The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book for Digital Photographers

I scoured most of the other reviews and couldn't find the answer to what seems like an important question: what skill level is this book aimed at? I've been working with Lightroom daily since the first release and I figured it would tell me stuff I already knew. Reading the reviews, I also expected it to be loaded with forced, unfunny humor. Neither turned out to be true. This book accomplishes the unusual feat of being helpful to beginners and experts alike. Lightroom is a powerful program, and powerful programs have lots of details and multiple ways of doing things. This book is more than a how-to guide. The rudiments are covered, but they're covered quickly, like in a sentence or two. The rest of each section tells you why and how to do things that go well beyond the basics. I wish I'd read it years ago. It would have saved me a lot of time. Reading this book as someone who knows Lightroom is like visiting a big city where you know the street system and freeways and suddenly you meet a local who shows you all the secret passageways and shortcuts that make getting around so much more effective and fun. I didn't go two pages without learning something useful I didn't know. Now, a lot of fuddy-duddy reviews here complain about Kelby's writing style and particularly his humor. He warns you up front that he indulges in a freeform passage at the beginning of each chapter that doesn't relate directly to the curriculum but is just there for comic relief. He even suggests that if you don't think he's funny you should skip these intros. They're harmless. Some are funny. They're really no more distracting than having illustrations at the beginning of the chapters. But judging from some of the reviews here you'd think the guy couldn't go two sentences without cutting up. It's just not true. Kelby's writing is conversational and direct. Many pages go by with no humor at all. Most of the book is useful information imparted painlessly and efficiently. So there it is: I hope I answered the question other reviews didn't about who the book is addressed to. It's equally suited to beginners and experts--no small feat. Most software instruction guides are simplified versions of the user's manual with bigger font sizes and color illustrations. Not this one; it teaches the basics and digs deeper simultaneously. I also hope I helped to debunk the rap that Kelby is obtrusively comedic. He's not. He's witty, clear, and describes complex things so you don't forget them the next time you sit at your computer. I can pretty much promise that you'll get more out of Lightroom, and gain a greater appreciation for it, after you read this book.

It's important to know that Lightroom is as much about managing your pictures as it is about developing them. It's kind of like going through old shoeboxes of prints and negatives. Some people label everything and others just stuff the boxes and spend hours trying to find that one pic that they're desperately looking for. Of course the program is so good at editing pics, that going over to photoshop is only required for extreme things these days. Anyways, Kelby's book is a fantastic starting guide, so good that I am in the process of re-importing all of my pictures taken over the past several years. I wouldn't say that I'm a complete random shoebox guy, but my folder labels don't do my pics justice. The first several chapters deal solely with importing and getting things set up to make your life easier, and it's mentioned that this is the way Mr. Kelby does it, hence the good opinion line. These chapters will amaze those thinking "why does everyone always say that LR is such a great program?" as they plod through attempting to learn on their own. It's all about workflow. Then it hops into chapters about developing pics, printing, etc. Developing in LR is pretty easy once you start to learn shortcuts and exactly what all those little sliders do. There are downloadable examples that you can use to practice right with the book. Everything is laid out in a way that no knowledge of the program is assumed, so anyone can work right through something. Now I did download the kindle edition for my iPad. I'm on the fence as to whether I really like instruction books in the e-format. With a book like this, you'll be looking to flip back and forth a good bit, so you have to make good use of bookmarks. I may have preferred a printed copy for that reason, but it's not that bad to deal with. What I should really be doing is taking notes.

Scott Kelby's books offer a breezy, easy-to-read approach that helps make the subject more approachable. He doesn't try to cover every aspect of Photoshop, so he avoids being intimidating. The fact is that Photoshop is an extremely rich and complex program. It offers tools that the typical photographer will never need or use. It is not intuitive to use, so the new Photoshop user is likely to become frustrated very quickly - like learning to drive on an 18-wheeler. Scott helps the reader ease into Photoshop and learn to be productive using it. I have read quite a few Photoshop books, and I can say with confidence that, while not the most comprehensive books on the topic, Scott's books are by far the most useful and user-friendly.

All the books by Scott Kelby are very informative and useful if you really want to know ins and outs of digital photography. I am actually going through this book again and even making some notes about the most useful and important knowledge information related to Lightroom 5. After studding this book and practicing while doing the study on photos, you can feel confident and comfortable using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5. This book actually is designed for professional digital photographers, however, advanced hobbyists like I can pick up a lot of useful knowledge in postprocessing faze of your digital photography art. I do not print my photos, so the chapters on Printing and DSLR Movies were skipped by me for this time at least. I liked most of the chapters and really appreciated the chapter on Slideshow. You actually can burn your Collection of photos on DVD as a slide show including background music and add any type of titles and so on or just convert to PDF format and send to your friends via email. One thing I still cannot say for sure if LIghtroom 5 does better job of optimizing RAW images than Photoshop Camera Raw 6 and higher (ACR). I used ACR before I bought Lightroom and they were both very similar in their control structure. I guess you have to get use to new environment of Lightroom software. However, I can say another thing for sure that do not forget your Adobe Photoshop CS5 or CS6 as you still need it as the ultimate finishing tool. For example, you cannot do complex manipulation with your photo involving Layers and Masks in Lightroom 5. It means you cannot replace a background without going to Photoshop or even portrait retouching is not as powerful as in Photoshop and I rather do that in Photoshop using Layers and Masks with the Brush tools applied on a mask and controlling the opacity. Yes you do have the Adjusting Brush tool in Lightroom, but it still cannot give you that precise control over the color shifts when you use it because there is no Blend Mode adjustments. It goes for the Tone Curve adjustment also. Otherwise as a book describing all the necessary skills you need to use Adobe Lightroom 5, it's very good and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get the most out of Lightroom 5.

Lightroom is a big and complicated program and learning it is a major accomplishment. Kelby's book will give you a good assist. Kelby is one of the most popular tech writers and he explains why things work as they do, and he knows how to present the material in a friendly, comfortable way. It is not a book, however, that you can curl up with and read like a novel. That's no way to learn Lightroom. Instead, skim a book section to get the idea, then go back and read it carefully, memorizing the steps (yes, he writes in steps), then fire up Lightroom and try the steps on copies of some of your pictures, following in the book open beside your computer. Now you need another viewpoint, so click Help in the menu bar and read an Adobe tutorial on the subject. And get still more information: go to http://tv.adobe.com//show/learn-lightroom-5/ and watch a 5-10 minute Adobe video. In my experience, none of these sources is complete in itself, each adds something. The printed book, with its index is a great and comforting way to look something up, much easier than re-viewing a video. And the book is accurate: Kelby paid an assistant to verify all the steps. The index could be better; there are no entries for "move," "copy" or "scanner," for example. It took me some effort to discover than Lightroom has no support for scanners, that you can move (drag and drop) files within Lightroom--that's in the Chapter "Folders and Why I Don't Mess with Them," and you can copy both files and metadata. After I ordered the paper book, Amazon told me I could begin reading it immediately; they sent me a Kindle edition also. I thought it might be temporary, but it is still on my Paperwhite. Lightroom panels are grey on white, so I need a magnifying glass to see the screen grabs. The paper book has large, colored, glossy pages and is easier to see than the Paperwhite, but it is too big, floppy, and complicated to curl up in bed with. I've given the book five stars, though it is certainly not perfect. Between the book and Adobe Help, I've found all my answers. I haven't read other Lightroom books, so I can't compare them.

I am not new to Adobe products or Photoshop but am relatively new to Lightroom have recently got back into more "advanced" digital photography. Lightroom is an outstanding program and for the price from Adobe, how can you loose? Simply a must for anyone shooting in RAW for sure. The organizing capabilities alone are worth the price. That said, Mr Kelby's book does a great job of helping you to get the basics down early to safeguard and organize your work in Lightroom. Many of the programs capabilities are explained and will get you off to a good start allowing you to bring you photos back to the way you remember them or modify to match your artistic vision. Lot's of tips that will make life easier in the long run. Was easy to read on Kindle Fire HD and the HDX. Good formating and easy to annotate. I'd recommend taking a look at the table of contents. You will get a proper understanding of the subjects. Mr Kelby's writing style is easy and enjoyable to read. This is a book I will actually keep on hand.

Kelby completely takes the intimidating mystery out of using Lightroom. The book is written in plain English; he explains technical terms and jargon in a useful and memorable way. I love how logically the book is layed out, and how he takes us through each process so methodically, but without too much other info thrown in to confuse the situation. I am still working my way through as my projects become more advanced, but I could not be more pleased with this purchase. It has consistently served me well. I bought the ebook version and I wish I had bought the hard copy just so that I could flip through it--I do like to hold a real book with pages. Certainly not a quibble with the book itself, however! I am considering purchasing his other books as well.

Kelby's Lightroom Book is the most extraordinarily excellent how-to/reference book I've ever had my hands on. It's a such pleasure to read (I've done it twice). Kelby explains and guides you in a most complete and easy to follow manner. Each section, which may include steps and concepts from earlier chapters, is complete. He never assumes that you have memorized keystrokes and clicks that you would need to employ for getting on with the new material. If you want to remove sensor/lens spots, on a sequence of images all with the same problem for example, go there an you'll be shown how. No need to continually refer to the index and jump around. When multiple options occur he explains, with examples, the advantages and disadvantages of each. There are lots of very helpful tips throughout the text and especially at the end of each chapter. My only complaint is that the otherwise superb screen shots are occasionally printed a bit dark an hard to see. I do wish he had an Element's chapter (he does for Photoshop). So I'm getting his Elements guide now. If it's only half as good as this it will be perfect!