Lynda.com and Kelbyone sites

[mahfoudhhi]

Good day everyone:
I will be joining Lynda.com very soon, and I have no problem to join KelbyOne (kelbytraining previously) if I need to, in order to learn Adobe photoshop cc and Lightroom 5.0.
For those who tried one of these two sites, How much information do they provide. for example if I take photoshop for photographer in lynda.com, which is about 30 hours, will it be quite enough, or there is more to learn from other sources like books and by practicing? I will appreciate it if someone can quantify (by percentage for example) how much I will gain to be an excellent editing person ( I know it varies between a person to another)?
Any extra comments and more explanation are welcomed.
Thank you in advance.

[Colin Southern]

I think it's a bit like learning to drive a car in that you really don't start to learn until after you've got your licence and can start putting it all into practice.

A 30 hour course will be a good (and necessary) start, but one could probably do a 3 year university course on Photoshop and still not cover every aspect of it; it's just such a deep and wide program. That's not to say that you need to understand everything; at the end of the day, it's just a toolbox -- and so long as the right tools are there for you then that's all that matters.

I haven't invested much time with Lynda.com, but I have with Kelby et al -- and I think you'll find that Kelby & co probably have shorter and more specific training eg portrait retouching or compositing etc.

With Photoshop it doesn't so much matter where you start so long as you start somewhere and then go from there. If one forever equivocates about where to start one may well still be nowhere further along after 6 months.

[mknittle]

"With Photoshop it doesn't so much matter where you start so long as you start somewhere and then go from there. If one forever equivocates about where to start one may well still be nowhere further along after 6 months".


This applies to most everything in life really. very wise words.

[Manfred M]

Hafedh - I have using both of these sites for some time now. I've subscribed to Lynda.com for about 3 years and have been on Kelby for about a year.

Both have different target audiences and users will get different use out of each site.

If you are planning to concentrate on photography, including post-processing; I would suggest Kelby over Lynda. Scott Kelby has engaged some world-class photographers to produce the training materials, and watching and listening to these masters discuss how they work is really wonderful. That being said, while the site suggests it caters to photographers at all levels, I find that the material is really more suitable for the intermediate to advanced photographer. There is definitely an extension into video as well.

Lynda.com is a more generic training site and covers material well beyound pure photography and covers the whole of graphic arts; from design, production of print and websites, video shooting and editing, eBooks, etc. The material covers a much wider range. As an example; KelbyOne has a nice section on creating a Blurb book using Lightroom. Lynda.com goes into the nitty-gritty of using InDesign for the same purpose. I use InDesign, so that material is far more to my liking.

While they do have some well known photographers (Douglas Kirkland is probably the most well known), and they are good (at least as good as Scott Kelby), they are not the calibre of Joe McNally, Jay Meisel, Frank Doorhof, etc.

If you are in the beginner to intermediate range on the experience curve, you might fine Lynda.com more useful. If you are in the intermediate to advanced, you will definitely get more out of Kelby.

[mahfoudhhi]

Colin, Mark, Manfred: Thank you very much for your valuable input. I really appreciate the rich info. you provided. Thank you very much indeed.
Manfred: I am willing to join Lynda.com for everything including programming and some other software in addition to Management courses and so on. However I still need to join Kelby for photoshop and lightroom in addition to the most important part in which I am interested (Studio portrait photography).
I have another question Manfred; I am joining Lynda.com for a year. do I need to join Kelby for a year too (if they keep posting good new videos between time to time?), or a month to 3 months will be enough to cover what I need?

[Colin Southern]

"With Photoshop it doesn't so much matter where you start so long as you start somewhere and then go from there. If one forever equivocates about where to start one may well still be nowhere further along after 6 months".


This applies to most everything in life really. very wise words.

Thanks

Could you please do us poor & over-worked admin folks a favour though ...

When you want to quote someone, please don't just put it in speech marks like you have - wrap it with quote tags eg, put

[ q u o t e ] at the beginning and [ / q u o t e ] at the end (without the spaces)

so it appears like this

Many thanks!

[Colin Southern]

Colin, Mark, Manfred: Thank you very much for your valuable input. I really appreciate the rich info. you provided. Thank you very much indeed.
Manfred: I am willing to join Lynda.com for everything including programming and some other software in addition to Management courses and so on. However I still need to join Kelby for photoshop and lightroom in addition to the most important part in which I am interested (Studio portrait photography).
I have another question Manfred; I am joining Lynda.com for a year. do I need to join Kelby for a year too (if they keep posting good new videos between time to time?), or a month to 3 months will be enough to cover what I need?

Kelby is subscription based - so you lose access to the content when your subscription expires. But to answer the question, I've been seriously impressed with the frequency in which they post new content (as Scott himself says, "if you don't feed the monster it dies".

At the moment we're enjoying watching teenage golf sensation Lydia Ko venture into the world of professional golf at the tender age of 16. This kid is good - and in the past has even beaten many professionals - and so it was somewhat surprising to learn than she and all other professionals still have coaches. Same with photography; what's the point of spending thousands on cameras, lenses, tripods, flashes, computers, software etc if the photographer is going to remain the weakest link through lack of constant training.

Photography training isn't a destination - it's a life-long journey of learning

[Mike Buckley]

I have never used Lynda.com or KelbyOne. However,...

or there is more to learn from other sources like books and by practicing?

Regardless of your teaching source, practice, practice and more practice will be necessary. Ironically, the more you learn from whatever teaching source, the more you'll have to practice to gain command of it and then to maintain it.

[Manfred M]

I have another question Manfred; I am joining Lynda.com for a year. do I need to join Kelby for a year too (if they keep posting good new videos between time to time?), or a month to 3 months will be enough to cover what I need?

Lynda.com adds more content than Kelby does, but then much of it is of no interest to me. What I would suggest you do is take a 1 month subscription of each and see what you think, before committing yourself longer term.

Some of Kelby's content is interviews with some of the photographers. I find some of these interesting, while the others put me to sleep.

[mknittle]

Thanks

Could you please do us poor & over-worked admin folks a favour though ...

When you want to quote someone, please don't just put it in speech marks like you have - wrap it with quote tags eg, put

[ q u o t e ] at the beginning and [ / q u o t e ] at the end (without the spaces)



Many thanks!

OK I will do that in the future.

[rpcrowe]

There is a plethora of free tutorials on Photoshop and Lightroom available on YouTube. I like short tutorials aimed at a certain facet of these editing programs.

I am much involved lately with both NIK Software Suite and Perfect Photo Suite. There are wonderful tutorials sponsored by both NIK and OnOne (the developers of Perfect Photo Site) on YouTube.

I find that I can learn just about anything from how to install a sink faucet to how to work with layers by watching a YouTube video.

There are lots of pure entertainment YouTube videos. I am a military buff and have just viewed a neat YouTube video of the Bristol Beaufighter's role in the Pacific, flown by the Royal Australian Air Force.

[chauncey]

Kelby and lynda.com are both paid subscription services of which I have used, both have pros and cons, but, do not overlook free Adobe stuff...http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-photoshop-cc/

[mahfoudhhi]

Thank you very much all gentlemen. all your inputs were very informative to me.
I appreciate it.

[Manfred M]

There is a plethora of free tutorials on Photoshop and Lightroom available on YouTube. I like short tutorials aimed at a certain facet of these editing programs..

The main issue with some of the material on YouTube is that it is of variable quality; yes there is some great stuff out there, but I have also seen enough material that is factually incorrect. Some of the stuff that is factually correct is presented in such a badly produced / incomprehensible manner that it is next to useless.

At least the material on Kelby and Lynda do meet certain quality standards.

[Colin Southern]

The main issue with some of the material on YouTube is that it is of variable quality; yes there is some great stuff out there, but I have also seen enough material that is factually incorrect. Some of the stuff that is factually correct is presented in such a badly produced / incomprehensible manner that it is next to useless.

At least the material on Kelby and Lynda do meet certain quality standards.

Analogy of the day;

Kelby & Lynda are like eating at a fine restaurant. YouTube is like picking through a dumpster!

[chauncey]

Kelby & Lynda are like eating at a fine restaurant. YouTube is like picking through a dumpster!

Brrr...it's cold in here.

[Colin Southern]

Brrr...it's cold in here.

Sorry I didn't leave you more meat on my Kelby-steak remains

[wilgk]

I am a Kelby convert, very happy with content