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Scoops, tips and comments published exclusively for personal friends of Scott Kelby

Scott’s Quick Nikon D3x Pricing Q&AYesterday

I’m teaching my Lightroom Live Tour in Los Angeles today, so I’m just going to do a quick Q&A to address some things that happened earlier this week regarding my post on the introduction and pricing of the Nikon D3x. Here we go:

Q. First, did Douglas Sonders Guest Blog yesterday kick major butt or what?
A. Absolutely! I was so tickled to see the level and depth of what he showed. A lot of people promise to show you “the whole thing” but then fall short, but I thought Douglas really delivered, and if you look at the comments from yesterday, he just got an awful lot of new fans. Well done, Douglas! I’d love to have him back again for sure!

Q. You’ve taken a lot of heat because you mentioned on Monday that Nikon introduced a new camera. So, are you getting a D3x?
A. Nope.

Q. You’re not getting a new D3x? Why not?
A. That particular camera is not for me. I know there are photographers who need 23-megapixels for their type of work, but I don’t need it for what I shoot (heck I could probably get away with just 8 or 10 megapixels), so a D3x just doesn’t make sense for me.

Q. But then you’ll have to live with the pain of knowing that you’re not shooting with Nikon’s highest top-end camera!
A. It’s a pain I’ll just have to live with, but somehow, I’ll get by.

Q. Won’t Nikon sen

It’s “Guest Blog Wednesday” featuring Douglas SondersDecember 3

In today’s blog, I will be discussing two of my favorite shoots from the past year from start to finish. They showcase my love for fun and unique subjects, working on-location, and using Photoshop to bring elements of a photoshoot together to create a strong final image.

SWAT TEAM SHOOT:
In the Spring of 2008, the Howard County (Maryland) Police Department hired me to shoot a variety of promotional and recruiting material. I photographed patrol vehicles, K9 units, bicycle officers, community relations, etc. Although, the SWAT team portion of the job was by far my favorite. Maybe I just watched too many action movies with my big brother growing up.

We started the day in an abandoned high school near Baltimore, Maryland. They were running training exercises pretending to rescue hostage victims from terrorists. I took a lot of natural light shots with my Canon 1Ds Mk2 body and my trusty Canon 16-35 2.8L lens. Due to the low light scenarios, I shot at 1000iso at f/2.8 and very slow shutter speeds (around 1/10 of a second). I had to use something I learned from living on tour busses and shooting thousands of photos of bands in low-light back rooms and concert venues, control your breathing and use any object (wall, pillar, an assistant’s back) as a makeshift tripod when you can’t bring one with you.

Tomorrow’s Special Guest Blogger is…December 2

… a photographer whose work I pointed out back on November 7th; Douglas Sonders.

After I talked about his photography style here on the blog, he sent me a very nice email, and offered to show a step-by-step tutorial about how he lights, and then post-processes his images. I loved the idea, and asked him to be a guest blogger, and tomorrow he’s doing just that. I’m really looking forward to seeing him break it all down for us.

In the meantime, if you missed the Nov. 7th post, check out his work by clicking here, then check back tomorrow to check out his Guest Blog post. Can’t wait!

A Word From Moose About the Comments On The Nikon D3XDecember 2

[Note From the Editor]: Moose and I were both emailing back and forth about the angry comments posted here yesterday by readers concerning Nikon’s new D3X product announcement. We were both surprised at all ‘the hatin” goin’ on.

My (Scott’s) take on it was this: “Look, Nikon came out with a new camera. It’s $8.000. If you think it’s too much, or not for you—-don’t buy it. That’s it. End of story. If Toyota comes out with a $75,000 car tomorrow, with just one big advantage over a Toyota Camry—I don’t get mad at Toyota. I don’t berate Toyota. I don’t go on forums and slam Toyota—-they can offer as many Toyotas as they want, at any price they want—I don’t have to buy one—I’ll just stick with my Camry. That’s it.”

Anyway, after writing back and forth, Moose emailed me a short story/follow-up, which I wanted to share with you here today because it’s much more eloquent than my short rant above. It’s Moose’s take on the situation, and I thought it really adds to the discussion. So, here my first mini-guest blog, from my friend Moose. –Scott].

The scent of fresh baked turkeys still lingers in the air, boxes are a strewn across the living floor as xmas reemerges for its grand annual show. The family has all come home and by some amazing good fortune, fresh snow has fallen so inside and out, ever

My Lightroom 2 Tour is in Los Angeles This ThursdayDecember 2

I hope you’ll be in the crowd this Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center as I wrap up my final Lightroom 2 Tour date for the year, on December 4, 2008.

As I mentioned earlier on the blog; my buddy Matt Kloskowski will be there helping me field questions during the day, and Mike “Hollywood” Kubeisy will be there assisting me with my live shoots (I left Brad back at the office because he’s wanted on a outstanding warrant in LA. Hey, don’t laugh—he could have warrants. That’s why they call him).

Anyway, we’re going to have a great day, and if you want to snag one of the remaining seats (we’re going to have around 700 photographers there that day), here’s the link. Hope I’ll be seeing you there!