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05/17/2014 04:44:33 PM · #1 |
I have dabbled, over the years, with free trials of Lightroom, but I've never gotten my head around the whole idea of "importing" and "libraries". My organizational system is unwieldy at best, and my memory's not what it used to be :-( Meanwhile I'm paying Adobe $9.99 a month for Photoshop CC and that subscription includes LR, so...
It's GOT to be time to bite the bullet, learn the program, and migrate from Bridge to Lightroom. So what I'm looking for is your recommendations for the absolute best BOOK for learning LR, from A to Z. I'm a book learner. Video tutorials don't usually work for me because I'm deaf and I can't follow the narration.
There you have it. Where should I go? Help a guy out before I drop the ball yet AGAIN, willya? |
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05/17/2014 04:53:41 PM · #2 |
I will be keeping an eye on this thread because other than the deaf bit, I am in exactly the same boat as you, Robert - I periodically try to make friends with it, but still haven't managed.
I can't stand LR, but I'm sure I'm just having an attitude problem. Any software with THAT many loyal fans can't be as awful as I think it is.
With some guidance, perhaps I, too, can see the LR light. |
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05/17/2014 04:58:38 PM · #3 |
| The official guide can be a perfect solution. LR is not a very complicated software and the guide is not as long as Photoshop manual, so reading and studying 200 pages is not a hard task for a man like you Robert. I'm studying it myself right now to get the Adobe certification. |
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05/17/2014 05:04:11 PM · #4 |
Alex, this will be very hard for me to put into words, but I'll try to make sense LOL.
I don't like the official "manual" because it is written from Adobe's perspective. THEY think the way LR is set out is perfectly reasonable and easy and normal. To ME, it is not - I can't wrap my head around it.
I would love to see a manual written by someone like me, who thought it was super weird, but then managed to understand it. Such a person would attack the issue in different ways and probably make more sense to me. |
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05/17/2014 05:19:33 PM · #5 |
//www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321700910/ref=wms_ohs_product_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is what I have, and was pretty happy with it. It's for 3, but I'm sure there's a newer version. Don't have anything to compare it to, so don't know if it's the best, but it made the concepts easy to figure out. And it was written in a way that made sense, not user manual/technical style, but used real world examples to walk you through the concepts. And was done in an order that made sense, for example, importing and how to organize the library was the first chapter.
Message edited by author 2014-05-17 17:20:23. |
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05/17/2014 05:31:58 PM · #6 |
I learned LR5 mostly by online videos of one sort or another, but there were/are large gaps in my knowledge using that method.
I am filling the gaps with two rather encyclopaedic books that I like: Scott Kelby's Lightroom 5 Book for Digital Photographers (533pp), and Martin Evening's The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book (713pp). Both of them are packed with information and you can either begin at the beginning and read through them or hunt around for what interests you.
They are pretty thick books, but with photos on virtually every page they are not quite as daunting as they seem at first. Kelby sets things out in numbered steps which are easy to follow, but I think Evening is a bit more advanced. Evening uses chapter and sub-chapter headings that make it easy to find something you want to read. I would recommend both of them (I guess I just did) as I don't think you can go wrong with either of them, but my favorite of the two is Martin Evening's book as I think it just takes me further than Scott Kelby's book does.
I'm using Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5, just as you are Robert.
That's my two cents worth. Hope it helps.
(By the way, I love Lightroom, so I encourage you to learn the program. My workflow begins in Lightroom, then moves to Photoshop and NIK jointly. So much of the heavy lifting is done in Lightroom that the other two tools are used for specific pieces rather than wholesale post-processing.)
Message edited by author 2014-05-17 17:37:42. |
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05/17/2014 06:06:41 PM · #7 |
What version of lightroom do you own?
But I have found this book and I am cheap when it comes to books and things,
Photoshop Lightroom 2 For Dummies [Book] (rented through the library)
by Rob Sylvan · Wiley · Paperback · 354 pages
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Workflow Bible [Book] (brought)
by Mark Fitzgerald · Wiley · Paperback · 538 pages
I prefer the follow through method kind.. I really prefer the dummies books because those tend to be the best, but for lightroom, I liked the work flow book because it gives more details on how to keep things organized as well as how to use it on other things.. I would suggest this one.. That is just me though
It was rated 4.5 for reviews and I rate it that as well. The dummy book I would rate it a 3 because it was good to follow through, but it didn't give me what I needed.
Message edited by author 2014-05-17 18:11:05. |
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05/17/2014 06:49:39 PM · #8 |
| I have an older version of this one, and I do recommend it. It's written from a photographer's perspective, and information is presented in an engaging manner. |
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05/17/2014 08:19:43 PM · #9 |
Check here You will find some books and not sure if those would help.
Message edited by author 2014-05-17 20:19:54. |
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05/18/2014 07:11:50 AM · #10 |
| Another vote for the Kelby book. Well laid out, module by module, and it gives you a lot of insight into the those modules that most folks don't take full advantage of. LR's biggest plus is its organizational and publishing functions. The rest is just a well laid out ACR engine. |
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