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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, July 2, 2009
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2: A Digital Photographer's Guide (Paperback)
I must say that after having read this Lightroom 2 book, I am much more confident about mucking about in the program. When I first installed Lightroom back in version 1, I read the small manual provided by Adobe at the time (they no longer ship manuals with new versions).
Until now I'd never bothered to do much other than import folders of photos, image enhance and add keywords, later exporting them to an external drive for safe keeping. With the book's easily organized chapters (10 in total), I became very comfortable moving images around the library, adding quick collections for editing, and many more potentially 'dangerous' operations.
The book also saves time by literally highlighting in yellow some of the best tips and tricks pertaining to each subject. After awhile, I was convinced to put my own highlighter back into the drawer and allow the book's own 'yellow markers' to grab my attention.
As a Mac user, I was a bit put off by the majority of Windows screen captures, but do realize that the functionality is the same, and that there are Lightroom fans of both camps.
I personally found the chapter focusing on the Develop Module to be most intriguing; as a long-time Adobe Photoshop user, I've done all of my image enhancement in that robust program. Photoshop Lightroom offers many of the same features to be found within the program. By creating virtual copies of the images, you don't risk damaging your original images beyond repair.
Overall, the book is set up to dive right in and learn the basics. I would recommend this book for someone at the beginner/intermediate level.
Both Davids (Huss and Plotkin) have a good sense of humour and make the book a fast and worthwhile read.
One word of caution though: if you're looking for some of the practice files as mentioned in the book, you won't find them (on the Focal Press website). Perhaps in a future release, these images will be better linked to the author or help section of the site, as it's often helpful to open the same image as described in the book while following the steps needed to gain the end result.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Midway Reference, December 17, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2: A Digital Photographer's Guide (Paperback)
I suspect that as the Lightroom image processing software matures, users will be looking for different kinds of information to best use it. As a consequence, a book that may be perfect for new users may be too simple for experienced hands.
Huss and Plotkin provide us with an approach to Lightroom that may appeal to people already familiar with the software. The chapters of the book follow the format of most other authors, working the way through each of Lightroom's five modules. When discussing the Library function they further divide the tasks into getting photos into Lightroom and organizing the photos, as well as using the quick develop functions. They examine the tools for adjusting photos in the development module, with a separate chapter on using the local adjustment tools introduced in Lightroom 2. They finish up by covering the slideshow, web and print modules.
The book reads something like the printed manuals that used to come with software, although with a more personal touch. (That's not meant to be a bad thing.) I read the book, reviewing things I knew, but occasionally finding some new tool in Lightroom that I had not previously discovered. The book is not organized into tutorials. Occasionally the authors indicated that a photo could be downloaded so that one could follow along, but I could never figure out how to do this.
Unfortunately, occasionally important information was either not included, scanted or in error. The authors did indicate in their introduction that the book does not cover every possible tool because Lightroom is just too rich. But sometimes they don't tell us the easiest way to use Lightroom. For example, the authors point out that, when in the print module, one can call up a chart of keyboard shortcuts by pressing the control key (command key on a Mac) and the "/" key. They then suggest that the chart can be made to disappear by clicking on it with the mouse. That's true, but it can also be made to disappear by pressing the control/command key again, which is a lot easier for someone using the keyboard than moving one's hand away from the keyboard to the mouse.
If one expects to use the Lightroom tone curve panel effectively, one should know how and when to increase or decrease the size of the tonal ranges by adjusting the split point controls, but the authors merely say that, without even identifying where the split point controls are located.
When it comes to using color labels the authors tell you that there is no number to use to remove a color label from an image. Actually, all you have to do is hit the number of the applied color label a second time.
I realize that these are small nits to pick, but there are many of them throughout the book. Given that the book is written so as to appeal to individuals with a familiarity with Lightroom and that it is more likely to be used as a reference, these shortcomings seem significant. On the other hand, most of the information that is provided is clear enough that the book may be useful to an intermediate user to advance skills and use as a reference.
For a more detailed reference, I would look at Martin Evenings " The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers". For beginners, nothing beats Scott Kelby's " The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)" and for a book that concentrates a bit more on the artistic possibilities of Lightroom, see " Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 for Digital Photographers Only (For Only)" by Rob Sheppard.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Adobe Lightroom 2 book, December 3, 2008
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2: A Digital Photographer's Guide (Paperback)
There's a series of dilemmas for users of sophisticated software -- how to learn to use it productively before it gets updated again and you have to start over. The problem is even greater for the authors of "how-to" books on software; with publishing lead times added to the continuous upgrade cycle it's nearly impossible for new books to be timely yet current with respect to what's actually in the programs.
The second dilemma is actually covering all the features within a program. Frankly, this has become very difficult as there are seldom enough pages allocated to fully list all the permutations, let alone describe and explain their use in depth. But that doesn't slow the flow of new titles, even though it puts more weight on the book buyer to try to determine what best suits his or her learning needs.
The third dilemma is the target audience. Does the author attempt to address just beginners, or intermediate to advanced users with some familiarity of past versions...or both? Unfortunately, using one style to address both audiences is usually a unsatisfying compromise.
This book actually does fairly well in the space allowed (365 pages). Consider that Lightroom 2 is intended to be a do-all image editing program, including individual modules labeled Library (where files are sorted and managed), Develop (where RAW files are processed and adjustments and enhancements made), Slideshow (to display your work in sets), Print (for making prints), and Web (for creating an array of galleries for upload). Adjustments to images are done non-destructively, unlike in Photoshop. Version 2 adds a number of significant new features, including targeted image adjustments, which broadens the program's appeal as the only one needed. (There are still many complex functions that require Photoshop, however, and the majority of serious photographers will likely continue to use both as needed.) While not completely comprehensive, the authors provide enough meat to cover a lot of territory, using a style useful for a fairly broad range of readers.
I did find several typos in the text, indicative, I suppose, of the rapid pace of publishing these days, and the ratio of illustrations to text is pretty high. While screen shots and example photos are crucial to "how-to" books, too many dilute the overall effectiveness.
If you're new to Lightroom or upgrading to version 2, this is a pretty good learning aid. Goodness knows there are plenty to choose from these days, and matching your information gathering preferences to the offerings is an ever more daunting task.
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