# Best Lightroom 4 Book ?



## Myth (Jan 23, 2013)

Hi Everyone,
I'm thinking of purchasing a book on Lightroom 4. Can anyone recommend a book? If so, why?
I'm contemplating one by Scott Kelby, Martin Evening or the official Adobe classroom in a book.

Looking for a book that will guide me from beginner to advanced, lots of pictures, easy to follow, and discusses integration with Photoshop.

thx


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 23, 2013)

Martin Evening is one of the highest rated Lightroom Authors, so is Victoria Brampton (AKA The Lightroom Queen). The two authors take different approaches, but give ennentially the same advice on the best way to organize your files and use the software.
I think that you can look at samples on Amazon, it depends on which method of presentation works best for you. I have both, and prefer Martin Evening, even though I don't follow all his suggestions for best practices.


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## Rienzphotoz (Jan 23, 2013)

Myth said:


> Hi Everyone,
> I'm thinking of purchasing a book on Lightroom 4. Can anyone recommend a book? If so, why?
> I'm contemplating one by Scott Kelby, Martin Evening or the official Adobe classroom in a book.
> 
> ...


I find Scott Kelby's book on lightroom to be the best ... but before you buy the book consider Kelbytraining membership or Photoshop user membership, bcoz you get the lightroom book for free with the membership, plus you get free access to all their tutorial videos ... I subscribe to Lynda.com and Kelbytraining.com and find them to be very useful (i'm sure there are more such useful sites but these two are my favorites).


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## SwampYankee (Jan 23, 2013)

Depends on your mode of learning but I've had more success with a couple of months of Lynda.com than any book I ever bought. There are cheaper yearly alternatives but you can get a monthly premium subscription for $40. you will learn more with 2 4 hour courses that any book out there. They are really strong with Lightroom 7 Photoshop. Can't recommend this highly enough. After teh 2 days it will take you to master lightroom there are tons of general and specific photography courses.


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## dadohead (Jan 23, 2013)

I've tried Lynda, George Jardine and Martin Evening. Martin Evening hands down.


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## CTJohn (Jan 23, 2013)

SwampYankee said:


> Depends on your mode of learning but I've had more success with a couple of months of Lynda.com than any book I ever bought. There are cheaper yearly alternatives but you can get a monthly premium subscription for $40. you will learn more with 2 4 hour courses that any book out there. They are really strong with Lightroom 7 Photoshop. Can't recommend this highly enough. After teh 2 days it will take you to master lightroom there are tons of general and specific photography courses.



+1

Chris Orwig's training session on Lynda.com is excellent!


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## atosk930 (Jan 23, 2013)

I've tuned in to many of the X-Rite webinars. Yes, I know it is not a book. They do have great information in them and you can watch the tools in action.

http://xritephoto.com/ph_learning.aspx?action=webinarsarchive


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## Lurker (Jan 23, 2013)

Have you checked out the training videos on the Adobe site? They're well organized, by topic, and last about 20 mins. each. I have LR 3 and went through the same thing looking for books. Spent a lot of time and $ before I found the free Adobe training. I learned so much more from the videos so much faster.


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## RMC33 (Jan 23, 2013)

Kelby and Adobe websites. On occasion Youtube when I want to learn something new and outside the box.


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## SPL (Jan 23, 2013)

Absolutely +1 on Scott Kelby.com & Lynda.com training videos! They are very good!!


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## shutterwideshut (Jan 23, 2013)

SwampYankee said:


> Depends on your mode of learning but I've had more success with a couple of months of Lynda.com than any book I ever bought. There are cheaper yearly alternatives but you can get a monthly premium subscription for $40. you will learn more with 2 4 hour courses that any book out there. They are really strong with Lightroom 7 Photoshop. Can't recommend this highly enough. After teh 2 days it will take you to master lightroom there are tons of general and specific photography courses.



Absolutely!


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## crasher8 (Jan 24, 2013)

Have you tried the Adobe lessons?


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## RMC33 (Jan 24, 2013)

shutterwideshut said:


> SwampYankee said:
> 
> 
> > Depends on your mode of learning but I've had more success with a couple of months of Lynda.com than any book I ever bought. There are cheaper yearly alternatives but you can get a monthly premium subscription for $40. you will learn more with 2 4 hour courses that any book out there. They are really strong with Lightroom 7 Photoshop. Can't recommend this highly enough. After teh 2 days it will take you to master lightroom there are tons of general and specific photography courses.
> ...



When I read this I had to think about it.. Lightroom & Photoshop. Made me wonder if there was some super secret version of LR 7 floating around from the future~


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## Rienzphotoz (Jan 24, 2013)

RMC33 said:


> shutterwideshut said:
> 
> 
> > SwampYankee said:
> ...


LOL ... at first I didn't understand what you were goin on about Lightroom "7" ... until I read the typo in SwampYankee's post. ;D


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## Myth (Jan 24, 2013)

Everyone,
Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I will investigate the Martin Evening book and follow it up with some video tutorials for specifics.

thanks again


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## FatDaddyJones (Jan 24, 2013)

B&H has some great tutorials on Lightroom that you can find on Youtube. I thought I was fairly proficient at the Lightroom workflow, but I learned a lot by watching the tutorials.


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## RMC33 (Jan 24, 2013)

FatDaddyJones said:


> B&H has some great tutorials on Lightroom that you can find on Youtube. I thought I was fairly proficient at the Lightroom workflow, but I learned a lot by watching the tutorials.



Good info! I just checked these out and they are very good. Learned a few things myself Thanks!


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## Myth (Apr 6, 2013)

Will check out these tutorials.

Thx


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## bycostello (Apr 6, 2013)

i'd start with all the free adobe tutorials


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## TAW (Apr 6, 2013)

+1 Lynda.com


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## mdmphoto (Apr 6, 2013)

I have Evening's The Lightroom 4 Book Complete Guide for Beginners, and Adobe's LR4 Classroom in a Book. Evening is a bit more practical, Adobe sometimes almost mind-numbingly dense and repetitive, but it is also very informative. While there are some practical demonstrations, i.e. "do this, then change that..." it is more heavy on theory. Evening has plenty of theory, but also plenty of practical information and a companion website, and a somewhat more relaxed, conversational writing style- though Adobe's book isn't overly professorial or dry either. I still use both these books as references, but I also find that youtube offers a comprehensive buffet of lectures, lessons and tutorials for all manner of software including Lightroom. There are a great many come-ons for various pay sites mixed into the tutorial search results, but plenty of good info also. I am also a NAPP member and that gives access to plenty of lessons as well, online and in the monthly mag. These lessons are a bit more direct about specific goals for the adjustments; i.e. " to darken the sky do this" and so on...
If I had to offer only one resource I would probably recommend Evening's book. Otherwise, search youtube for Lightroom.


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## jdramirez (Apr 6, 2013)

I downloaded a video series that I thought was EXCELLENT...

photoshopcafe.com, lightroom 3... but it translates pretty smoothly with LR 4.


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## archiea (Apr 9, 2013)

Myth said:


> Hi Everyone,
> I'm thinking of purchasing a book on Lightroom 4. Can anyone recommend a book? If so, why?
> I'm contemplating one by Scott Kelby, Martin Evening or the official Adobe classroom in a book.
> 
> ...



Best book for lightroom is lightroom. . Second best lightroom book is adobe's lightroom training videos. Third best lightroom book is youtube! 

One thing I'd recommend is the lightroom training on creativelive.com. A little pricier than a book but very thorough.


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## pwp (Apr 9, 2013)

Michael Reichman & Jeff Schewe at Luminous Landscape deserve a mention here. 
Their tutorials are legendary. http://store.luminous-landscape.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=25

-PW


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## readycool (Apr 9, 2013)

I also recommend creative live...
btw there is live free course about lightroom in few days http://www.creativelive.com/courses/lightroom-101-lightroom-professor-jared-platt


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