St. Augustine

[RSL]

Hi all, Back again from a couple day's shooting in St. Augustine.

[wmchauncey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpHMuK7Htic
This may help somewhat...you've done well at learning the technical aspects of photography and PP, as have I, but more is now needed.

[RSL]

And after 60 years of photographic experience I'm supposed to learn something from Scott Kelby, the perpetual five-year-old? Come on, get serious. I hope you were kidding.

[wmchauncey]

I didn't say that I liked him...this one video had some valid points for helping me with my composition.

[RSL]

Composition is a very subjective thing, Chauncy, and shooting pictures of great blues and egrets isn't usually something that helps improve your eye. If you really want some instruction on composition, and we're talking landscape instead of people, stop looking at photographers -- especially Kelby -- and start learning from the great painters. When did Kelby, the technician, become an authority on composition?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Kinkade?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpHMuK7Htic
This may help somewhat...you've done well at learning the technical aspects of photography and PP, as have I, but more is now needed.

Boooooooo!

[RSL]

Kinkade?

Not unless you're in the lightbulb business. Oh, and you'll notice I used the word "great," Slobodan.

[petermfiore]

There is a lot to to be learned by seeing like a child....

Peter

[Ed Blagden]

Russ,

Pay no heed.  I know that you have most likely forgotten more about photography than most of us have ever learned.

But this one doesn't really do it for me.  There is nothing wrong with the shot but it lacks a twist.

Ed

[William Walker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpHMuK7Htic
This may help somewhat...you've done well at learning the technical aspects of photography and PP, as have I, but more is now needed.

And the prize for the bravest comment on LULA this year goes to...!

[William Walker]

And after 60 years of photographic experience I'm supposed to learn something from Scott Kelby, the perpetual five-year-old? Come on, get serious. I hope you were kidding.

The prize for showing the greatest restraint on LULA this year goes to...! 

[William Walker]

Jokes aside - I do not know much about Scott Kelby, but, I enjoyed the video. He does touch on some very useful ideas and put into words what I have not heard elsewhere. Thanks for the the link!

William

[stamper]

IMO Kelby is a business man selling photography.....but not a photographer.

[wmchauncey]

Composition is a very subjective thing, Chauncy, and shooting pictures of great blues and egrets isn't usually something that helps improve your eye

I would be the first in line to admit to that failing in my own work.

He does touch on some very useful ideas and put into words what I have not heard elsewhere

Appreciate your taking the time to watch it.
Kelby/Kincade are/have been much maligned in the artistic community but...show me others that have been as financially successful in that community.

[stamper]

artistic/financially successful.

This is a photographic site for the appreciation of the artistic side of photography not the financial side? It is possible that the two can be combined. Some good photographers never - or rarely - make money and some poor photographers make a pile. Kelby has probably made a lot but is he a good photographer/photoshop guru then that is a matter of opinion?

[RSL]

I think Kelby's books are excellent for a beginner, Stamper, if the beginner can stand his "I'm five and I'm cute and I'm gonna entertain the visitors by standing on my head" style. He doesn't go into theory, so it's just: "You want this? Then do this!" But for more advanced information you have to go to somebody like Martin Evening, and, in certain areas, Jeff Schewe. Kelby is a fine technician, but if you look at his photographs you realize he's a long way from a fine photographer. Trying to learn composition from Kelby is a waste of time.

[RSL]

Kinkade?

Sometimes I'm not as swift as I'd like to be, Slobodan. Now that I get it I realize the thing IS embarrassingly close to a Kinkade effect. That's because it's Christmas season at the St. George Inn in St. Augustine. We were staying in the room directly above the deck from which I made this shot. I looked out one of our dormer windows after dark and realized I had to have a shot of Christmas at the St. George. Ah yes, Kinkade. Mea culpa.

[stamper]

Russ you are correct in your summing up of Kelby and your recommendations about the other authors. I would add that Kelby is like a recipe chef who tells you the ingredients but not how to "mix" them. As to his humour the least said the better I have two books by him. Pages with little information padded out with his "humour". Not my favourite author.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Ah yes, Kinkade. Mea culpa.

Ha! I also just now realized the initial confusion! Indeed, my post was meant as a comment on the atmosphere of the image, and not in a negative way. Although I am not a fan of Kinkade, there is a certain attraction to the type of scenes he portrayed, just like to Norman Rockwell's idealized portrayal of the American Dream scenes (which I like much, much better - his portrayal, not the dream nightmare).