For the past four months I’ve been brainstorming and putting together a photography lighting and retouching workshop with Pratik of Solstice Retouch. We wanted to create something special, something that will help the emerging photographer take that next leap to become a full time professional. There are many seminars out there, but how do you know which is the right one?
Scott Kelby’s Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It Live! Review
When I heard that Scott Kelby’s Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It Live! seminar was coming to Portland, I decided to attend to compare the difference between ours and see if there’s anything we could do to improve upon. Going into this, I wondered who Kelby’s seminar was catering to and was excited to see who was going to show up. Right off the bat, I noticed that the majority of the attendees were on the mature side, probably 50 years +, although I did expected to see a lot more young photographers just starting out. This wasn’t the case.
The seminar’s outline goes like this:
10-11:15 am —Lighting and Retouching for Headshots
11:30-12:30 pm — Dramatic Lighting and Retouching Techniques
12:30-1:30 pm — Lunch
1:30-2:30 pm — Edgy Light and High Contrast Post Processing
2:45-3:45 pm — Lighting and Retouching for Fashion and Glamour
4-5 pm — Compositing: Lighting and Photoshop Techniques
I felt the course was good for a beginner, someone who’s never used strobes before, especially for the price point of $100. For an intermediate to advanced person however, the seminar is too basic and I don’t recommend it. I found myself sitting there bored most of the time, but at least Kelby kept me entertained with his jokes.
Retouching Review
The retouching is also very basic. I was shocked to see that Kelby actually uses skin blurring in one of his techniques. His defense was that it takes “4-5 hours for good skin retouching, and as a photographer you don’t get paid for that much retouching, so skin blurring will save you that much time and the image will be passable.” Well I’m here to tell you that you no longer need to make this sacrifice. My partner Pratik, came up with his own secret methods of high end skin retouching. From start to finish, I mean literally finished as in magazine print ready and I can jump in there and do my finishing touches to it, it takes only an hour. Imagine how much time and money you just saved. You can still charge the regular rates of high end retouching, without taking the same amount of time and no sacrificing of quality!
Here’s our workshop results if you missed it.
The Difference Between Scott Kelby’s Workshop And Ours
Kelby’s: 1-3 basic lighting set-ups
Quavondo’s: 1-7 light basic to advance lighting set-ups
Kelby’s: He shoots the entire time, you get no hands on
Quavondo’s: You get hands on training. You get to bring your camera and shoot the models
Kelby’s: Retouching techniques are basic
Quavondo’s: Advanced retouching techniques that will even blow the most advanced retoucher’s minds
Kelby’s: About 500 attendees
Quavondo’s: Small intimate group, 10-15 attendees, you get one on one help
Kelby’s: You walk away with brochures
Quavondo’s: You walk away with images that you can use for your portfolio
Kelby’s: The seminar is geared towards beginners
Quavondo’s: Our seminar is designed to cater to every photographer, regardless of experience, everyone walks away amazed at the amount they learn. We listened to feedback from attendees about what they wish they could have learned from other workshops, and built ours around what the public wants out of a photography workshop
Kelby’s: You watch Kelby on stage
Quavondo’s: Ours’ is a synergy of talent coming together, to share and learn collectively
Kelby’s: one day workshop
Quavondo’s: two days packed with goodies
For those who have been to both workshops, I would love to hear your take on the difference between Scott Kelby’s and ours. I really don’t think I’m being bias, so I would love to hear from you below.
I’m pretty surprised to hear that Scott Kelby’s seminar is only-watching. He’s got a whole video education empire that would seem to fill that space and it would seem much more useful to do an actual workshop where you get some hands-on practice.
I’d be interested in taking your course even if it means making the trip to Portland (I’m just north of Seattle), so keep us posted!
I’ve taken several workshops put on by Kelby Training and find that yours (I attended the retouching day) was more focused on real-world retouching, targeting the advanced retoucher, but still understandable for the novice. I really liked the fact that there were a dozen people. It was a much more personalized atmosphere and very easy to ask questions. And Pratik Naik is a wonderful teacher. I retained more of what he taught than at the other workshops that had more topics but didn’t delve as deeply into any one.
I didn’t attend The Scott Kelby workshop, but I attended the Q & Pratik workshop. I have seen a lot of Scotts videos online, and videos from his pass workshops. I didn’t go because it looked to be the same as all his other videos/tutorials. $100 is a nice price for a work shop, but with no one-on-one time, might as well buy a DVD, in my opinion. Scotts tutorials are great for beginners, they helped me get going.
The Q & Pratik workshop on the other hand was jaw dropping, but I would not recommend it for beginners.
There is a million ways to light a photograph, so the more you see and use, you can start building your arsenal. It is nice to see how the professionals light it.
The Retouching from Q & Pratik workshop is awesome, I have seen and done lots of retouching tutorials (if it uses skin blurring it is garbage lol). What Pratik teaches is awesome. If you already know the 3-5 hour high end retouching techniques, like I did, you will love this class! If you are using plugins for your retouching then this class will be mind blowing.
To sum it up:
I didn’t attend Scott Kelby’s, because I have seen a lot of his classes.
I attended Q’s and Pratik’s workshop, it was awesome, and learn stuff I have never seen before.
If you are a beginner I would recommend learning the basics from Scott Kelby, he presents the information in an easy to understand way.
If you know the basics then Q’s and Pratik’s workshop will get you to the next level.
Interesting write up, with just a little bias
I have been to Scott’s seminar and thought it was pretty good actually. Most of us can’t afford 7 lights, so his 3 light setup works pretty good for me. Also, about your comment on retouching and skin softening. Sorry, but 1 hour is still way too long for me to spend on retouching a photo. If I have 8 images to deliver to a client, that’s 8 hours of retouching that most clients won’t pay for (you have to remember, most of us are wedding and portrait shooters, not retouching for magazine covers). If you’re shooting magazine covers, then go for it. But Scott himself said he’s not aiming his retouching training at some one shooting covers, rather the wedding and portrait photographer who can’t bill for their retouching.
Thanks for your responses guys. Steve, yes my post can be seen as a tad bit bias =) only because I have my own workshop, but I truly believe that even if I didn’t have a workshop, it’d still give it the same review as an attendee. That’s why I wanted others who’ve been to mine and Kelby’s to pitch in. I understand that an hour is still long, but that’s for those who are interested in high end retouching, that includes everything. We have other techniques that will help general photographers get great skin in no time. I can edit a portrait or lifestyle image from beginning to end in 10 minutes, with the skin being perfect.