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How Should I Teach Lightroom?

Weird title for a post huh? After reading some comments from yesterday’s Before/After video with a Black and White example, it got me thinking. A few people commented that the video was a disappointment because not much of the work was done in Lightroom (and it used a 3rd party plug-in). Some even went as far as saying it was a promo for the plug-in. It was odd for me to read that because I was just showing the way I do it and what kind of technologies I’m excited about. So I figured I’d ask you. Not because the comments were so overwhelming (there were only a few). But because I’m genuinely curious. Sure, this is a free blog and I get to control the content so I could teach whatever I want. But let’s be honest – the blog is also exposure for me. I hope that by reading it, you’ll find ways to add income for me and the company I work for.

So how should I teach Lightroom? One of the best scenarios is yesterday’s video. I use a plug-in that costs nearly $200 if purchased alone (which shall remain nameless so I don’t get called a shill, sell-out, and all the other nifty names that come up should we mention another product that costs $$) 🙂

Some videos I do have a lot of Lightroom involved and some don’t. Do you want me to hand-pick the ones that make a good LR demo and just show those? I guess I always felt my job is to show you what I actually do with my photos. Let’s face it, the Develop module in Lightroom isn’t rocket science – it’s pretty straightforward once you learn your way around the Basic panel at the top (the main sliders). I always kinda felt the value in the videos was the creative aspect of how to tackle a photo and what things I look for when developing it. Isn’t my job is to show you what I’ve found works best with my own photos? That’s why you’re here right?. You wouldn’t attend one of my workshops or seminars and watch me do something to my photo, and then come up and say “Well Mr. Kloskowski…” (which by the way, I always know its going to be a doozie of a comment when some one calls me mister), “Couldn’t you also do that using” – and continue to describe some other method that you’d learned from some Youtube video a while back. Now, some of you probably would. But I’d give you the same answer I give everyone who asks that question, “Yep, but this is the way I do it”. You didn’t pay me to teach (or reassure) you what you already knew. You paid me because you trust the way I do things and want to see how I do them. And the audience didn’t pay to hear the way you do it, they paid to hear the way that I do.

So the question remains. How should I teach Lightroom? If there’s two ways to do something, what do I do? And if a plug-in that costs money is involved (and I use it and it’s something that I would use even if I owned my own studio/business), should I show it? Or should I just stick to doing everything the semi-free way and assume you’re only going to have Lightroom and Photoshop? You guys pick and I’ll follow.

A few ground rules: You have to pick a side. You can’t say, “teach us all the ways so we can choose”. My videos would take forever and I’d get very little done. And it’s just not fun when you have to show people 3 ways to do the same thing. So please either pick the “Show us the way you do it” side, or the “Show us the free way” side.

So have at it and let me know what you think? Thanks 🙂

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