Kelby One online reviews?

SquarePeg · Jan 21, 2015

I just wanted to follow up to say that I am about 2 hrs into my first tutorial on lynda.com (PSE11) and have already learned so many new things and realized how many other things I've been doing wrong or doing the hard way. So far, I am very happy with the tutorials. I'm basically starting from scratch so my experience might not apply to those who already have some knowledge.

VisualDesignArtist · Feb 21, 2017

SquarePeg said:
Anyone have a review of the Kelby One online courses/tutorials? I'm specifically looking for PS and LR but there are at least 2 dozen other courses that sound interesting. I really need a from scratch tutorial on PS as I have been winging it with trial and error and the occasional youtube how to but really not making the kind of progress I'd like.

TIA for any first hand experiences/reviews.

Hi,

I just bumped into this thread by accident as I was looking for something else on Google.

I've been a KelbyOne and Lynda.com member since 2008, and I love the classes they both offer. I think the price tag is more than affordable for what they offer. I don't like YouTube, and wasting time on the internet trying to piece things together.

To me, Lynda.com is more efficient in what they're trying to teach. They have a better structure to their classes, less jokes, and more comprehensive learning. KelbyOne wants to appeal to a demographic that enjoys off handed jokes and is not really serious about photography. When looking to learn something "I" want to be taught, and not have my time wasted with jokes. That happens a lot on the Grid, KelbyOne's weekly photography show Wednesday's at 4pm, and where "jokes" are more important that photography sometimes.

I've meet some of the KelbyOne instructions and even though "online" they appear to be nice and friendly, in reality they're the opposite of that. That was a tad disappointing. Also, with KelbyOne they don't take any criticism, and think they're God's given gift to photography. Yes, they do have a LOT of great classes, but having that "high up on a horse" attitude ruins their overall reputation in my opinion. With Lynda.com if you have a critique, or a suggestion for improvement it is very welcomed. They send survey's about the classes they teach, and ask about the instructor to make sure they hire people who can actually get the message across to the student, etc. Lynda.com also gives certificates of completion for their classes, so if you want to apply for a job, you can add that extra education and have proof you actually did it. KelbyOne doesn't have that.

I like Lynda.com a bit better than KelbyOne and that's because of the really nice structure their classes have.

matrosov · Feb 25, 2017

I am in the middle of the huge data download into my brain and the money transfer out of my wallet

. So far I have viewed courses on Kelby, CreativeLive, Phlearn, George Jardine and udemy.
In my humble opinion. For general photography the best most structured course is John Greengo's Fundamental's of Photography course on Creative Live. Very easy to follow, tons of examples, in depth explanation of everything under the sun as it relates to all aspects of exposure triangle, lenses, filters, camera settings composition etc etc etc. It has 114 video segments total length guestimate 30+ hours. On top of that it has exercises for you to practice what you learned. For Lightroom I found George Jardine video course to be the most helpful with close second being Ben Willmores on creative live. For photoshop I am in love with Phlearn and Aaron Nace, (Photoshop 101-301 and Retouching 101-301), packages.Very comprehensive from very easy to advanced without getting too much into obscure hardly used stuff. Benn Wilmore's photoshop on creative live is good too but a bit long winded. The best part of the sites mentioned above is that you pay once and it's yours. Your videos are downloadable and yours to keep and review at your leisure. Kelby is using monthly subscription model so the videos are not yours too keep. They are more focused on pros at work where you watch and try to adapt some of their tricks to your environment. There is a lot of useful information there but it is not structured and hands on step by step and a little overwhelming for a newbie. Books wise I'm happy with photoshop classroom in a book it gives solid practice exercises to get you started with selections and solid foundation with some of the basic tools. Understanding exposure is a great book too but it was made a little redundant by John Greengo's course.