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Author Topic: Need Lightroom book  (Read 11898 times)

John Camp

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Need Lightroom book
« on: October 16, 2006, 01:45:33 pm »

Uwe Steinmuller has a new "camera raw" book out, with a brief description on Lightroom as one of the final chapters; but it was based on an early version of Lightroom. Lightroom is now complicated enough that I would really like to see a book on it. (I suggested that perhaps Michael could write an essay or something, with a "recipe," on the "About This Site" forum, but there didn't seem to be much interest.) Nevertheless, the program is now getting intricate enough that I think it would support a book. Anyone? Schewe? Or maybe Adobe has one coming?

JC
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michael

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« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2006, 01:51:33 pm »

There are several books coming, but they won't be out till V1.0 ships. It doesn't make too much sense to produce a book for a product that is in such a state of flux at the moment,.

Jeff and I have a Beta 3 video tutorial available, and we will likely do a V1.0 video tutorial once the program firms up.

Michael
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cbcbell

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« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2006, 02:21:12 pm »

Martin Evening, an alpha tester for Adobe, has a book scheduled for publication at the end of December, 2006, The Adobe Lightroom Book. However, if you go to the Peachpit Press site, you'll find that they are offering not only the book in print — once it's published — but also a 179 page, 75 MB PDF "Rough Cut" of the book. The book is $28, the downloadable PDF is $28, and the package of both together is $54, which is what I bought this morning.

http://safari.peachpit.com/0321450035

Evening's prior books with Focal Press are excellent, and I already so prefer using Lightroom to ACR that even though the manuscript dates back to the end of July and Beta 3, I'm sure that it will be worth the price of admission to have it to learn from over the next few months.
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John Camp

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« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2006, 03:29:40 pm »

Quote
Martin Evening, an alpha tester for Adobe, has a book scheduled for publication at the end of December, 2006, The Adobe Lightroom Book. However, if you go to the Peachpit Press site, you'll find that they are offering not only the book in print — once it's published — but also a 179 page, 75 MB PDF "Rough Cut" of the book. The book is $28, the downloadable PDF is $28, and the package of both together is $54, which is what I bought this morning.<snip>[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=80706\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for the tip. I just bought it, and I'm printing it right now. I have Evening's CS2 book, and though it is a load, I liked it, too.

JC
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David Mantripp

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« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2006, 11:39:02 am »

Scott Kelby has published two iterations of his book so far, in PDF format (one place you can get it Safari Books Online).

Personally, I can't stand his style, but if you don't mind it possibly there's some useful information in there trying to get out....
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Ken Tanaka

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« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2006, 01:06:54 pm »

Quote
Uwe Steinmuller has a new "camera raw" book out, with a brief description on Lightroom as one of the final chapters; but it was based on an early version of Lightroom. Lightroom is now complicated enough that I would really like to see a book on it. (I suggested that perhaps Michael could write an essay or something, with a "recipe," on the "About This Site" forum, but there didn't seem to be much interest.) Nevertheless, the program is now getting intricate enough that I think it would support a book. Anyone? Schewe? Or maybe Adobe has one coming?

JC
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=80700\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The best instruction for Lightroom: a nasty cold.  Last week I was mostly immobilized with a really bad one.  I had been downloading and tinkering with Lightroom since beta 1, but never spending more than a few minutes with it.  (Why invest time, I figured, on an early work in progress?)  I had purchased Michael and Jeff's tutorial DVD but had not yet watched it.  

So last week, with little inclination to do much else, I watched the DVD and started working with Lightroom Beta 4 in earnest.  It was glorious.  This is one product that I think I will eagerly embrace.  The DVD got me lined up nicely (thank you Michael and Jeff).

For the most part I have learned to eschew printed books on software products.  Unless they're relatively timeless references they have useful lives marked by version numbers (usually annually superseded).  Lightroom is one of those products whose operation becomes reasonably self-evident once you have some markers.  (Order Michael's DVD for $10...it's a bargain.)  It's not that complex of a system for anyone accustomed to using a RAW converter and with a little familiarity with the concept of keywording. Start with 50 or so images and just dedicate uninterrupted time to exploring and experimenting.  I guarantee that in one such hour you'll feel confident with Lightroom.  In two hours you'll be ranting on Adobe's beta boards.  In three hours you'll be looking for a publisher.

A rhinovirus can be your friend.
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John Camp

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« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2006, 03:04:21 pm »

Ken,

I've used the cold technique myself, on a number of subjects, but haven't had a bad one for a couple of years. Anyway, the Evening book sells both as a "final" version, and as a "rough cut." If you buy both, you are then allowed to download versions as he updates them, and then the publisher mails you the final published version. Works for me. I also have Michael's Lightroom disks (both of them) and they're fine, but what I really wanted was something to sit next to my elbow as a prompter.

Actually, if somebody has Michael's disk, a worthwhile contribution to the world would be a PDF "index" on the different subjects, giving you DVD timecode for where specific subjects begin. If I get the time, I might do it myself...

JC
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Christopher Sanderson

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« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2006, 04:00:14 pm »

Quote
Actually, if somebody has Michael's disk, a worthwhile contribution to the world would be a PDF "index" on the different subjects, giving you DVD timecode for where specific subjects begin. If I get the time, I might do it myself...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=81046\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
If you are referring to LLVT-102 - the beta 3 tutorial - the "index" is there already on the DVD. Check the Chapters page . . .

Chris S

Ron Steinberg

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« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2006, 05:48:17 pm »

Quote
If you are referring to LLVT-102 - the beta 3 tutorial - the "index" is there already on the DVD. Check the Chapters page . . .

Chris S
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=81060\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I'm thinking of getting the DVD, does it deal much with manipulating Jpegs? I've just picked up a Canon G7 which has no raw, and in talking about it with Michael today(I work at Vistek DCG) he mentioned that the software does a really nice job with the G7 jpeg files. So, is the DVD mainly RAW based or does it deal with jpegs as well?

Cheers,
Ron
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Ken Tanaka

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« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2006, 06:47:30 pm »

Quote
I'm thinking of getting the DVD, does it deal much with manipulating Jpegs? I've just picked up a Canon G7 which has no raw, and in talking about it with Michael today(I work at Vistek DCG) he mentioned that the software does a really nice job with the G7 jpeg files. So, is the DVD mainly RAW based or does it deal with jpegs as well?

Cheers,
Ron
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=85508\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I've not seen the 2nd LR DVD, only the first, so I cannot answer that question.

But I have been working through the same challenge with the G7's JPGs that you face.  My recommendation, from my own current experiments, is to just experiment with your own images to see how far you can go with JPGs of various tonalities.  What I am finding with G7 images in Lightroom is that boundaries for shadow, highlight, and black level adjustments, while not as broad as for RAWs, are often surprisingly generous.  That G7 really puts out a nice file (for JPGs).

I may get debate on this, but I've discovered that underexposing many scenes by 1/3 - 2/3 on the G7 produces a more workable file in Lightroom (for my tastes) than exposing spot-on or overexposing by the same margins.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2006, 06:48:41 pm by Ken Tanaka »
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Christopher Sanderson

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« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2006, 06:54:02 pm »

The second LR tutorial DVD _is_ mostly based on working with RAW. That being said, other than the ACR pipeline, the other tools available in LR work quite well with JPGs - the Develop module is simply limited by the 'baked in' aspects of JPGs.

karelg

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« Reply #11 on: November 17, 2006, 07:07:47 am »

And here are some more (very) nice video tutorials:

http://pictureflow.fileburst.com/_Tutorial...4/01/index.html
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GregW

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« Reply #12 on: November 17, 2006, 08:05:23 am »

I initially purchased the first iteration of the Kelby e-book but found it quite frustrating.  It has the disadvantage of reading like a traditional computer manual yet doesn't offer the dip in detail that you would expect as part of the trade-off.

Had the Roughcuts/printed Evening book been announced at the time I would have waited.  I have found Photoshop for photographers to be very useful and like Evening's writing style.  I bought roughcuts/printed combination a couple of weeks ago.  If's definitely in development, for example the PDF doesn't have bookmarks yet and it doesn't cover all the modules in detail.  

I have been using Lightroom since the first public beta but still managed to get a lot out of the book.  The book doesn't give you a dry explanation of the features e.g develop module but actually explains the develop module in the context of a workflow.  To that end he also covers topics like workflow calibration because it has an impact on using the develop settings.  Similar to the PFP book.  He does explain the features, but applies them in a logical manner using very descriptive language backed up by examples which clearly demonstrate the effect/impact of the feature.  In addition there are useful primers or refreshers depending on your point of view.  I found the section on setting the white point quite useful.  IMO the pictures are also more interesting/better than those in the Kelby book.

I reworked a couple of my favorite pictures using Evening's methodology and got what I think are better results.  I really like the rough cuts concept.  Very effective.  USD 50 well spent, and a printed book at the end of it for ludites like me.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2006, 08:08:00 am by GregW »
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David L. Robertson

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« Reply #13 on: November 20, 2006, 01:18:13 pm »

Quote
Uwe Steinmuller has a new "camera raw" book out, with a brief description on Lightroom as one of the final chapters; but it was based on an early version of Lightroom. Lightroom is now complicated enough that I would really like to see a book on it. (I suggested that perhaps Michael could write an essay or something, with a "recipe," on the "About This Site" forum, but there didn't seem to be much interest.) Nevertheless, the program is now getting intricate enough that I think it would support a book. Anyone? Schewe? Or maybe Adobe has one coming?

JC
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

If you are a member of NAPP, check the video presentations by Matt Kloskowski at [a href=\"http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/]http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/[/url].  They are excellent.
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mikeojohnson

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« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2006, 07:39:14 am »

I found the Martin Evening pdf referred to above and the Michael Tapes online tutorials http://pictureflow.fileburst.com/_Tutorial...4/01/index.html to be helpful.
Mike
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Rusty

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« Reply #15 on: December 08, 2006, 10:56:48 pm »

Michael is being coy. He alludes to a book he is writing on Lightroom and if you watch his tutorial carefully you can see the draft title.
I hope you follow through on this project, Michael, I suspect you will.  

tbonanno

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« Reply #16 on: December 11, 2006, 11:14:33 pm »

Hi John and others,

I just took a workshop by Michael Clark (currently in the Nikon ads and the photographer whose images adorn the Lightroom promotion materials).  He has a PDF he sells ($29.95) that covers the overall workflow using Lightroom.  It is based on beta 4.1.

I purchased the PDF myself.  I found it to be clearly written and reasonably comprehensive.  It covers a lot of workflow basics, some of which may be "too basic" for this group, BUT the Lightroom information was very valuable for me.  There were a lot of details that I probably would have missed on my own regarding Lightroom settings, etc.  The PDF is about 80 pages.  For me, it was money well spent.

http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/workflow.html

Disclaimer:  I have no interest in his business, but he is a fellow colleague here in Santa Fe and member of our ASMP chapter.
« Last Edit: December 11, 2006, 11:26:21 pm by tbonanno »
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John Camp

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« Reply #17 on: December 12, 2006, 09:54:20 pm »

Tony,

Thanks for the tip. Bought one tonight.

JC
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tbonanno

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« Reply #18 on: December 12, 2006, 11:09:00 pm »

Quote
Tony,

Thanks for the tip. Bought one tonight.

JC
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=90188\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Hope it meets your needs John.  I found that I had to "print" it out to really get the most out of it.  Browsing pages on my computer screen was a drag..

Let us know what you think..

Cheers,

Tony
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