create the “look” in camera instead of having to rely on Adobe Photoshop.

For this author, this DVD has become an invaluable resource. While this author has been doing photography for many, many, many years now (beginning at age 6) this author is just now beginning to expand the horizons into doing much more portrait photography. The lessons contained on this DVD are so simple to understand and apply the techniques shown that it has sparked an even deeper passion for portrait photography. A passion to take the techniques shown and see how can they be expanded and what are the results? By watching this DVD it is like stepping back in time to be instructed by Leonardo Da Vinci or Michelangelo or Picasso on how to properly hold the brush and perform the strokes that create the masterpieces. From the lessons contained on the DVD, a photographer, if given enough critical thinking time, can create truly wonderful pieces of work and expand their knowledge and expertise. Thus creating their own “look” to their photography that can become what Tyra Banks would call their “Signature Look.”

- By Brian D. Reed.

Scott Kelby’s book Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes: Your Guide to Today’s Most Popular Lighting Techniques is available from Peachpit – a sponsor of the Denver Photowalk Group.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Book Reviews, Guest Post, Reviews and tagged with book review, Guest Post, learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.