Weekly French Post : le post du dimanche en Français

KELBYONE.COM

Kelbyone.com est une platteforme en ligne de cours de photographie et graphisme. Elle est issue de la fusion des formations de NAPP et Kelbytraings.com. Le premier étant entièrement dédié à la formation sur Photoshop et va bien au delà de la retouche photographique, Kelbytraings.com traitait de tout ce qui affaire à la photographie, photoshop inclu mais uniquement dans la perpective du photographe.

 

Du coup, tout a changé et je profite de cette (r)évolution pour refaire un tour d’horizon sur ce site de formation en ligne. Pourquoi refaire ? Et bien par ce que j’ai déjà rédigé un article sur kelbytraining.com il y a environ 6 mois, en anglais. Pour les amoureux de la langue des Beatles, c’est par là : One Year At Kelbytraining.com.

 

Je ne vais pas refaire une actualisation pure et simple mon article précédent, mais plutôt une rédaction sous la forme d’une sorte de Questions / Réponses:

 

Question 1
Qu’est-ce que Kelbyone.com? Kelbyone.com est un site payant de formation en ligne qui a pour objectif de former les étudiants à la photographie mais aussi aux programmes tels que Lightroom, Photoshop, et autres programmes dérivés d’Adobe. La formation s’adresse au débutant tout comme aux pros. Il y en a pour tout les niveaux.

 

Question 2
Mon anglais est nul, est-ce un problème? Oui, les cours sont tous en anglais et s’adressent à des personnes ayant un niveau d’anglais “fluent” qui maîtrise les termes techniques. Cela étant dit, c’est en forgeant que l’on devient forgeron, et mon anglais a fortement progressé depuis que je m’y suis inscrit. Pourquoi ne pas faire un test? Voici une vidéo d’un séminaire de Monsieur Scott Kelby disponible gratuitement ligne qui dure 1 heure. Si vous comprenez assez pour y apprendre une ou deux choses en passant, alors c’est OK.

 

Question 3
Il y a des tonnes de videos en ligne sur youtube et compagnie, pourquoi m’inscrire sur Kelbyone? C’est vrai. Il y a des milliers de videos en ligne sur internet sur les “how to?”. Ces videos sont postées par des gens que ni vous ni moi ne connaissons. Dés lors il est difficile de savoir si la vidéo est de qualité ou non. En clair, vous trouvez des milliers de “je-veux-être-une-star-de-la-voie-lactée-des-meilleurs-photographes-du-monde” mais rien ne vous garantit qu’ils sachent quitter le mode P dés que la vidéo est éteinte. Un grand nombre de ces types ne font que du copiage et reprennent les vidéos des autres. Il devient alors compliqué de savoir quels photographes croire et qui détient l’information correcte. Sur Kelbyone.com, les cours sont tous dispensés par des photographes ou graphistes connus, mondialement ou plus spécifiquement dans la sphère anglophone. C’est donc un gage de qualité.

 

Question 4
Bon, mais à quoi cela ressemble ces cours en ligne? Une fois inscrit (cours à l’unité, abo mensuel ou annuel), on a accès à des centaines de cours. Il s’agit exclusivement de video. Pas de texte, de manuscrit, etc… que des vidéos disponibles en ligne. Certains cours sont accessibles gratuitement pour motiver les inscriptions.

 

Question 5
Quels sont les sujets abordés? Houla! La liste est très très longue: disons que cela passe du comment faire des photos par mauvais temps, aux heures pourries de la journée, les techniques élémentaires d’éclairage de studio, techniques poussées en studio, comment tirer le meilleurs parti des speedlights, comment diriger son model, comment photographier le sport, les quadras, comment retoucher un portrait, comment utiliser photoshop (j’ai trouvé des cours pour CS4 –> CC). Comment photographier la bouffe, les scènes de rue, en noir et blanc, etc… Quelles sont les techniques utilisées dans les studios de Hollywood?… Comment être efficace sur son blog, Facebook, les questions juridiques, comment se faire connaitre dans l’édition, etc… Ah, j’allais oublier les interviews…

 

Question 6
J’ai peu de temps. A quoi ressemble un cours? Chaque cours traite d’un sujet principal, lequel est abordé sous différents angles et aspects qui chacun forment un chapitre. Chaque chapitre est une vidéo. Un cours est donc composé de 5 à 10 vidéos (=leçons) selon la structure du cours. Les cours sont disponibles 24h sur 24 et chaque leçon du cours est accessible indépendamment des autres. En clair, on peut sauter une leçon d’un même cours, la revisionner autant de fois que l’on veut, sans avoir à regarder les leçons précédentes. Aucun délai n’est imposé pour finir un cours. Chacun va à son rythme.

 

Question 7
Je voyage beaucoup, je n’ai que mon iPad, est-ce un problème? Non. Les cours sont depuis peu non seulement accessibles en streaming mais aussi en téléchargement. C’est pour moi la meilleure évolution du passage de Kelbytraining à Kelbyone. Je suis souvent dans les avions et le wifi des hotels en France est en général d’une lenteur calamiteuse. Cette difficulté est maintenant contournée.
Question 8
Et les profs? Tu les trouves comment? La question est intéressante. Après un temps de reflexion, je pense que leur dénominateur commun est qu’ils sont de bons pédagogues, qu’ils ont tous réussis et ont du succés dans leurs créneaux. Donc ils savent de quoi ils parlent et je trouve donc qu’ils sont bons. Maintenant, je ne suis pas branché par les photos qui font commercial, mon approche personnelle est celle du plaisir et si mes photos plaisent, c’est bien. Mais si elle ne plaisent pas, c’est très bien également. Je lui le créateur et le destinataire de la création. Elle doivent me plaire. C’est mon seul impératif. Les cours s’adressent à des gens qui souhaitent devenir pro ou qui, comme moi, veulent obtenir un niveau technique professionnel pour l’inclure de façon organique dans la pratique.

Les profs sont des grands noms dans leurs domaines : Frank Doorhof (mode, éclairage de studio), Scott Kelby (Sports, LR et CC), Erik Valind (Lifestyle), Bill Fortney (paysages), Dave Black (Sports), Joe McNally (Photoreportage, mode, portraits), Lindsay Adler (mode), Zack Arias (Street, mode), etc… pour n’en citer que quelques uns pris au hasard parmi ceux que j’ai dans mes favoris.

 

Question 9
Que n’aimes tu pas, ou que n’y trouves tu pas? J’aime tout ce qui est en ligne si j’envisage le contenu sous l’angle de l’apprentissage. Ce qui manque est la dimension artistique. Les cours sont axés business. On ne va trouver de vidéos de photographes dans la lignée d’un Michel Comte, d’un JL Sieff, d’un Andreas Bitesnich… Aucune info sur le nu académique ou artistique. Bref, le “fine art” de façon générale est le grand absent. Je suppose que cela est un choix des fondateurs du site.

 

Question 10
Et… As tu appris quelques choses? OUI, énormément, dans la limite évoquée dans ma réponse précédente.

 

 

Faites vous une idée, il y a un cours gratuit accessible score pour quelques jours”

 

 

 

 

 

WHY YOU NEED A PRO TO SHOOT YOUR WEDDING

I think many guys like me, who love photography but who do not shoot for a living, should also read this article. Don’t get me wrong, this article is not about JAGWACs not able to make great shots. There are thousands guys able to make great shots. But at the end of the day, you have to admit that being a pro is something different.

20130706-DSC_0222 nb

If you are lucky, I sincerly do hope you are, you will marry only once in life. And this makes this day so unique. This is your day (ok, very often it is a little more her day than yours, hehehe…) and what you want is someone to make good looking memories of this celebration.

But this is not everything. You also need someone you can tell your mind if the pictures are not what you were expecting (blured, bad compo, bad light, etc…). Working with a pro makes things easy : you pay for a job, your are the client. And if the job is bad done, you can renegotiate the price or a  second shooting for the couple’s shots.

Now look around you. How many couples do you actually know who have been disappointed with their pictures because they relied on the oncle or their best friends ? I am sure quiet enough.And this is where is a huge mistake :

You would not ask your best friend to pilote a plane during your honeymoon trip if he is not a pro pilote, you would not ask you friends to cook  your weeding lunch for 100 people, you would not ask your mate to sew your wedding dress. But you ask your friends to make the shots of your most important day, the shots you will see again and again years after year… And actually, the lunch : when it’s eaten, it’s eaten. The dress : you will never carry it again. But your pictures…

As a JAGWAC I refuse to shoot weddings. I did only once. For free because I did not want to feel under pressure. And I told him, before the wedding, he would be the one to blame if the shots turn out to be bad. I advised him not to take me but to take pro, even if it is costing. He agreed on that and followed partially my recommendation : he had pros for the important pictures and me for the guests and some couple’s shots (see pic above). But I was happy when it was done. I felt much better when I could put gears in my room and then having fun like any other guest.

more to come…

WATERMARK : GOOD OR BAD ?

X-Mas time is coming up !

Very naively, so to say, I was a little worried about the use people could do with my pictures after I had uploaded them on flickr.

 

Why naively? Well, my pictures were, when I look back, not good enough to interest other people. But I really had a lot of thoughts about this matter. One way was to upload my pics in a low quality. But the quality must be good enough to look good on a screen. And nowadays our pictures are to be seen online and pictures are printed to become posters on walls or calendars. Anyway, so I did so. As I use Flickr as an external storage, I had the double amount of work: I had to upload in low and high definition and set the private mode on the second one.

But one day, in stats section, I saw a referrer that made me curious. I clicked the link and could see one of my pics used on a blog.

Cup

I did not know how to react. On one hand, it is a sign my pictures are good enough to be used by other guys out there. I liked it somehow. On the other hand, even if the CC-rules were respected, I felt stolen, as if someone had taken my baby.

I thought I had to stop this or at least my name had to be somewhere so guys would know I AM the artist, the creator of the shot. I know it is ridiculous but I was really thinking that way at the time. So I put watermarks on my shot. Like this one :

20131023-DSC_0364-Bearbeitet

Does it look good? Humm… Well I felt it was a safe way to show my pictures and to feel safe about that. Actually it worked pretty well : I felt secured and I had no more thoughts. I was so much naive that I did not even figured out you can sweep it way within a few minutes and a little photoshop skills. So watermarking is not a solution.

I think it is time to reconsider the all thing : When you upload your picture, you loose control on it. And there is no way to avoid it. And is it that bad ? I don’t think so.

You see, when my pics are to be seen everywhere, on blogs, it’s a kind of advertising. As long as the CC-rules are applying and are respected it’s OK. And if I see one of my picture where I haven’t shared my copyright, I do hope the company who did this is big and rich like APPLE, WALLMART or GENERAL MOTORS… the rest will be done by my lawyer.

w Noel 2 bleue

So, in secret, I do hope this will happen with or without a watermark. And to make it easier for them, I don’t watermark my shots anymore.

f Ulli Shooting

more to come…

Dinning with my failures

Previously on Dinner With Mister Failures : Marc is having diner with his failures, embodied by Mister Failure. They talk together so he can analyze what went wrong and learn something out of it.

The picture shown in this post is a rejected one. Its only purpose is to show common failures while shooting. You are not authorized to use/reproduce/download/mention this picture in any ways. All rights reserved and shares by the author and the model.

Waiter
So Gentlemen, are you ready ?

Failures
No I thing we need a little more time, don’t we ?

Me
Yes sure, take your time.

Failure
Take your time… You’re learning pretty fast my friend.

20131005-20131005-DSC_7627

Failure, seeing this picture
And what’s that ?

Me
Well, that’s obvious. Blurred. I cut her two hands, put her head in the middle, shutter speed was to slow…

Failure
Well, you know what to do : take your time. Control your exposure, focus and then make the composition.

Me
Promised. I will.

Learn effect :

  • Measure the light
  • control the data in you cam (when shooting in M-Mode)
  • Use a light meter or your built-in spot metering. If you use your spot meter, then pick up 3 points (dark, bright and middle and make an average value)
  • A light meter is the best thing to do, but thing you might have to balance the light sometimes if to avoid strong contrasts (unless this is what you are going for it)
  • Don’t cut hands.

Don McCullin

Don McCullin

There is nothing wrong beeing photog for pleasure or for fashion.

But there are other photographers who use their camera to show the world as it is order to capture our attention on things going not right, they report the world. They deliver messages.

Don McCullin was one of them. He now shoots landscapes.Don talks about his life in this 3 minutes video. And the video looks like a photography in motion.  Check it out. Just click on his name above (in blue).

More to come…

It’s not the gear…

Bulb StoryIt’s not the gear that makes the shot.

And a good shot has not to be perfect to be a good one. But I will go back to that last statement later in an other post.

In my two previous posts I have written about how to use the natural light as a perfect softbox.

But, winter is coming and the days go shorten with it. So as it is already dark at 6pm (and this is the time when I leave my office), how am I suppose to shoot then ? hum…

But here is the thing, you also cam make great shot with very cheap lights. Do you see the pic above ? It was shot with a 5€ bulb bought in a DIY-shop.

Bulb Story

It is very important to use a light meter so you can control your exposure.

As the light is not strong, the fall off is very quick. But you can use this create drama like in this one.

I think it is obvious where the bulb was.

But you also can use a bulb for your background :

Bulb
As you see, not having the expensive gears doesn’t mean you have no alternatives to make interesting shots. And for those who do not trust me, here is the proof there was only a bulb as main light  😀

Bulb Project
More to come…

No Time Is No Excuse

Who has got time nowadays?

Mickael Gadzik - Mail-1

I don’t. My colleagues don’t. My neighbors don’t.

As a GWAC (= Guy With A Cam), I do a lot of things : I travel, I fly to Paris, Nantes, Lyon, Marseille… I visit hotels, I spend hours behind my desk, I call, I e-mail… I spend hours driving on the road, I have meetings… I definitely have no time.

But, It’s not true.

Some shots don’t require a lot of time to be great. Sometimes you simply have to be the right guy at the right place at the right time.

I was last week in Paris with Mickael (see above). Mickael and I are colleagues and we have a bunch of fun together. And then, I saw him like a CEO of a big corporation (our company is big but we are not even members of the board). He usually wears jeans and T-shirts and seeing him dressed like this, well I thought he would like a shot of him like that. He was actually really giving a call.

So here is the thing : Wherever you are, there is always someone or something to photograph. You do not have to go very far. You just have to see things and to present them in a fancy or non conventional way.

Making the shot took me 30 seconds (5 frames) + 5 Min in CS5.

So 5 Minutes and 30 seconds.

Lake of time is not an excuse.

More to come…

How to create a set up in studio

Sekt Schultz mit Gold (Ulli+Sigita) © Marc Eliot-5

Shooting in studio is a very interesting thing. It is not only about getting the shot. It is also about enjoying the process of making photography. We have to solve problems viewers do not imagine.
I have picked up this image as an example.

Phil gave me this bottle of french wine and asked me if I could make a nice shot with it. It said yes. I love challenges. This bottle is limited serial : there are some gold in it which is there to recreate the feel of a party. The bottle is the most important part of the picture and it was important to create a moody lighting. I made the decision to light it from below as it is often the case in bars or lounges.

Then I set the lady in the background who drinks the wine and likes it. And to bring more party feel, I added the smoke.

so : 2 strobes, one woman, one fog machine, a purple gel, and of course the bottle !

More to come…