Is anyone a member of SLRLounge?

I'm just wanting to learn more about posing and lighting and found SLR Loung. Looks like there is a ton of useful info on there.

Its $350 annually to access all the tutorials so just wondering if anyone is a member and how you like it?

$350 a year is waaay too expensive for me. There's a ton of other resources available for far less or free. For example do you know that B&H Photo/video has Event Space? They are constantly bringing in top talent for workshops, presentations. They're recorded and you can access them through YouTube. The other big brick and mortar in NY is Adorama, which also has a ton of video tutorials found on YouTube.

There's Phlearn.com $8.50mo, PetaPixel.com Kelby One Live, $9.99 mo.

I used to subscribe to Kelby One, but dropped it, and now rely mainly on what I can find through Youtube.

Canon's website has a ton of tutorials and videos.

I would guess Nikon does the same.

Seems a little pricey to me. There is a lot of free stuff out there.

I'll play Devil's Advocate.

I am a non-paying member. I follow one author from there, Brittany Smith, fashion photographer. Her work helps guide what I do in fashion photography.

What's $350? You have a full frame camera and two L lenses, not cheap. $350 is probably less than 10% of the current value of your equipment. While that's not nothing, you couldn't replace any single piece of equipment in your signature with that money. Honestly, $350 isn't that much money if you can afford the equipment you have.

I'd guess something about SLR Lounge resonated with you, made sense to you. There are individual photography "courses" that are in that cost range, and all you get is the one course. A day/weekend seminar can easily cost that. The SLR Lounge premium membership appears to include all of their courses, albeit streamed on demand; you cannot download them. But so what? If you sign up and take advantage of it, then you're getting the bargain. You have access to everything.

I'd say this. Look at the workshops and courses they offer. Figure out which ones you want. Click on each of the products they have, and look at the details they provide, including the table of contents for each one. Does the course seem to cover what you need? Is there $350+ worth of materials you'd want to use over all of the products you want? Could those workshops and courses take you farther than you are right now? Will you be able to apply what they're teaching? Answer these for yourself, and you'll have a good sense as to what you should do.

I've spent money on various courses, some of which were really good and some not. It's always a bit of a gamble. Additionally, what works for me might not work for you and vice versa. If everything looks good for you, go for it. Do a year, but then use it. Watch, study, practice, and apply it to your work.

Good luck!

Your right, I watched the first free tutorial and instantly learned something. My main desire is to learn posing and using a flash correctly (or multiple flashes)

It's not really about the money, I just wanted to hear from someone that Has paid and what their opinion is.

I DIDN'T know about B&H and Adorama tutorials so I will look into that! Thanks for the help!

Take the alternative advice of others above.

In this day and age of free videos and tutorials - and there are tons and tons of them on any subject you can imagine - $350 is not too much - rather, it's outrageously out of place.

There are many place to learn - for free or at a much lower cost - everything that is on SLR Lounge, plus more.

Theirs is a business model that will not survive. Don't be caught holding an empty bag.

Learn to search and cull the internet. You'll find what you want... plus more.

mathogre wrote in post #18680115
I'll play Devil's Advocate.

I am a non-paying member. I follow one author from there, Brittany Smith, fashion photographer. Her work helps guide what I do in fashion photography.

What's $350? You have a full frame camera and two L lenses, not cheap. $350 is probably less than 10% of the current value of your equipment. While that's not nothing, you couldn't replace any single piece of equipment in your signature with that money. Honestly, $350 isn't that much money if you can afford the equipment you have.

I'd guess something about SLR Lounge resonated with you, made sense to you. There are individual photography "courses" that are in that cost

Sounds logical, so to carry that thought through, it would boil down to whether I can get a $1000 lens free, or need to pay for it. The main question is can it be gained for free. And I have acquired some nice free stuff before ranging from a generator to furniture.

But on Youtube, for example, there's several good photographers continually sharing lighting setups and gear information. If it's similar to what SLRLounge charges for, then why not get it free on the other channels. If SLRLounge has unique information, then the cost sounds reasonable. About equal to the fee of a single college class at a community college for one course.

reefvilla wrote in post #18680123
Your right, I watched the first free tutorial and instantly learned something. My main desire is to learn posing and using a flash correctly (or multiple flashes)

It's not really about the money, I just wanted to hear from someone that Has paid and what their opinion is.

I DIDN'T know about B&H and Adorama tutorials so I will look into that! Thanks for the help!

This link will take you directly to all of the tutorials and features in the Adorama Learning Center: https://www.adorama.co​m/alc/

Thanks!

HelenOster wrote in post #18683294
This link will take you directly to all of the tutorials and features in the Adorama Learning Center: https://www.adorama.co​m/alc/

I learned a lot from Mark Wallace about flash photography. Good videos.

The net is full of free garbage and some good stuff. Really depends on what one value places on one's time spending wading through the garbage to get those few good nuggets. Personally it would not take too much time for me to chew up $350 of my time wasted n a bunch of YouTube garbage.

Every one's MMV of course...but think what your time is worth.

digital paradise wrote in post #18683323
I learned a lot from Mark Wallace about flash photography. Good videos.

Last night I was watching Joe Edelman on Youtube again, and recalled how useful I found his videos as well as Mark Wallace that you mentioned, or the Slanted Lens. Even last week, a search for "depth of field" for something, pulled up some videos B & H had done a series on, including this photographer, Ghionis:

https://youtu.be/0nEQN​I-SmwM

I've seen some of SLRLounge's public content and it's good, but I think a lot of those others have equally good tips, and in some cases maybe beyond due to showing ways to improvise.

To add to what Hogloff wrote above, just as the net is full of free garbage and some good stuff, likewise seminars, magazines and books are full of free garbage and some good stuff. My first 3 supervisors in horticulture were the same way too. A mix of genius and weird or flawed technique.

Take a look at some of the B&H videos. There are several really good ones on using flash. Also, google search Syl Arena, better yet here https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=J0Wc0Jo2vZk . There is another presenter Bob Davis who has some good videos at B&H, here is one of them https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=4AoaNMWvfZE.

I have a KelbyOne membership and have found it to be informative over the years, but lately I've been questioning the value of the membership. I have been drifting more to wildlife photography (I want to be like Pondrader when I grow up) and Kelby doesn't do a lot of wildlife. I'm not sure if my interest have drifted from Kelby's content, if my skills have matured (in my mind) beyond the offerings at Kelby, or if the content is deteriorating. With all that said, I do enjoy Scott's Lightroom tutorials.

Thanks for all the help and links!! To everyone