Yesterday I spent the day down in Philly at Scott Kelby’s Light it, Shoot it, Retouch it! seminar.

It was a fantastic day down in Philly.

There were several sessions throughout the day of complete shoots. Scott walked everyone through the process of setting up the lights to create different looks. After setting up the lights, he would begin to shoot the models throwing in lots of fun and humor along the way. He had a way of making the models feel very comfortable and gave everyone a good time! After getting a good number of shots, Scott would walk everyone through his process of selecting a good image in Lightroom, then proceed to teach different post processing techniques. Each session focused on a different lighting setup and Scott introduced a different post-processing technique to add to the previous for each session.

Lunch came quickly, I looked down at my watch when we were told it was time for lunch and it was already 12:30pm! So Debbie Horst and I ran across the street to the Reading Terminal Market. We chose Carmen’s Cheesesteaks and waited a half hour in line, but it was worth the wait! We finished our lunch with some delicious chocolate chip cookies. I’m not sure where Debbie found them, but they were sooooo good!

Throughout the workshop, Scott had his camera tethered to his computer, which was then projected onto two large projectors. This was really nice to see everything Scott shot. He allowed us to see his entire process, mistakes and all! My biggest complaint about the workshop, was that I came away wanting to shoot more photography and buy some more gear!

Benefits of Scott Kelby’s Light it. Shoot it. Retouch it. LIVE!. I feel that Scott’s seminars are so well built that they provide information and benefits for photographers at all levels of skill and experience. I broke down a few thoughts for beginner and more experienced photographers.

For Beginners:

• Learn basic lighting fundamentals
• Tips on camera settings to work with off camera lighting
• How to develop a workflow to optimize your output
• Basic -> Intermediate retouching techniques in Lightroom and Photoshop
• Hang out with other regional photographres

For More Experienced:

• Energize and refuel a passion for photography
• Receive a glimpse into another photographers workflow
• Pick up little tips and tricks from an expert in the industry

I came home from this seminar recharged and ready to shoot. I didn’t really learn anything new as far as lighting or shooting, but I did come home with some functions built into Photoshop that I didn’t know about. My intention for attending this seminar was to study and watch Scott’s workflow and techniques, and I feel like I gained some more confidence in what I was doing. Scott hired local models for the day which was a nice touch. The first time he had met a couple of the models was when they walked on stage. This was great to watch Scott have to create and work with the model in a new and fresh shoot. It wasn’t like there was a cookie cutter | robotic walk through the shoot. Even though Scott had general guidelines to follow or main subjects he wanted to focus on, the shoots where very real. One comment I left for Scott and the crew at KelbyTraining was to have one of the sessions with a ‘non-model’. I would say more than 85% of the attendants at the workshop don’t have access to professional models. It was nice that Scott didn’t have to worry about the model and the sessions could focus on proper technique and lighting. It would have been nice to have seen how Scott would work with an ordinary person: share tips on how to loosen a person up and produce great images from ordinary people.

Scott was sharing how incorporating the model’s taste in music into your session will help the process go smoother. However, when Scott turned on the music the model picked, Scott decided to show off his dancing moves!

Scott’s assistant’s name was Brad, and Scott said at one point during the session that ‘Every photographer needs a Brad.’ So…here I am, how can I be of service?

One final thought from the day, came at the very end of the session. All of the lights, cameras and computers where put away and Scott took a minute to share from his heart about photography and photoshop. With the distaste for Photoshop amongst the misinformed, Scott shared some great advice. He shared a story of a beautiful bride he photographed and everyone just couldn’t stop saying how beautiful this bride was. He was so excited to get home and look at some of the images as he thought they were going to be killer. When he opened up the first image, he just gasped. There was a blemish on the girls shoulder that stood out in every image. Scott shared that when we look at a person our image of that person is made up of our 3D perspective, their personality, the environment, the conversation; but when you put that person in 2D space on a print their flaws and blemishes are enhanced. Scott said our goal as photographers to is produce images that ‘make people look as good as if they were standing in front of you’. He went on to share that what you do to an images is ‘the secret between you and Photoshop’. Scott had an eloquent way of saying it, I can’t even begin to do his words justice. So I would suggest you attend one of his workshops. Lucky for most of you, Scott is coming to Washington DC in December!

Scott Kelby, if for some random reason you every come across my blog by mistake, Thank you! Thanks for taking the time away from your family to share with use your workflow and excellent photography and retouching knowledge. You made the workshop very fun and enjoyable; I would recommend any photographer to attend at least 1 of your workshops.