The 5DayDeal irrevocably ends in…
My personal top five
There's so much stuff in the new edition of the 5DayDeal, that annual new bundle for all photographic training and other photographic tools such as presets, overlays, actions and more, that it's easy to be overwhelmed. In a prior blog post, I already covered the full offer. In this blog post I want to dig a bit deeper into my personal top five!
Aurora HDR 2019
Aurora HDR 2019 is by the same makers as Luminar and is one of the best – if not the best – HDR software application on the market today. If you think that HDR is only useful to make those exaggerated, cartoonish grungy edits, you're mistaken. Of course you can do that too, but HDR software is also used by landscape and architectural photographers. Something few people know, is that you can also use it to make some very moody black-and-whites, either in combination with Lightroom or Photoshop or not. Aurora HDR 2019 is normally $99. Now, you can get it together with all the other tools in the 5DayDeal for less than that. Aurora HDR 2019 is part of the basic Photography Bundle of $89.
2. Serge Ramelli’s Fine Art Photography Masterclass
Serge Ramelli is somewhat of a phenomenon. This Frenchie-with-the-charming-English-accent has managed to build a proper Lightroom training imperium over the last couple of years. 500,000 YouTube followers? I can only dream of it! In general, I often think his edits are a little over-the-top – which coming from me means something as I don't shy away from a bold Lightroom slider move or two – but as the French say ‘Qui peut le plus, peut le moins’. The Lightroom tutorials in his Fine Art Photography Master class are pretty advanced and they showcase some surprising, out-of-the-box applications of specific Lightroom tools. Amongst others, there is a really nice day-to-night tutorial in which he transforms a picture that he took during the day into a night scene. Serge’s entire Masterclass normally retails for $147. Now you can get it for $89 together with all the rest of the tutorials in the 5DayDeal.
3. Getting Started with Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw
Blake Rudis of f/64 Academy is a big name in the Photoshop training industry. He's also made a couple of Photoshop panels that are very popular with landscape photographers. In this course, he takes a really deep dive into Adobe Camera Raw. After all, not everybody works with Lightroom :-) How deep? Well… I've learned more than one thing and I'm only halfway the course. That should tell you something…
4. The Artist by Joel Grimes
Joel’s signature light setup: twoi strip lights and a beauty dish in a butterfly light position.
I think I've got about every tutorial that Joel Grimes has ever published. The fact that I started to pay more attention in my photography to working with rim light and striplights, I have Joel to thank for. This year's 5DayDeal bundle features his ‘The Artist’ course. This isn't a real hands-on tutorial but rather a motivating, almost philosophical course about how to improve in your photography, also if you're doing this for a living. Throughout the course, you'll see plenty of examples of Joel's work. Amidst all the more practical courses in the 5DayDeal, this course is a welcome and motivating change. In this course, Joel also talks about overcoming your limitations as a photographer and he knows what he's talking about, as he is colourblind! This course normally retails for $179. Now it's in the bundle, with 70 hours of other tutorials for only $89.
5. Complete Posing workshop by SLR Lounge
You know the feeling? During a workshop or on the tradeshow, generally you'll be photographing professional models that can strike a different pose with every click of your camera. But then back home, when you try to apply your recently acquired skills on your neighbour's son or daughter or even worse, on your own kids, things don't work quite as well. Posing is one of the most underestimated skills in photography. Really good models take years to get to that point. But… As a photographer you can lend your models a helping hand. In the Complete Posing Workshop by SLR Lounge there is no shortage of ideas and techniques to give even the most clumsy sitter a camera-friendly pose. This course was an eye-opener, also for me! It talks about posing men, women and – the most difficult skill of all – posing couples! The nice thing about it is that it is in part filmed live and that the public, consisting of amateur photographers, takes turns at taking the pictures while the teacher gives directions. This way, you can also learn from the mistakes that are being made.
My favourites from the Charity Bundle and the Pro-Bundle
The 5DayDeal base bundle is $89, but upon checkout, you can optionally purchase two smaller add-on bundles: the Charity Bundle and the Pro-Bundle, which will respectively set you back 24 and $39 extra. It obviously depends on your budget, but there are a couple of hidden gems amongst those two extra bundles as well. I've picked one from each bundle:
“I purchased the 5DayDeal 2 years ago. Zero regret. This one sounds even better. These packages hold extreme value and they also contribute to a very worthy cause. Such high profile contributors ensure that the quality of product and software is top notch. I can highly recommend these pacakages to anyone looking to lift their game.”
The Beginner’s guide to Photoshop (part of the Charity Bundle)
In addition to my own Photoshop for Lightroom Users course, there is another Photoshop course in the 5DayDeal. However it's not in the $89 base bundle but in the Charity Bundle. If one of your goals is to learn Photoshop, I really advise you to add the Charity Bundle to your order. This is a course by Phlearn, an authority in the field of Photoshop courses. After having watched both this course and my own, Photoshop won't have many secrets left for you!
Beverage Photography and Retouching with Rob Grimm (part of the Pro Bundle)
In this beautifully shot tutorial, you get a number of examples of the preparation, lighting setup, shooting and postprocessing of beverages, one of the trickiest forms of product and studio photography. This tutorial normally retails for $99, now it is part of the optional Pro-Bundle of $39 that you can add to the basic Photography bundle of $89.
Watched two videos from my ‘Photoshop for Lightroom users’ course for free, this weekend!
Because I'm humble, shy or both :-) – I haven't listed my own Photoshop for Lightroom users course in the top five. But in the meantime, you should know that this brand-new, seven hour course is also part of the 5DayDeal bundle. My course comprises 25 case studies (‘chapters’) with exercise files about when and how as a Lightroom user, you should go to Photoshop and back. As promised, until the end of the 5DayDeal, each day I’ll stream an entire chapter of my course for free! And because tomorrow is Sunday and I don't want to send out any emails, I'm already putting Sunday's video online today! Twice the viewing pleasure :-)
The first video is about how you can use Photoshop to clone… in perspective! You can do so with the remarkable yet highly unknown Vanishing Point Filter. The second video is about Content Aware Fill, another one of those things that I regularly go from Lightroom to Photoshop for.
Did you pick up something? Then imagine what you could learn from the full seven hour course and from all the other courses in the 2019 edition of the 5DayDeal!
Extra bonus! Buy the 5DayDeal through my link and you will receive one of the bonuses below completely free:
As a thank you for buying the 5DayDeal (and therefore my new course) through my affiliate link, I've got an extra gift for you: you can pick one item from the following list! How about one of my two texture packs, one of my two Creative Profiles packs for Lightroom Classic, a preset pack for Lightroom or a complete introductory course to Lightroom Classic? Once you've purchased the 5DayDeal bundle through this link, this other link will give you all the information you need to claim the bonus of your choice. Important: don't go looking for that bonus during the checkout procedure on the actual 5DayDeal site: this bonus is an extra offered by me personally and therefore delivery of it is handled by me, via this form!
*: + VAT for European citizens. If you have a VAT number, you can enter that during checkout and you can order VAT-free.
Affiliate disclaimer: the links in this blog post are affiliate links. When you use these links, MoreThanWords receives a commission. This commission is paid for entirely by the organizer of the bundle, 5DayDeal. Therefore this commission doesn't cost you anything extra. On the contrary, when you use my affiliate link you will receive an extra bonus that you wouldn't have had when purchasing directly.
5DayDeal 2018 Flash Sale: a free preview of my new Lightroom Library Beyond the Basics Tutorial
The 5DayDeal irrevocably ends in…
A big chunk of this year’s 5DayDeal bundle is Lightroom-related: there are a couple of tutorials and almost five hundred presets and of course there’s the Luminar plug-in, which I talked about extensively in yesterday’s blog post and video.
“How Piet expertly curates the information is what makes this program truly stand out as one of the best Lightroom training programs I’ve come across (and I’ve seen a lot).”
One of the Lightroom tutorials is a bit special for three reasons:
First of all, because it’s mine and it’s my very first full-blown English Lightroom tutorial, an accomplishment of which I’m quite proud :-).
Second because it’s a launch exclusive: for the moment, it’s only available as part of the 5DayDeal and you can’t get it anywhere else yet.
And lastly, because it focuses entirely on the Lightroom Catalog and Library. It’s an intermediate to advanced 3+ hour tutorial and I made it because every day, the workshops I teach and the emails I get in my inbox remind me that there are still a lot of people struggling with the whole concept of Lightroom.
Well, I made this tutorial for all of you: after watching it, you’ll be a full-blown Lightroom Library Ninja and you’ll leverage the advantages of Lightroom a lot better and avoid many of the pitfalls the program sometimes throws at its users, too.
Below is a 30 minute free preview of one of the chapters in the tutorial. I’ll leave it on the site as long as the countdown timer is running :-) This chapter’s about Collections and Smart Collections and although I personally consider that to be more of an entry-level feature, each workshop I teach there are quite a number of - even long term - Lightroom users that don’t (or hardly) use these powerful organisational tools. So I decided to include a video about them in the tutorial.
“Piet doesn’t throw a barrage of information at you, overwhelming you with useless data...instead, he’s taken that extra step to create an engaging curriculum that tells you exactly what you need to know.”
Even if you feel like you already know your way around collections, I’m pretty sure you’ll pick up a thing or two. For example, I hardly know anyone who uses Target Collections and yet they’re super handy! And if you want to know what else I cover in the full course, here’s a list of all the other chapters. This 3+ hour video tutorial is the culmination of 10 years of teaching Lightroom, writing about it and most of all, using it almost every single day!
Introduction: 14’ 35”
Importing: 41’
Tethered Capture: 15’ 16”
File & Folder Management: 37’ 39”
Two Lesser Known View Modes: 22’ 29”
Collections, Smart Collections & Filtering: 37’ 55”
Metadata & Keywording: 24’ 30”
Exporting: 21’ 23”
Publish Services: 10’ 52”
Exporting as a Catalog & Importing from Another Catalog: 26’ 19”
Working with an External Catalog Drive: 13’ 40”
Bonus Chapter: Back up or Back off: 14’ 40”
“If you learned something new in this free 30 minute clip, imagine how much you can learn from the 60+ hours of tutorials in the entire 5DayDeal bundle!”
Still on the fence? The 5DayDeal also includes Luminar 2018 (a $69 value), one of the most innovative Lightroom plug-ins out there. I did a free 30 minute video tutorial about it. You can watch that here.
And don’t forget, if you buy the 5DayDeal through the links on my MoreThanWords blog, you’ll receive a special bonus: my brand new high resolution Textures Pack, Vol. 01!**
*: + VAT for European citizens. If you have a valid VAT number, you can enter that upon checkout and you won’t be charged VAT.
** Texture pack will be sent out free of charge in the week after January 15 to those people who bought the 5DayDeal bundle via the links on the MoreThanWords blog or in the MoreThanWords newsletter.
The return of the 5DayDeal 2018: my free Luminar 2018 mini-course
When the 5DayDeal originally was released in October, I put up a this mini-course on Luminar 2018. With the flash-sale reprise of the 5DayDeal, only until Midnight, EST, November 25th, I thought it would be a good idea to put bring the mini-course back. Regardless of whether you want to buy the 5DayDeal or not, there’s some interesting information in there, I think :-)
The 5DayDeal irrevocably ends in…
“The inclusion of Luminar 2018 makes this year’s 5DayDeal an absolute no-brainer!”
So, the 5DayDeal is a bundle of high-quality resources for photographers: tutorial videos, Lightroom presets, textures, actions, you name it. It’s a whopping 50 gigabyte of goodies at a super steep discount. In yesterday’s blog post, I dug a little deeper into the training content that’s in this year’s 5DayDeal. But the 5DayDeal folks really outdid themselves this year, because there’s also two entire software packages included, the most important of which undoubtedly is Luminar 2018. My original plan was to make a quick three minute overview of what Luminar is but you know me: I don’t do quick very well. So it turned out to be a 25 minute mini-tutorial full of cool processing tips in general and Luminar tips in particular.
Unlike with some other bundles, this version of Luminar 2018 is exactly the same as the $69 retail version that you can buy directly on Skylum’s (makers of Luminar) website, but you’d be crazy not to pay the extra $20 and get it as part of the 5DayDeal bundle!
“Buy the 5Deal through the links on my blog and you’ll receive my High Resolution Texture Pack, Vol. 01 for free* !”
This year’s bundle includes a Luminar 2018 license, an interesting Lightroom and Photoshop plug-in that some people even use as a complete Lightroom alternative. In one of the next blog posts, I’ll go a little deeper into the unique features of Luminar that make it stand out, especially when used in conjunction with Lightroom. Until Sunday, November 25th, a copy of Luminar 2018 is included in this year’s 5DayDeal bundle. Click here for more info.
*: + VAT for European citizens. If you have a valid VAT number, you can enter that upon checkout and you won’ be charged VAT.
** You will receive your bonus textures in the week after November 15, 2018
Surprise return: this year's 5DayDeal is back... for just 72 hours...
The 2018 edition of the 5DayDeal ended over a month ago, but… the 5DayDeal people decided to bring it back to life for 72 hours only on occasion of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So, it’s effectively like a 3DayDeal now :-) If you have already purchased the 5DayDeal back in October (it’s the same thing), no need to buy it again obviously, but if you were on the fence then… now is your chance. You’ll get over $2.500 worth of photographic resources for only $89, including my not yet released Lightroom Library Beyond the Basics course. And… just like in October, I’ll throw in my $24.95 High Resolution Texture Pack if you purchase the bundle through my link!
The Reprise Flash Sale of the 5DayDeal really, positively and irrevocably ends in…
For those of you who don’t know, the 5DayDeal is a unique bundle of training content and creative tools for photographers. If you were to buy everything separately, you’d be out of more than $2,500. Now, and until November 25, 23.59 EDT only, you pay $89*. The bundle contains dozens of hours of top notch video training, multiple eBooks and hundreds of Lightroom presets and Photoshop actions. In total nearly 50 gigabyte worth of content! Specifically for this year, there’s a lot of attention to drone photography and videography, including a drone course by no one less than Trey Ratcliff.
Look at who’s standing next to Lightroom guru Serge Ramelli? Yes, that’s me and there’s also a brand new Lightroom course by me in this year’s 5DayDeal! That alone should be a reason to buy it :-)
Of course, you’re wondering if the bundle is really worth it. Is it worth $2,500? Maybe not: there’s always something that’s not quite your cup of tea but then again, there’s also a couple of hidden gems each year that you would never think of buying but that turn out to be really interesting. So, the real question is: ‘Is it worth more than $89'?’ And the answer to that question is a solid ‘Yes, absolutely!’ This bundle will do more for your photography than a new camera bag or a couple of UV filters!
Obviously, I’m slightly biased as in those 60+ hours of video training, there’s over three of my own: In 'Lightroom Library Beyond the Basics’ I guide you through some of the more advanced concepts of Lightroom Catalogs, including working with multiple catalogs, leveraging collections and smart collections, using publish services and more. This brand new course is currently only available as a part of this year’s 5DayDeal Photography bundle and is in itself valued at $99, which is more than the price of the entire bundle. As a matter of fact, there are quite a lot of tutorials in the 5DayDeal bundle that have a list price that is higher than the entire bundle.
So what’s the catch, I hear you ask? There isn’t one… by offering so much value, the 5DayDeal folks aim to sell lots of units as to make it worthwhile for all the contributors, even at that crazy discount. The only catch so to speak is that you have to buy before November 26 because the offer is valid for only 3 days. Why is it called the 5DayDeal then? Well remember, the original 5DayDeal ran in October. This is a surprise reprise, on account of Black Friday, and that’s why it only lasts three days. So think of it as the 3DayDeal :-)
If you think that you need insane budgets to produce fashion-style images, you’ll be in for a treat in Lindsay Adler’s ‘Creativity on a budget’: Lindsay first shows you how she makes six different fashion accessories on a shoestring and then continues to photograph all six.
An expensive hat? No, it’s an expertly folded placemat. Or how craftsmanship, light, lighting and pose can turn a cheap kitchen accessory into high fashion. An eye-opening course, and another one that normally retails for more than the entire 5DayDeal bundle.
To make it easier for you to determine if the 5DayDeal bundle is something for you, I’ve highlighted the content by three broad areas of interest: image editing, portrait and landscape photography. You’ll notice that even if you’re only interested in one of these topics, the bundle is already worth purchasing. If you’re interested in multiple topics, it’s really a no-brainer.
1. You’re mainly interested in image editing
The total value of the highlighted items alone is $1495. The full bundle is yours for less than a tenth of that.
In ‘The Art of Black & White in Lightroom & Beyond’, Andrew Gibson explores the beautiful world of monochrome.
Traditionally, image editing is one of the strongholds of the 5DayDeal. This year is no different. In addition to my own advanced ‘Lightroom Library beyond the Basics’ tutorial, on which I’ll expand a little more in a future blogpost, there’s also an entire Lightroom course by Serge Ramelli. Other highlights are:
Travel Pro Kit:
A vast collection of Lightroom presets that use a similar structure as I use in my own Black & White preset pack (which is currently being reworked for Lightroom Classic). By working with ‘effect-presets’ on the one hand and ‘finishing touches’ presets on the other, Travel Pro Kit creates a complete click-based editing workflow that yields impressive results in no time. The accompanying PDF shows examples of how specific looks were made in just a couple of clicks.The Art of Black & White in Lightroom and Beyond
A great course on Black & White conversion in Lightroom by Andrew Gibson, who I know from back in our Craft & Vision days. His material is always spot on, well-researched and expertly taught. This is another course that retails for more than the 5DayDeal’s bundle price.Adobe Photoshop Foundations
In this tutorial, Photoshop Guru (and founder of the well-known f64 site) Blake Rudis delves deeper into a number of Photoshop topics, ranging from selections and masks to retouching images.
Great news: this year’s 5DayDeal includes a full Luminar 2018 license!
There are several other editing-related goodies in the bundle, but probably the biggest highlight is the fact that this year’s bundle comes with a complete licence for Luminar 2018 by Skylum (formerly known as Macphun). This license alone is worth $69. Luminar used to be Mac-only, but now it’s also available for Windows. Some people use it as a Lightroom alternative, but I think it’s at its best when used as a Lightroom plug-in. In one of the following blog posts, I’ll show you a couple of the more interesting features of Luminar.
This year’s bundle also includes a Luminar 2018 license, an interesting Lightroom and Photoshop plug-in that some people even use as a complete Lightroom alternative. In one of the next blog posts, I’ll go a little deeper into the unique features of Luminar that make it stand out, especially when used in conjunction with Lightroom. Click here for more info.
2. You’re mainly interested in photographing people, with or without flash
The total value of the highlighted items is $732. The full bundle is yours for less than 15 percent of that. If you’re into photographing people, I found the following tutorials to be interesting:
Zack Arias takes nobody seriously and certainly not himself in his new Photo 101 tutorial. I like that attitude (or lack of it) :-)
Photo 101.
A new tutorial by Zack Arias, the man who, along with David Hobby, taught an entire generation how to use flash. This time, he leaves the flashes unplugged, though and focuses on the basics of photography. Photo 101 is Zacks own introductory course. I’m listing it with the portrait courses because after the introduction, Zack takes you along on three portrait shoots where he uses minimal means to produce cool shots.Creativity on a Budget.
Lindsay Adler is another big name in the photo tutorial business and rightly so. Her course to me was the surprise of this year’s bundle. In ‘Creativity on a Budget’ she shows you how you can turn cheap and often everyday items into fashion accessories but she does not stop there: in part 2, she actually photographs the fruit of her handicraft and produces some amazing results!Photographing the Bride.
This tutorial focuses on what is probably the most important type of portrait photography: bridal portraits!Finding Rembrandt: Shoot Like the Old Masters.
One of my favourite tutorials in this 5DayDeal is by one of my favourite teachers. Just like me, Chris Knight has a thing for dramatic, Rembrandt-style lighting patterns. In this video course, he dives deeply into Rembrandt portraits and he also takes you through his postproduction. Another highly recommended tutorial that by itself costs more than the entire bundle.
“A new camera makes you no more of a great photographer than a box of cake-mix makes you a great pastry chef.”
My favourite light setup: short light (in this case: short loupe light). In this tutorial, Chris Knight explores the tools and techniques to create dramatic looking portraits. Until October 16, this tutorial and many others is yours for only $89 as part of the 5DayDeal.
3. You’re mainly interested in product, landscape and architecture photography.
Admittedly, this list is shorter but that’s mainly because I only highlighted the courses that deal with the photography side of things, not the postprocessing. In practice, the other courses (such as Serge Ramelli’s Adobe Lightroom Masterclass and the Mastering Luminosity Masks course by Nick Page) contain a lot of content that is geared towards landscape and architectural photographers.
Still not convinced? I’ve got 5 more arguments for you:
This way of learning is by far the cheapest way to improve your photographic skills at your own pace, when and where you want. Most of the tutorials are downloadable video files, so you’re not tied to subscriptions or internet access to watch them. The 5DayDeal bundle gives you 60+ hours of video tutorials for less than $1.5 per hour. Yours to keep forever! The eBooks and presets come on top of that. And that’s without counting Luminar 2018!
A large part of the 5DayDeal bundle is new and if it is not new, it’s never been offered as part of another bundle.
This extra flash sale of the 5DayDeal bundle is gone forever on Sunday, November 25, 23.59 EDT
10 percent of the turnover goes to charity. In total, previous 5DayDeals have collected over $300.000 for various charities.
There are two optional bundles that you can purchase upon checkout:
The Charity Bundle and the Pro Bundle ($19 and $29, respectively). Here’s the complete list of what these bundles contain. The latter one focuses on pro photographers and includes a full wedding photography course!
*: + VAT for European citizens. If you have a valid VAT number, you can enter that upon checkout and you won’ be charged VAT.
5DayDeal 2018: a free preview of my new Lightroom Library Beyond the Basics Tutorial
The 5DayDeal irrevocably ends in…
A big chunk of this year’s 5DayDeal bundle is Lightroom-related: there are a couple of tutorials and almost five hundred presets and of course there’s the Luminar plug-in, which I talked about extensively in yesterday’s blog post and video.
“How Piet expertly curates the information is what makes this program truly stand out as one of the best Lightroom training programs I’ve come across (and I’ve seen a lot).”
One of the Lightroom tutorials is a bit special for three reasons:
First of all, because it’s mine and it’s my very first full-blown English Lightroom tutorial, an accomplishment of which I’m quite proud :-).
Second because it’s a launch exclusive: for the moment, it’s only available as part of the 5DayDeal and you can’t get it anywhere else yet.
And lastly, because it focuses entirely on the Lightroom Catalog and Library. It’s an intermediate to advanced 3+ hour tutorial and I made it because every day, the workshops I teach and the emails I get in my inbox remind me that there are still a lot of people struggling with the whole concept of Lightroom.
Well, I made this tutorial for all of you: after watching it, you’ll be a full-blown Lightroom Library Ninja and you’ll leverage the advantages of Lightroom a lot better and avoid many of the pitfalls the program sometimes throws at its users, too.
Below is a 30 minute free preview of one of the chapters in the tutorial. I’ll leave it on the site as long as the countdown timer is running :-) This chapter’s about Collections and Smart Collections and although I personally consider that to be more of an entry-level feature, each workshop I teach there are quite a number of - even long term - Lightroom users that don’t (or hardly) use these powerful organisational tools. So I decided to include a video about them in the tutorial.
“Piet doesn’t throw a barrage of information at you, overwhelming you with useless data...instead, he’s taken that extra step to create an engaging curriculum that tells you exactly what you need to know.”
Even if you feel like you already know your way around collections, I’m pretty sure you’ll pick up a thing or two. For example, I hardly know anyone who uses Target Collections and yet they’re super handy! And if you want to know what else I cover in the full course, here’s a list of all the other chapters. This 3+ hour video tutorial is the culmination of 10 years of teaching Lightroom, writing about it and most of all, using it almost every single day!
Introduction: 14’ 35”
Importing: 41’
Tethered Capture: 15’ 16”
File & Folder Management: 37’ 39”
Two Lesser Known View Modes: 22’ 29”
Collections, Smart Collections & Filtering: 37’ 55”
Metadata & Keywording: 24’ 30”
Exporting: 21’ 23”
Publish Services: 10’ 52”
Exporting as a Catalog & Importing from Another Catalog: 26’ 19”
Working with an External Catalog Drive: 13’ 40”
Bonus Chapter: Back up or Back off: 14’ 40”
“If you learned something new in this free 30 minute clip, imagine how much you can learn from the 60+ hours of tutorials in the entire 5DayDeal bundle!”
Still on the fence? The 5DayDeal also includes Luminar 2018 (a $69 value), one of the most innovative Lightroom plug-ins out there. I did a free 30 minute video tutorial about it yesterday. You can watch that here.
And don’t forget, if you buy the 5DayDeal through the links on my MoreThanWords blog, you’ll receive a special bonus: my brand new high resolution Textures Pack!**
*: + VAT for European citizens. If you have a valid VAT number, you can enter that upon checkout and you won’t be charged VAT.
** Texture pack will be sent out free of charge in the week after November 15 to those people who bought the 5DayDeal bundle via the links on the MoreThanWords blog or in the MoreThanWords newsletter.
5DayDeal 2018: my free Luminar 2018 mini-course
The 5DayDeal irrevocably ends in…
“The inclusion of Luminar 2018 makes this year’s 5DayDeal an absolute no-brainer!”
So, the 5DayDeal is a bundle of high-quality resources for photographers: tutorial videos, Lightroom presets, textures, actions, you name it. It’s a whopping 50 gigabyte of goodies at a super steep discount. In yesterday’s blog post, I dug a little deeper into the training content that’s in this year’s 5DayDeal. But the 5DayDeal folks really outdid themselves this year, because there’s also two entire software packages included, the most important of which undoubtedly is Luminar 2018. My original plan was to make a quick three minute overview of what Luminar is but you know me: I don’t do quick very well. So it turned out to be a 25 minute mini-tutorial full of cool processing tips in general and Luminar tips in particular.
Unlike with some other bundles, this version of Luminar 2018 is exactly the same as the $69 retail version that you can buy directly on Skylum’s (makers of Luminar) website, but you’d be crazy not to pay the extra $20 and get it as part of the 5DayDeal bundle!
This year’s bundle includes a Luminar 2018 license, an interesting Lightroom and Photoshop plug-in that some people even use as a complete Lightroom alternative. In one of the next blog posts, I’ll go a little deeper into the unique features of Luminar that make it stand out, especially when used in conjunction with Lightroom. Until October 16, a copy of Luminar 2018 is included in this year’s 5DayDeal bundle. Click here for more info.
*: + VAT for European citizens. If you have a valid VAT number, you can enter that upon checkout and you won’ be charged VAT.
** You will receive your bonus textures in the week after November 15, 2018
The 5DayDeal: What's in it for you?
The 5DayDeal irrevocably ends in…
Oh yes, it’s that time of year again. Once a year, for 5 days only, you can purchase the 5DayDeal Photography bundle. This year’s edition runs from October 11 to Tuesday, October 16, noon PDT (that’s 9 PM Brussels time). For those of you who don’t know, the 5DayDeal is a unique bundle of training content and creative tools for photographers. If you were to buy everything separately, you’d be out of more than $2,500. Now, and until October 16 only, you pay $89*. The bundle contains dozens of hours of top notch video training, multiple eBooks and hundreds of Lightroom presets and Photoshop actions. In total nearly 50 gigabyte worth of content! Specifically for this year, there’s a lot of attention to drone photography and videography, including a drone course by no one less than Trey Ratcliff.
Look at who’s standing next to Lightroom guru Serge Ramelli? Yes, that’s me and there’s also a brand new Lightroom course by me in this year’s 5DayDeal! That alone should be a reason to buy it :-)
Of course, you’re wondering if the bundle is really worth it. Is it worth $2,500? Maybe not: there’s always something that’s not quite your cup of tea but then again, there’s also a couple of hidden gems each year that you would never think of buying but that turn out to be really interesting. So, the real question is: ‘Is it worth more than $89'?’ And the answer to that question is a solid ‘Yes, absolutely!’ This bundle will do more for your photography than a new camera bag or a couple of UV filters!
Obviously, I’m slightly biased as in those 60+ hours of video training, there’s over three of my own: In 'Lightroom Library Beyond the Basics’ I guide you through some of the more advanced concepts of Lightroom Catalogs, including working with multiple catalogs, leveraging collections and smart collections, using publish services and more. This brand new course is currently only available as a part of this year’s 5DayDeal Photography bundle and is in itself valued at $99, which is more than the price of the entire bundle. As a matter of fact, there are quite a lot of tutorials in the 5DayDeal bundle that have a list price that is higher than the entire bundle.
So what’s the catch, I hear you ask? There isn’t one… by offering so much value, the 5DayDeal folks aim to sell lots of units as to make it worthwhile for all the contributors, even at that crazy discount. The only catch so to speak is that you have to buy before October 16 because the offer is valid for only 5 days. Once you’ve bought, you’ve got until November 30 to download your 50 gigabyte worth of goodies, though!
If you think that you need insane budgets to produce fashion-style images, you’ll be in for a treat in Lindsay Adler’s ‘Creativity on a budget’: Lindsay first shows you how she makes six different fashion accessories on a shoestring and then continues to photograph all six.
An expensive hat? No, it’s an expertly folded placemat. Or how craftsmanship, light, lighting and pose can turn a cheap kitchen accessory into high fashion. An eye-opening course, and another one that normally retails for more than the entire 5DayDeal bundle.
To make it easier for you to determine if the 5DayDeal bundle is something for you, I’ve highlighted the content by three broad areas of interest: image editing, portrait and landscape photography. You’ll notice that even if you’re only interested in one of these topics, the bundle is already worth purchasing. If you’re interested in multiple topics, it’s really a no-brainer.
1. You’re mainly interested in image editing
The total value of the highlighted items alone is $1495. The full bundle is yours for less than a tenth of that.
In ‘The Art of Black & White in Lightroom & Beyond’, Andrew Gibson explores the beautiful world of monochrome.
Traditionally, image editing is one of the strongholds of the 5DayDeal. This year is no different. In addition to my own advanced ‘Lightroom Library beyond the Basics’ tutorial, on which I’ll expand a little more in a future blogpost, there’s also an entire Lightroom course by Serge Ramelli. Other highlights are:
Travel Pro Kit:
A vast collection of Lightroom presets that use a similar structure as I use in my own Black & White preset pack (which is currently being reworked for Lightroom Classic). By working with ‘effect-presets’ on the one hand and ‘finishing touches’ presets on the other, Travel Pro Kit creates a complete click-based editing workflow that yields impressive results in no time. The accompanying PDF shows examples of how specific looks were made in just a couple of clicks.The Art of Black & White in Lightroom and Beyond
A great course on Black & White conversion in Lightroom by Andrew Gibson, who I know from back in our Craft & Vision days. His material is always spot on, well-researched and expertly taught. This is another course that retails for more than the 5DayDeal’s bundle price.Adobe Photoshop Foundations
In this tutorial, Photoshop Guru (and founder of the well-known f64 site) Blake Rudis delves deeper into a number of Photoshop topics, ranging from selections and masks to retouching images.
Great news: this year’s 5DayDeal includes a full Luminar 2018 license!
There are several other editing-related goodies in the bundle, but probably the biggest highlight is the fact that this year’s bundle comes with a complete licence for Luminar 2018 by Skylum (formerly known as Macphun). This license alone is worth $69. Luminar used to be Mac-only, but now it’s also available for Windows. Some people use it as a Lightroom alternative, but I think it’s at its best when used as a Lightroom plug-in. In one of the following blog posts, I’ll show you a couple of the more interesting features of Luminar.
This year’s bundle also includes a Luminar 2018 license, an interesting Lightroom and Photoshop plug-in that some people even use as a complete Lightroom alternative. In one of the next blog posts, I’ll go a little deeper into the unique features of Luminar that make it stand out, especially when used in conjunction with Lightroom. Until October 16, a copy of Luminar 2018 is included in this year’s 5DayDeal bundle. Click here for more info.
2. You’re mainly interested in photographing people, with or without flash
The total value of the highlighted items is $732. The full bundle is yours for less than 15 percent of that. If you’re into photographing people, I found the following tutorials to be interesting:
Zack Arias takes nobody seriously and certainly not himself in his new Photo 101 tutorial. I like that attitude (or lack of it) :-)
Photo 101.
A new tutorial by Zack Arias, the man who, along with David Hobby, taught an entire generation how to use flash. This time, he leaves the flashes unplugged, though and focuses on the basics of photography. Photo 101 is Zacks own introductory course. I’m listing it with the portrait courses because after the introduction, Zack takes you along on three portrait shoots where he uses minimal means to produce cool shots.Creativity on a Budget.
Lindsay Adler is another big name in the photo tutorial business and rightly so. Her course to me was the surprise of this year’s bundle. In ‘Creativity on a Budget’ she shows you how you can turn cheap and often everyday items into fashion accessories but she does not stop there: in part 2, she actually photographs the fruit of her handicraft and produces some amazing results!Photographing the Bride.
This tutorial focuses on what is probably the most important type of portrait photography: bridal portraits!Finding Rembrandt: Shoot Like the Old Masters.
One of my favourite tutorials in this 5DayDeal is by one of my favourite teachers. Just like me, Chris Knight has a thing for dramatic, Rembrandt-style lighting patterns. In this video course, he dives deeply into Rembrandt portraits and he also takes you through his postproduction. Another highly recommended tutorial that by itself costs more than the entire bundle.
“A new camera makes you no more of a great photographer than a box of cake-mix makes you a great pastry chef.”
My favourite light setup: short light (in this case: short loupe light). In this tutorial, Chris Knight explores the tools and techniques to create dramatic looking portraits. Until October 16, this tutorial and many others is yours for only $89 as part of the 5DayDeal.
3. You’re mainly interested in product, landscape and architecture photography.
Admittedly, this list is shorter but that’s mainly because I only highlighted the courses that deal with the photography side of things, not the postprocessing. In practice, the other courses (such as Serge Ramelli’s Adobe Lightroom Masterclass and the Mastering Luminosity Masks course by Nick Page) contain a lot of content that is geared towards landscape and architectural photographers.
Still not convinced? I’ve got 5 more arguments for you:
This way of learning is by far the cheapest way to improve your photographic skills at your own pace, when and where you want. Most of the tutorials are downloadable video files, so you’re not tied to subscriptions or internet access to watch them. The 5DayDeal bundle gives you 60+ hours of video tutorials for less than $1.5 per hour. Yours to keep forever! The eBooks and presets come on top of that. And that’s without counting Luminar 2018!
A large part of the 5DayDeal bundle is new and if it is not new, it’s never been offered as part of another bundle.
The bundle is gone on October 16, noon PDT.
10 percent of the turnover goes to charity. In total, previous 5DayDeals have collected over $300.000 for various charities.
There are two optional bundles that you can purchase upon checkout:
The Charity Bundle and the Pro Bundle ($19 and $29, respectively). Here’s the complete list of what these bundles contain. The latter one focuses on pro photographers and includes a full wedding photography course!
*: + VAT for European citizens. If you have a valid VAT number, you can enter that upon checkout and you won’ be charged VAT.
5 Day Deal 2017 Photography Business and Marketing Bundle
Over $2.200 of resources for only $97
If you've followed this blog, you probably know about the 5 Day Deal. The folks at 5 Day Deal bundle photographic training resources, Lightroom presets, video tutorials and Photoshop actions into one heavily discounted bundle. Starting now, they have a new bundle out, which is very interesting because it touches on the business and marketing aspects of photography. As a professional photographer, expecially if you're a one-man-band, you're really only using a camera 10 percent of the time. The rest of the time is spent on marketing, finding new clients, putting in bids, doing your taxes, and so on. Yet, most of the training available always focuses on the creative part of photography or on postprocessing.
This bundle is a much-needed change from that. It's a must-buy for anyone who is making or is thinking of making aake a living, either full-time or part-time, in photography. At only $97 + tax, it's one of the best investments you can make, especially knowing that the full retail price of the bundle is well over $2.200. Some of the individual courses in the bundle cost more than the bundle price. Where's the catch, then? There isn't any, other than the fact that it's only around for 5 days, until noon on January 24th, to be exact.
My top-5 of what's included
There's something for everybody and if you get tired of the marketing and business talk and advice, there are even a couple of creative resources as well. Check out the full list of resources here!
1. Susan Stripling's Wedding Business Fundamentals
The wedding photography industry is probably one of the most competitive businesses out there. It's really a mine-field and the fact that you're photographing a once-in-a-lifetime (well in some cases twice-in-a-lifetime) event won't ease your mind as a budding wedding photographer. This course covers over 300 pages and dozens of videos with do's and don'ts to help starting and more experienced wedding photographers alike with marketing and pricing.
Normally, this resource is $199 by itself, now it's included in the Complete Photography Business and Marketing Bundle 2017.
2. Perfect Facebook Ads: The Photographer's Guide by Photography Spark
Ever tried Facebook ads? It's a minefield. Or should I say, a swamp. A swamp that sucks your hard-earned money away faster than you can earn it. Yet, if you play it right, Facebook ads can help your business tremendously. This in-depth eBook will teach you all you need to know and the mistakes you should avoid when setting up a Facebook ad campaign.
Normally, this resource is $99 by itself, now it's included in the Complete Photography Business and Marketing Bundle 2017.
3. Marketing Bootcamp 2.0 by Donal Doherty
Like the previous resource, Donal also talks about Facebook ads but that's just one of the subjects. He also covers the importance of automation (after all, you don't want to spend too much time on repetitive tasks. You want to photograph, right? Donal also covers blogging, Instagram and Google Adwords.
Normally, this resource is $60 by itself, now it's included in the Complete Photography Business and Marketing Bundle 2017.
4. What Should I Charge by Joel Grimes
This is probably the biggest question facing the beginning professional photographer after 'Where do I get my clients' (on which there's also a course in this bundle, by the way). Too many starting (and even more experienced) photographers have no realistic idea about prices. It's so hard to put a value on your own work. Charge too little and it's hard to raise your prices afterwards. Charge too much and you run the risk of not getting a job in the first place. Joel Grimes knows what he's talking about: he's a very successful commercial photographer and in this one hour course, he covers positioning yourself in the market place, how to avoid pricing pitfalls, and how to successfully prepare a bid.
Normally, this resource is $80 by itself, now it's included in the Complete Photography Business and Marketing Bundle 2017.
5. Mastering the Model Shoot on Location
In any photography business, it's 80 percent business and marketing and 20 percent shooting. That's why after 4 business and marketing oriented resources, I'll finish this top-5 with a creative resource. Frank Doorhof, himself an example of a highly successful photographer, has included his 100 minute Mastering The Model Shoot on Location video.
Normally, this resource is $35 by itself, now it's included in the Complete Photography Business and Marketing Bundle 2017.
The total value of this top-5 alone is $473. But there's plenty more. In fact, let me give you one more tip myself. 10 percent of the sales of this bundle go to charity. But during checkout, you get the option to double the charity amount (It's called 'Charity Match'. This will cost you only $19.47 extra and if you do, good karma will come your way by way of some extra free content, like Serge Ramelli's Interior Design Photography Bundle (a $147 value by itself), Kevin Kubota's Lightroom Presets Workflow Collection (a $49 value), Blake Rudis' Beginners Guide to Photoshop Actions ($29 value). The 5 Day Deal is a no-brainer and the Charity Match option is a no-brainer within that no-brainer.
The Charity Match option costs 20 dollars extra in exchange for which you receive $400 worth of extra content and you also get that warm, fuzzy feeling of having doubled your charity contribution!
If you're even only remotely interested in becoming a semi-professional photographer, this will do so much more for your career than any filter, camera bag or leather strap ever will!
Just don't forget, the sale of the Complete Photography Business and Marketing Bundle 2017 ends forever at noon, January 24th (PST).