Product Description

Written in concert with Adobe's development of the Photoshop Lightroom 2 Beta, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers - by #1 bestselling computer and technology author, Scott Kelby - is the most complete and concise Lightroom "how-to" book for digital photographers of all skill levels.

In The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers, Scott walks readers through the basics of Lightroom use, leading them to a brilliantly devised and super efficient digital photography workflow that dramatically improves productivity and allows photographers to spend less time processing photos and more time shooting them.

Throughout the book Scott shares his personal camera and Lightroom settings, as well as the studio-tested techniques he's developed for his own photography workflow. The book is written in his trademark step-by-step, plain English style, and because he knows what really works and what doesn't, he isn't shy to tell you flat out which tools to use, which to avoid, and why. This allows digital photographers of any skill level to jump right in using Lightroom like a pro from the very start, sidestepping a lot of the frustrations that typically haunt those unfamiliar with new applications…especially those as powerful as Lightroom.

What really sets The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers apart from other Lightroom books on the market are the last two bonus chapters where Scott answers the questions, "In exactly what order am I supposed to do things in Lightoom," and "Where does Photoshop fit in to the mix?" Both chapters start with an on-location photo shoot, including full details on the equipment, camera settings, and lighting techniques. Readers then witness as he takes the photos from each shoot through the entire workflow process, to the final output of the 16"x20" prints. And, because he incorporates Photoshop seamlessly right into this workflow, you'll learn some of the latest Photoshop techniques for portrait and landscape photography as well.

If you're one of those people who learns best by actually doing the projects yourself; who learns best without all the complicated technical explanations and confusing jargon, and if you really want to start using Lightroom today to unlock the productivity secrets of "The new digital photography workflow,"---there is no faster, more "straight-to-the-point" or more fun way to learn than this groundbreaking new book, and you are absolutely going to love it! 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3855 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-10
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 2.30 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Scott is the greatest!
I have several books by Scott and he is the best at making learning fun and getting to the essentials of what you need to know about your subject! I have been with digital four about 4 years after 40+ years with 35mm and I can tell you thanks to Scott and his work flows, I have learned more in weeks than I ever learned the hard way with 35mm. If you want a book that will teach you and be real, Scotts books are the way to go. I just wish he could get them to press quicker!

Better Than Expected
The author, Scott Kelby, seems to have morphed himself from a writer into a corporation, with a significant marketing machine behind him. Despite that doubt about buying a book written by someone who seems to churn out titles & publications like Henry Ford built cars,I was pleasantly surprised.
Yes, I suppose it's written to a formula, but the book nevertheless was & is a valuable asset to Lightroom users, in my opinion & contained much information & advice that I would never have stumbled across on my own.
It's nicely presented, and the cutesy phraseology that caused me to hesitate initially is kept to reasonable limits, although, like too many popular books, the language is rather simplistic, reminiscent of USA Today instead of the New York Times - & perhaps akin to a Disney production rather than a Working Titles movie - slick but somehow a bit too cloying.

Content good; format not.
As a brand new Lightroom2 user, I purchased this book and another one by a different author in order to learn how to use the application. While I appreciate the knowledge that Scott Kelby obviously has about Lightroom 2, I personally find the format of the book to be not as user-friendly as others I have read. Again, this is a personal preference, but I find the author's use of "steps" to be monotonous and at times not relevant, for three reasons:

(1) He often uses a "step" when he's discussing items that are not really part of a process. "Steps" should be saved for tasks that need to follow one another, and also for relatively short lists. In some cases, the author refers to "Step 18" or more -- if something needs 20 steps to complete, chances are I'm going to move on to a different task. :)

(2) I think the book would be more useful if textual headings were used instead of "Step One, Step Two," etc. For example, instead of discussing creating collections in one step, and using collection sets in another step, I would find it helpful to see headings such as "Create a Collection" and "Manage Collections with Collection Sets."

(3) By not using textual headings (other than Step xxx), I find it difficult to flip through the pages of the book and see something that I'm interested in reading about.

Also -- and this is minor but slightly annoying -- the quick tips at the end of the chapters are not written in the same grammatical voice throughout the book. For example, one tip might have a title of "Creating Keywords" whereas another tip will have a title of "Add Highlights."

As I mentioned earlier in my review, there is some good content in this book, but because it's not in a format that is easy to read I will be selling my book and buying one by a different author.