Scott Kelby: Photographer, Author and Educator

Updated October 2026.

This is not a review of his teaching, and it is not a first-hand account. It is a researched profile of one of the best-known names in photo education, built from his own pages, his company’s pages and a 2014 interview. If you have seen his name on a Photoshop book or a training video and wondered who he is and what photographers can take from his work, this is for you.

I name the source for each fact. Where I give an opinion, I say it is mine.

Who Scott Kelby is

On Scott Kelby’s own About page, he describes his occupation as travel photographer and “Photoshop Guy,” president and CEO of KelbyOne, founder of Photoshop User Magazine, conference technical chair for the Photoshop World Conference, host of the talk show The Grid, founder of the annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk, and author of a string of bestselling photography, Lightroom and Photoshop books. He lists the Tampa Bay area as home.

Wikipedia’s Scott Kelby article adds some detail: he is editor and publisher of Photoshop User magazine, president and co-founder of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and president of Kelby Media Group, a training and publishing company based in Oldsmar, Florida. It says he has written more than 60 books and has been training Photoshop users since 1993. Wikipedia marks some of its sales claims as needing better sources, so for his book sales I rely on what he says himself.

Save

The books

In his own words, on his About page, he wrote “The Digital Photography Book,” which he calls the bestselling book in history on digital photography. He says he won the Benjamin Franklin Award for “The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers” and that he was named the number one bestselling computer and technology author in the world for six years straight, and the top-selling author of photography books for six years running. Those are his claims, and I have not checked the underlying sales data. He also says he is finishing a coffee-table-style educational book called “Crush the Composition.”

The Wikipedia publication list shows how long this has gone on. It starts with Photoshop 6 titles in 2000 and runs through Photoshop, Lightroom, Elements and digital photography books for more than two decades. Judging only by the titles, my own inference is that much of the list is Photoshop and Lightroom software training. A list of titles does not show how each book teaches, so treat that as a reading of the titles and not a review of the books.

The 2014 SmugMug film and interview

The video below is from the SmugMug Films series. SmugMug published a written interview with Kelby alongside it in March 2014, so everything I quote from that interview is as of 2014. His tools and projects have probably changed since.

A few things stood out to me in the SmugMug interview from March 2014.

• He came from design. Before photography he was a full-time graphic designer. He and his wife ran a small design firm that made ads and collateral for agencies too small to have their own art departments.
• His advice on gear. Asked what he would tell himself at the start, he said: “Don’t worry so much about the gear.” He also called himself a gear hound who likes to play with new equipment, so he does not pretend the gear is boring.
• Flexibility. He said photography taught him to be flexible and go with the flow, because on a shoot things do not always go as planned, and business is the same.
• Starting small. He said the education business started with $750, not $750,000, and that funding was the biggest challenge.
• The gap he saw. His “aha” moment was that there was no single recognized place to learn Photoshop all year long, so he set out to build one.
• Sports work. In 2014 he said his favorite thing to shoot was NFL football. He said he covered Tampa Bay Buccaneers home games for a sports news wire service, and that he had switched that year from Nikon to Canon for sports.

None of that is flashy, and I think that is the point. The pattern is a designer who learned to teach, saw a hole in what was available and filled it.

Save

KelbyOne, Photoshop World and The Grid

KelbyOne’s About page describes the company as a place that teaches photographers and designers to create the images they have always dreamed of, and lists its core values as education, quality and community. Its numbers, as the company states them, include more than 1,000 courses in the membership, four or more live online conferences a year, 50 or more episodes of The Grid a year and two or more three-day Photoshop World conferences a year.

Kelby also described, in the 2014 interview, how he runs the education side. He said his wife Kalebra handles the business side so he can focus on teaching, and that he still teaches around 24 live seminars a year. He said that standing in front of a room of photographers and watching their faces tells him where they are stuck, and that social media lets him hear directly what people need next. In my opinion, that listening habit explains a lot about why his training stays practical. Ask the audience what is hard, then teach that.

The Worldwide Photo Walk

Wikipedia’s Scott Kelby article says Kelby started the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk in 2008. The Worldwide Photo Walk site for the 2026 edition says participants walked to support the kids at the Springs of Hope orphanage in Kenya, and that a photo contest followed in which Kelby picks 10 finalists and one overall winner. KelbyOne’s About page counts more than 500 walks. The 2026 walk’s own page asks every participant to donate at least $1, and it notes that some walk locations, such as zoos or national parks, may charge separate admission. Even so, a group walk is an easy way to practice and meet other photographers, and I like that it is built around a cause.

Save

A day in his work, and his gear, as of 2014

The SmugMug interview also gives a picture of how he spent his time then. He said his days usually start with meetings or a video shoot, and that he shoots a lot of video, from reviews and features to online classes and promos. He described a typical week that mixed location shoots, stills and video with office meetings and a live show broadcast every Wednesday. He also said he has to make time to shoot, and that his favorite subject, NFL football, is mostly on Sundays for around four months.

He was open about tools in that interview, which is useful for a time stamp. He said he had just moved from Nikon to Canon, with the EOS-1D X as his sports body, and that his favorite lenses were the 70-200mm f/2.8, 300mm f/2.8 and 400mm f/2.8. He named ThinkTank Photo bags, a 15-inch MacBook Pro and an iPad Air as things he could not live without, said Lightroom had made his post-processing life much easier, and said most of his lighting gear was Elinchrom while he was trying some Profoto. That was 2014. His About page today lists Westcott FJ-400 strobes among his favorite stuff, so his kit has clearly moved on, which is a good reminder that nobody’s gear list is permanent.

The same About page lists guitar, piano and synths, studio recording, drums and sports photography as his interests. I mention it because it fits the pattern in the interview: someone who keeps a creative hobby going next to a very busy job.

How he talks about marketing and teaching

Asked what made his marketing work, he said the most important thing was letting the company’s passion for teaching carry over to customers. He said customers can feel that the team is building the education they want for themselves and uses its own product, and that this turned customers into a large group of evangelists he never set out to build. I would not copy that as a tactic, because it only works if it is true. As an idea for anyone who teaches or sells photography, it is worth keeping: be the kind of teacher you wanted when you were stuck.

What photographers can take from his work

These are my own takeaways, not Kelby’s words.

• Learn the software, but do not let it be the whole job. His books and videos teach Photoshop and Lightroom, yet he describes himself first as a photographer. Editing helps a good frame. It does not replace one.
• Keep shooting. He said he has to make time to shoot, and picked a seasonal subject he loves. A regular project, even a small one, keeps your eye working.
• Teach what you just learned. His education company grew from noticing a gap. If you are one step ahead of a beginner, you can explain things in a way an expert has forgotten how to.
• Go to the people. His live seminars and the photo walk both put photographers in the same place. Shooting with others shows you what you do not know yet.
• Treat gear as a tool. His own advice was not to worry so much about it.

If you want to see the editing side in practice, our post on making colors come to life in Photoshop walks through making colors stronger in Photoshop. For the shooting side, our portrait photography guide and landscape photography guide cover the basics of those subjects. The guides are reading, not courses, and they sit alongside the Academy course mentioned below.

Save

Where to keep learning

If editing is what you want to work on, the Shut Your Aperture Academy has a Lightroom Editing course with 10 modules. You need to create an account or sign in to access the courses. For lighting, which Kelby talks about often, the gear box below covers a current version of a strobe family he lists among his favorite things.

Kelby’s own training is on KelbyOne. This profile does not compare the two, so look at a few videos or lessons from each and see whose way of explaining things clicks for you.

Save