Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Scott Kelby!

You’ve surely learned by now that my Q&A with Dave Cross on Monday, and the subsequent discussion with Matt Kloskowski on Tuesday, had to mean that another one was coming, right?  For those of you living under a rock for the past ten years, those two are but 2/3rds of the Photoshop Guys crew.  The guy that started it all, Scott Kelby, has taken the time to sit down and chew the fat with us here, so to wrap up this series, I’d like to present, the Founder of NAPP, the CEO of Kelby Media, and Photoshop Guy – Mr. Scott Kelby!

Scott Kelby

1.  In packing for your recent trip to China, what gear choices did you make for such an excursion?

I took two rigs:

(1) One for when I felt like just walking around with one camera, one lens, and no camera bag. That was a Nikon D300s (which is NOT a full frame camera), with an 18-200mm lens. That way I could go wide to tele without ever changing lenses. It’s really my all around favorite travel lens, but not quite as sharp as some of my other lenses. It’s a DX lens, so it doesn’t work with full frame cameras.

(2) In case I went someplace important (Forbidden City, great wall, temple of heaven, etc.), I took my D3 with my 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens, and a 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. I had to carry a camera bag along with me (and I’d SO rather not). I’d rather focus on the photos, and not the gear, but sometimes you just have to lug the stuff. I also took a Gitzo tripod and ballhead.

2.  The latest season of D-town looks to have expanded coverage to pretty much all of photography, so it’s not just Nikon anymore is it?

When Nikon was the main sponsor, we only covered Nikon gear, and the whole show was very gear specific (this button does this—this dial does that), but in our second season we switched to be more a generally focused show, and more about taking great photos, and less on the switches and dials. We also do more lighting and on location stuff now, so for Matt and I, it’s really a lot of fun, and the viewership has literally gone through the roof, now surpassing Photoshop User TV.

3.  How do you get those cool highlights over camera button features in the D-Town videos?

That comes from Daniel in our video department. D-Town is not an easy show to edit, but I think he really does a kick-butt job with it, and he creates the graphics for everything we do, which is not an easy job. He’s a great editor, and a really great person as well. He’s made two trips to Haiti so far, delivering clothes, shoes, and toys for the children there.

4.  Other than Photoshop, what program in the Creative Suite is the most useful for your own creative endeavors?

To me it’s InDesign. I use it everyday (I’ve already used it today, and it’s just 9:10 am in the morning). I do a lot of my layout stuff there, and I’m in and out of it all the time, so I’ve actually gotten pretty decent at it (in fact, I co-authored an “InDesign Killer Tips” book a few years back, with Adobe’s own Terry White as my co-author. Of course, I did all the easy chapters. 🙂

Thanks so much to Dave, Matt, and of course, Scott for taking the time out from their busy schedules to sit down for a little Q&A with us here on the blog.  In case you don’t know the resources already, here are the various outlets for Scott and his work online:

  • Photoshop Insider
  • NAPP
  • D-Town TV

That’s a wrap on the Q&A with the Photoshop Guys!  Tune in tomorrow for the latest LDP podcast – we hit the half century mark and talk about all the latest in photography news and tidbits, including listener Q&A, so be sure to stop in for that!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow! 🙂

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