Okay all - I’m trying to decide if I’m going to put out a set of Photoshop training videos or not. I’ve debated over it for months now, and I’m taking most of the summer off of weddings due to the AZ heat. In that time I’ve got a few big projects in the works and to that, it would be the perfect time to hide out indoors and work up some vids.

I wanted to see how well received these would be and if they’d really apply to the average photographer.

There are so many actions and automated process systems available now that I wonder if there is any real demand for core photoshop skills. To be honest, most of the stuff out there looks pretty good, and it’s single click simple.

The problem I see with this, is that as an artist, you’re limited to what results may be produced with your action sets. Some are pretty good, but no automated process can perform a perfect effect on every image - because the source images themselves are so different.

As a business person, faster and simpler is always better. But as an artist, I get such a charge and motivation out of “seeing” an image within and image in my mind, and then creating it. In 15 years of photography, I was never more excited and fired up as when photoshop finally ‘clicked’ for me. I realized I really could bring about any effect I could think up just using the core tools. It was awesome.

I’ve polled a few people I know and respect and they have generally said “nobody wants to spend more time on their process. If your skills don’t save them time, nobody will ever want them”, but then they’d follow up with “so how did you do this effect on this image?”

I think that as image creators, we should have the core ability to get down and dirty with minimal tools and just “make the image” turn into what we want. I often start a process with an action, but will then tune and tweak it myself from there.?
“But there are already 1000 different PS training systems out there!” - what would I have to offer that isn’t already available?

Most of the photoshop training I've ever seen falls into two categories. 1) The super techno - menu by menu, option by option. 1000 pages of geek speak with very little actual application "how can I use this to make cool pictures". Then the other extreme 2) mostly on the web tutorials are the 'recipe' tutorials. You follow a set of instructions "select this, put this in the blank, drag the slider to this value, hit these command keys, and walla - a cool picture". That is great for quick effects, but it does little for your overall understanding if you don't fully understand the "why" behind each step. I can follow instructions to make cookies without knowing what butter, baking soda, or suger are, but I'll never become a knowledgeable baker this way.


I edit my own images in a different way using more of a “system” than just random techniques. I really feel I can take any image and turn it into any other image with any kind of look or feel I can think up just by using the same set of tools in different ways. Everything from cross process, old look, new look, soft, sharp, any mood of B&W you'd want, just about anything really. Things finally started to 'click' in my mind about two years ago when through hours of trial and error I started to figure out how to predict how different tools would effect an image in different ways, then how to control those tools to create exactly the process I had in mind.

Here is a link to a set of before & after images - just some random grabs from last year’s weddings. Every edit you see was done with the core tools built into PS. No actions what so ever. Almost everything you see is curves adjustment layers and simple clone techniques all stacked up. Some of the more crazy images are 20 layers.

http://www.kevinkingphoto.com/proofs/befor...er_01/index.htm

So I open the idea up for any feedback or requests. What exactly would *you* like to learn in PS?

I’d like to really hit cloning and retouching technique, mastering curves, understanding what actions really are and how to record your own, or tweak the ones you already have, how layers can stack up in different ways, how to achieve perfectly controlled softening and sharpening, and how to systematically edit individual areas of your images using masks and selections.

I’m thinking of just recording screen capture at 75% size of the MacBook 17” display along with verbal narration, doing minor video editing, and saving each segment as individual quicktime files, then just dropping all the files onto a data DVD and making it available. I would also include the actual PSD files from all the work with all the layers, so you could go back and see exactly how the layers stack up and play with the full size high res images. I’ll also record some basic audio only pieces just talking about what I consider when shooting and how that plays into the intended photoshop work in the end.

I figure the whole set will be between 6 and 8 hours, with individual segments addressing how to understand each key piece of the puzzle, then finally “start to finish” editing some of the more dramatic images. I figure I’ll probably do 4 to 6 of those and showing how the individual techniques are actually applied.

One question I have is whether it should all be one big training set, or if it should be broken down into selective “episodes” where the viewer could pick and choose which lessons they wanted.

And of course the cost. Be it known I wouldn’t be trying to make bank off the deal. I would truly like to benefit the knowledge of the group - however, this undertaking will require a good amount of my time which I need to be covered for to justify the effort. My first thought is to include the whole 8 hr training with all source files “everything you could ever want to know in one box” like, and offer it for $150 a copy. I could also break it into components as said for maybe $40 per chunk.

This would also be a word of mouth deal - I’ve got no ad budget, I’m not setting up any booths or attempting to sell 1000 copies or anything. That poses a problem of offering up a product without abusing anyone’s audience on a forum. Others have had issue with this in the past and I certainly would not want to upset anyone.


So it’s in the brainstorm phase - anyone with ideas, suggestions, requests, you name it - fire away. I’m listening. I would want this to be of true benefit to anyone taking the time to watch it. Not just hype, but really just showing average people that PS isn’t scary, and just showing them how I get it done.

And thanks in advance for the group assistance.