Hi all

I'm about to invest in some online tutorials, to brush up on my CS2 skills. I've pretty much got it down to either lynda.com or kelbytraining.com, and I've signed up to view a couple of demo lessons on both websites.

From what I can see, there's not much to chose between the two. Anyone got an experience with these, either good or bad.

Thanks

Mark.

Lynda.com is very good - not tried the Kelby ones - although I rather imagine they will be good - but irritating (based on his books and the odd videos I have seen of his).

Especially for us UK guys!

Additionally -you get access to a whole host of stuff with Lynda for the same fee.

Cheers Paul.

I have to say that Kelby's style started to grate a little after the first chapter in the demo tutorials! However, the course content looks a little better suited to me, so I'm probably going to give it a try.

I'll post a mini review in a month or so...

Mark.

I've been using Lynda.com for a year now and just renewed. I've read some of Scott Kelby's books and seen a few of his tutorials. I don't find him particularly annoying, but feel Deke McClelland is more to my taste. His "One on One" Photoshop and Illustrator series on Lynda.com are worth the price of admission alone. With it's increasing and already "exhaustive" content, I can wholeheartedly recommend Lynda.com.

I've done pretty much all of the Photoshop tutorials (CS3, some CS2 when required) on both sites. If you are going for a structured learning approach, I would start with lynda.com. Chris Orwig's classes are a good place to start. Deke McClelland's class are also good, especially for advanced users (channels and masking, sharpening etc.). If you need Lightroom 2 ... kelbytraining is better right now.

Once you really feel that you have your Photoshop skills down kelbytraining has some really nice classes at the advanced level. I really liked the LAB color classes. Kelbytraining has more classes in the area of photographic technique ... I really like the class on Pano's and the many classes on lighting and small flashes. I don't want to leave you with the idea that kelbytraining does not have basic classes, they do and they are even faster to go through than the lynda.com classes. It is just that the lynda.com classes are much more detailed. But, that requires a large commitment of time.

In the end, you have to decide how much time you can allocate. My advice is to upgrade to CS3 before starting the classes ... even if you don't upgrade, take the CS3 classes. I really enjoy online classes and subscribe to both sites.

Good luck,
Bill.

UPDATE: I just noticed that Chris Orwig just added a Lightroom 2 class on lynda.com ... so if you need lightroom training there are good offerings on both lynda.com and kelbytraining.com. I really like Chris Orwig's style so I will be starting his class here soon.

I can't help but recommend VTC.com for photoshop CS3. I just finished doing a major 8-hour course for them for photographers, and if I do say so myself, it's not bad.

http://www.vtc.com/products/Adobe-Photoshop-CS3-for-Photographers-Tutorials.htm

Let me know what you think.

Phil

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, guys.

I've had a closer look and think that maybe Lynda is the way to go - as UCSB noted above, there's a lot of Lightroom tutorials on there, too, and that's something that interests me.

Now I've just got to find some time to dedicate to these....

Mark.