Big News – We've Launched a Lighting Magazine!
Hey everybody. Big news! Today we’re officially launching a brand new magazine, totally dedicated to lighting – it’s called “Light It Magazine“. Scott and I are co-editors of the magazine and we’ve wrangled some of the top lighting wizards and up-and-coming talent that’s out there. It’s a digital magazine and just on the iPad right now. The first issue is totally free and I’ve gotta tell ya, it’s beautiful! Seriously, the images are huge, our design team did an amazing job with the layout, and it’s going to blow you away when you see it. Head on over to download (for free) the first issue. Also, don’t forget to stop by Scott’s blog and watch the video.
Great magazine ~ wave of the future. Awesome looks, content, and contributors.
You guys rock!!
Looks very interesting, but — like so many — I don’t have an iPad (iPhone yes, iPad, no).
Whatever the reasons are for limiting the magazine to the iPad, please consider making the first, free issue available in other formats as well (e.g., PDF).
Great magazine, great decision to go with the ipad. Thanks and a nice job.
I am thrilled it’s iPad ONLY. It shows how forward thinking the Kelby Media group has become. Media formats have changed many times over the years; 8 track, cassette, digital cassette, floppy disk, CD, DVD, MP3, digital content.
Get over it people. Media changes. Google search for library closings across the US as just one example.
I think the Light It mag is fantastic and will look forward to the content every month. Yes, we have an iPad at home….but no TV. We pick and choose our media according to our desires. I don’t complain that certain shows are only on TV, or pay-per-view. No big deal, I just go without.
If it’s a magazine you think will benefit your life, then get the media player that will run it…..just like TV, if you want to watch TV or movies at home, you have to purchase that player as well.
Scott/Matt – fantastic job on looking forward, not worrying about the past. Good luck.
39 comments so far – only 1 praising the content, 38 can’t even get to see the magazine. Definitely time for a rethink….you have so many potential readers that want to read and maybe subscribe, you are seriously limiting your audience.
A bit like making a TV show and only letting people watch who have a Samsung TV.
Great Mag Scott & Matt. Most serious photographers I know in the UK & Europe have iPads. Come on the US stop MOANING & catch up.
Tony
So the photographers that do not have ipad (or work on a mac) are not serious.
Are you one of those photographers who have a list of all their equipment on your web page for all to see?
The less than 5% of comments that praise the magazine do just that. They don’t insult the rest. Some, I guess, have the need to feel superior by owning a piece of equipment that make them feel they that they “arrived”. They belong to a group of exclusive people that everyone else now has to recognize as “professionals”.
Quite sad actually.
Cheers,
Motti
You guys have gone too far. An iPad-only version??? What were you thinking? I can’t believe you didn’t also include in the magazine tips on using photoshop, printing, type effects, etc. And…what about the ads…where have they all gone? There just aren’t enough of them. You’d better cancel my subscription!
LMAO
Didn’t read through all of the posts as they seem to have the same theme so if this question has been asked I apologize.
Obviously there was a reason for the ipad only, and I was wondering if you could share that with all of us. Thx
Looks like they chose iPad because it’s easier & more secure to sell & distribute the magazine that way. PDFs can be copied. Even encrypted PDFs are relatively simple to hack. If they didn’t want to charge going forward, PDF is the way to go.
iMag – new term coined by me this day and I think I’ll trademark it since it seems to be the wave of the future. ;>)
Giving access to a limited group op people (iPad users) is a marketing trick. It makes the rest very curious. Everyone is talking about it in a way and that’s free advertising. Just a matter of creating a hype. It’s the same strategy Google used with Google+.
By the time the magazine is accessible to everyone, many people want to read it (and pay for it in the future).
I have to agree with most of the sentiments here. Making the magazine device-specific is a market killer. Although I will likely be purchasing an iPad 3 next year, I might actually decide on another tablet. That said, you guys would do yourselves and many others a great service by providing a universal format so all who wish to read can. If I know you as well as I think I do, I’m sure you will begin considering this immediately. 🙂
John
Hmmm – sorry – usually love everything you do but this gets a big fat boo.
Matt,
r u kidding, only the ipad? what were you thinking?
i just returned from an international workshop and not one, yes, no one has or is using the ipad. we were a small group of professionals and semi-prodessinals who use lighting (on camera and off camera) in our daily work.
I obviously do not know what your marketing folks are telling you. Do you/they make decisions based on what NIK does?
IMHO you are leaving out a very large audience.
Val
I have an iPad and I just love the first issue … it’s really great. Keep’em coming !
Wow! I can’t believe all the hate here. It’s a cool magazine. Very cool. And its free. And for those of you who say it’s a bad marketing strategy… I urge you to consider the incredible marketing track record of Kelby Media Group. They know full well what they are doing.
I don’t see any hate here. Why did you bring that word up?
I see disappointment in letter after letter.
You are correct, it might be a cool magazine, but how would most people know? They can’t read it…..
You guys need to stop hobnobbing with your inner circle and get out among the rest of us. What a self-limiting choice, and very poor marketing decision.
Take a reality pill and discuss in the morning. Open systems started in 1985.
You mean if we don’t have an iPad you don’t want us to subscribe? How Apple can you get?!? 😉
Why not PDF so any digital device can read it?
I look forward to seeing this and other editions as soon as they are compatible with my PC.
Don’t have an ipad. Will spend any extra $ that comes my way on lenses.
HOW ABOUT JUST INCLUDING IT AS A SECTION IN PHOTOSHOP USER MAGAZINE, JUST LIKE THE LIGHTROOM SECTION ENDED UP BEING.
A PDF VERSION WOULD BE NICE TO BE ABLE TO SEE FIRST ISSUE LIKE THOSE WHO HAVE IPAD. LOOKS LIKE FROM THE POSTING NOT EVERYONE HAS ONE.
RON
Wow , so many complaints for putting out a totally free magazine on such an important photography topic.
I don’t have an IPad either, so I haven’t seen the mag, but hey, it’s not as though I have a right to this free stuff. I’ve got an idea – how about folks who don’t have a IPad just use the time to get out and take some photos instead! Oh wait – Matt hasn’t told us where to go and what lens to use!
Give the guy a break, and be thankful for all the great (free) tips we do get.
P.S. Could Matt please send all killer tips by post to my auntie who doesn’t have a computer?
Hi Martin, yes, you are right. It’s free and we should not complain. Anyway, I am sure some smart kid somewhere will translate it to a more common denominator really quick 🙂 and the folks at Kelby and Co. will have no choice but to do the same.
Oh by the way, no need to mock readers and Mat. Most of us do not wait for Mat to write in order to go and take pictures…really.
I believe the post stated “the first issue is free” above. It would have been just what I needed, but unfortunately no iPad either.
I am thinking EVERYONE would be happy to PURCHASE a magazine subscription for their computers…pdf style. I don’t think it is about it being free just about the fact that this is something we all would like to read, learn from and contribute to…
Wow! I will take my wife advice and not express my true feelings here, they might not be fit for print anyway. I don’t have an ipad and do not intend to have one anyway. My next purchase is Samsung Transformer.
I find it peculiar because it is a matter of a minute or two to translate any visual file to PDF. What makes me really upset is this notion around “tech-wiz” people to create some kind of exclusive readership. I will never be one of them (I hate exclusive clubs) and as far as I know millions of other will not either.
I say, smarten up if you want me and many other as readers. Or maybe you don’t that;’s fine with me.
That’s as far as I go with my self expression 🙂
Cheers,
Motti
Great. Looking forward to reading the first edition.
Wow. Unless I missed it, I don’t think the majority of Americans even OWN an iPad. I’d buy your lighting mag in a heartbeat – as a PDF, but an “iPad exclusive” is too exclusive for me . . .
I would have to jump on the bandwagon and say that iPad only is very limiting. Non-paper is understandable but to not be able to download to PDF is just limiting your audience. You guys dropped the ball on this one.
would be nice in PDF, don’t care to bother with itunes as I am not an Apple person.
The iPad3 is due out the first of the year. Maybe then…
iPad only??? Common… HTML5 is way better and will include most people.
Come on people. Give them a chance. Matt says: “… just on the iPad right now”. I don’t own an iPad either, but I’m pretty sure they have a team dedicated working on this right now. Probably not the smartest decision to launch it that fast without having multiple options, but knowing the success this company has, it’s probably just a matter of time.
Matt doesn’t say how long we must wait for a different format. One month? Two?
A successful company like that should know that most users don’t have an iPad.
They always deny advertising for the iPad. We now know better….
Doh! I was wrong! They announced it will really be iPad only… Can’t believe they made that kind of decision… I’m speechless.
Cool magazine! I’m even willing to pay for it! However, it’s only for the iPad, therefore it doesn’t speak to me given that I don’t have an iPad.
Having an HTML5 version of it would be much better as you would reach a much wider audience (iPad, Android, browsers, etc.).
It’d be bomb if NAPP members could choose which printed mag to get; as an alternative to Photoshop User, like this one (it should totally be avail in print!)
iPad only, what a shame. I really hope you reconsider that strange, strange decision. You’re missing a lot of potential readers that way.
Andoroid & PDF, thanks! I don’t have an Ipad (and I don’t want it)
iPad’s are cool, but not everyone has one. At the very least, the content should be available in another format elsewhere. I’d even pay for it !!
Single format days are over guys. I know you are still thinking the ipad is THE tool to play with, but it isnt. Lots of folks out in the real world use LOTS of other tools.
So… how about other formats? Epub, pdf, hell for that matter, why not HTML5? I mean considering all the help you and Scott get from Adobe, it shouldnt take much to go from your Indesign files straight to HTML. C’mon… make this a no brainer.
Agree – what happened to paper?
iPad only–CRAZY and totally disappointed.
I really can’t believe that the premier issue of this magazine is in one format ONLY.
What is the purpose of that? Just look at the huge numbers of people who do not have iPad – people who will not be able to read your magazine.
I find it a shortcoming that it only comes out on the iPad. Why not just also a version in pdf format? Now you exclude a large group of potential readers.
Any possibility to get it on pdf for those of us that doesn’t have an ipad?