Scott Kelby – Photo Recipes Live

So last night my copy of Scott Kelby’s new book/dvd combo, arrived in the mail, Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes, I was pretty excited. This new book/dvd combo is an extension to his popular Digital Photography series and goes into greater detail as to how particular shots where made in each book. If you have not read his Digital Photography books (volumes 1-3) I would highly recommend it.

I didn’t get a chance to watch all the videos last night, I still need to watch the last four, but I’m slightly disappointed with what I’ve seen so far. Don’t get me wrong, Scott does a great job explaining each shot and how/why he sets up things in a certain way. The disappointment I have with the dvd is that most of the shots he reproduces require at least 1 to 2 thousand dollars worth of strobes/spider lights. I would guess that the target audience of the Digital Photography series are amateurs or maybe a few pro-amateurs, most of whom probably don’t own strobes/spider lights. I wish Scott had included examples of how to reproduce these shots using hot shoe flashes (off the camera of course). Now I’m not saying the entire dvd is filled with strobe/spider light examples, Scott does have a few videos that primarily use natural light as well as one “on location” video that are great and can be reproduced by most amateurs.

If you want to work with strobes and you’ve never worked with a model or in a studio I think the video does a great job at making you feel as if you were shooting with Scott for a day, and for the price that’s an awesome learning experience. Once I’ve finished all the video’s I’m defiantly going to try and reproduce some of the shots (using hot shot flashes) so I’ll post what I did to try and get similar results to Scott’s photos.

Tags: book, dvd, flash, hot shoe, photo recipes live, Photography, Scott kelby, strobes
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It’s going to be really cold t…

It’s going to be really cold the rest of the week…… cerveza on a nice warm beach sounds good right now. http://flic.kr/p/7pKxjM

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Where’d the blog go?

Wow, last semester kicked by butt; I’m glad it’s over! It’s sad to think that I didn’t write a blog post all semester. I’d recommend you add my Flickr photostream to your rss reader instead of my blog feed , at least I always post to Flickr and you’d know I was still alive.

I put together a collection of my favorite images from my first year of photography over on my Flickr site. It’s crazy to think I’ve only been doing this for a little over a year, but it has become one of my favorite things to do; I just need more time to do it. Brandon and I went to a Joe McNally lighting seminar in Houston; it was awsome! I’ve read Joe’s blog all year and his books are a must read for any photographer, so to see him in person was by far the highlight of my year. The only problem is I left the seminar regretting the fact that I own Canon equipment; Joe does everything with Nikon equipment and it doesn’t take him long to show you why Nikon is kicking Canon’s butt in flash photography.

Since it’s now 2010 I know I should make a new year resolution, but I think setting out some goals would be a better idea.

Goal 1: Take More Photos

As a beginning photographer you can never take enough photos. I’m a bit of an equipment junky, I see a shot and immediately want to purchase equipment so I can take that type of photo. In 2010 I want to start pushing the limits of what I can do with all the equipment I currently own (and it’s more than enough to make some damn good shots). I want to buy the Canon 5D mark III next year because my 40D is dead from taking too many photos not because it’s the hot new camera; like how I snuck a purchase into the goal, lol

Goal 2: Be Healthy and Happy

With juggling work and school my health tends to take a low priority and my quality of life tends to be nil. I want to focus more on making sure I’m around in 10 years so I can actually use my degree.

Goal 3: Put the Toys Away

I’ve lived the bachelor life for quite awhile, and looking back I’ve have had no shortage of toys, trips, and fun. I want to try and go a year without buying everything I want and try to limit it to what I need. I know several of you are laughing you ass off right now, but you’re the people I expect to help me stick to this

Well, that’s enough writing for me. See you in another six months….

Goal 4: Update This Website

…… 3 out of 4 ain’t bad

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