The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) [Paperback]

Scott Kelby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 16, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0321700910 | ISBN-13: 978-0321700919 | Edition: 1

Since Lightroom first launched, Scott Kelby's The Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers has been the world's #1 best-selling Lightroom book. In this latest version for Lightroom 3, Scott uses his same step-by-step, plain-English style and layout to make learning Lightroom easy and fun. Scott doesn't just show you which sliders do what. Instead, by using the following three simple, yet brilliant, techniques that make it just an incredible learning tool, this book shows you how to create your own photography workflow using Lightroom:

1) Scott shares his own personal settings and studio-tested techniques.  He trains thousands of Lightroom users at his "Lightroom Live!" tour and knows first hand what really works and what doesn't.

2) The entire book is laid out in a real workflow order with everything step by step, so you can begin using Lightroom like a pro from the start.

3) What really sets this book apart are the last two chapters. This is where Scott dramatically answers his #1 most-asked Lightroom question, which is: "Exactly what order am I supposed to do things in, and where does Photoshop fit in?" Plus, this is the first version of the book that includes his famous "7-Point System for Lightroom," which lets you focus on mastering just the seven most important editing techniques.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book for Digital Photographers is the first and only book to bring the whole process together in such a clear, concise, and visual way.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Scott Kelby is Editor-in-Chief of Photoshop User magazine, President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Executive Editor of the Photoshop Elements Techniques newsletter, and one of the leading seminar instructors in the country today.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (July 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321700910
• ISBN-13: 978-0321700919
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 0.8 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (146 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Computers & Technology > Digital Media Management > Photo Editing > Adobe Photoshop
  • #56 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphic Design > Adobe Creative Suite

More About the Author

Photographer, author of "The Digital Photography Book" series & longtime Photoshop book author. Editor/Publisher of Photoshop User magazine, President of the National Assn. of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) co-host of the live weekly photography talk show "The Grid." Co-host of "Photoshop User TV" and Conference Technical Chair of the Photoshop World Conference & Expo. Sleep is over-rated. ;-)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

183 of 187 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cleverly painless and copiously illustrated introduction to LR3 and workflow basics July 10, 2010

By Rudy

Format:Paperback

About as complete, smoothly-paced and effortless an introduction to LR3's rather daunting interface as this oldtimer has come across. Continues its predecessor's (LR2) step-wise breezy familiarization with the Lighroom 3 interface to shape a basic - but perfectly sufficient - workflow for busy digital photographers. Easily followed step by step full color screenshots, printed on top quality glossy paper, speed the reader towards a solid grasp of the essentials; helpful tips are provided once you have the basics under your belt. The tutorial is equally helpful to the (nearly identical) Windows and Mac versions of LR3; where the two diverge (as in the file system), unique Windows and Mac screen presentations are treated separately with OS-specific screenshots. Not the least, the focused "Seven Point System" concentrates your time and effort on Lightroom's must-know photo editing strategies, without wandering too far afield.

This book is a Godsend for new users -- less so for intermediate skill level users seeking answers for optimizing speed, when to use 32-bit or 64-bit mode, unraveling buried settings, or troubleshooting performance issues and program malfunctions.

In Short: Expertly paced, easy to follow and richly illustrated starter tutorial for Lightroom 3 -- a bumpless ride for newcomers. Upgraders might find it too basic for troubleshooting.

103 of 105 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must have book, especially for new or moderate skill users of LR July 23, 2010

By Lyle

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I buy a lot of tech books but after purchasing this one 3 things really stood out to me, having bought his previous 2 books on same topic:

1) the extensive helps in the back - particularly the framing example and "collag-ing" layouts will be very helpful to people.
2) the generous section on full work process - shooting to prints.
3) Among the best in this book though is on pages IV and V - because software always becomes obsolete, but gratitude stirs the soul. You get a feel for the writers desire to be helpful and not just drop facts - it's written in a running narrative form as he leads you through good processes and organizational strategy.

If you have or are considering purchasing LR 3, this book will save you extensive searching and frustration in self discovering all the nuances with features and their intent. A new user could sit with this book and walk themselves through a complete work-flow - beginning to end and experience all the major functionality of the tool.

Kelby is a readable, entertaining writer, clear and concise but the real value is that he is a working photographer/graphics professional who knows how to do exceptional work efficiently - and that approach saves everyone, including the serious hobbyist whose time may be limited just as much as the working pro.

The money spent on this book will be recouped within a couple of hours use of the tool. A must buy book for beginner or current user - there are that many tips and techniques in it. I found something new about LR3 at least every other page and I've been using the tool for a couple of years (versions 1 and 2). Glad I spent the money.

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Round 3 July 26, 2010

By Conrad J. Obregon TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Don't blame Scott Kelby if his Lightroom ("LR") instruction books keep getting larger. Blame Adobe for adding more and more capabilities to this piece of software. But at least the software hasn't yet become "bloatware". And the new capabilities really do add something to the digital photographer's ability to more easily create art. Unfortunately, the on-line help only works when you already have some idea of the function for which you are looking, so it's not useful for learning LR.

"The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 book for digital photographers" more or less follows the same format as earlier versions. There are chapters on importing images; using the library module to organize images and customize what you see; editing your images with both global and local adjustments; fixing common problems; exporting the images from LR; moving them into Photoshop; editing black and white images; creating slideshows; printing; creating web galleries; and a case study on portrait workflow. New is Kelby's 7 point system for LR, and gone is the case study on travel photography. Pages usually start out with a definition of the task, like "Creating and Using Multiple Catalogs" with step-by step instructions down the outside of the page and screen captures of the related LR window closest to the fold. (Sometimes the screen saves are unavoidably small for people with poor vision, so you might want to keep a magnifying glass handy for detailed examination.) At the end of each chapter are a number of quick tips that will help the user squeeze the most from LR's capabilities. One other change is a further reduction in Kelby's sophomoric humor which some readers will probably find a relief.

The instructions are easy to follow and are ideal for someone just learning LR. The more experienced user, reading page by page, is bound to get bored reading about techniques that haven't changed. It would have been convenient if a page, listing the instructions for new features only, had been included for those folks. Better yet, since LR has become a mature piece of software with many users, it might be time for the publisher to put out something like the old "Up to Speed" books that only showed the changes in Photoshop. (Given that there is no "Up to Speed" book for Photoshop CS5, this kind of help doesn't appear to be in the cards. The publisher will certainly lose part of the business to on-line videos.)

LR now offers so many capabilities that it is not a surprise to see that some are not even mentioned, like the ability to prepare an entire keyword list in a word processor and import it (although to be fair, the inference of this possibility can be derived from the material).

One should also note that that although the use of all of the sliders and buttons is well explained, there is little that talks about how to apply the capabilities to create more artful images. For that, I recommend another book from the same publisher, "Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (Voices That Matter)" by David duChemin.

This is an excellent book to learn LR and to keep next to your computer as a reference.