Product Description

If you're comfortable using the basic features of Lightroom, but really want to push the envelope with this powerful software, Inside Lightroom by acclaimed photographer and Lightroom Beta-tester Richard Earney is a must-have.
Bypassing the obvious features covered in a variety of existing Lightroom books, Richard focuses on customizing Lightroom to suit your workflow. For example, he covers using presets to automate the way Lightroom deals with photos, optimizing your Lightroom workflow for your own hardware and preferences. He covers sophisticated calibration techniques, helping you render your pictures accurately both onscreen and in print. Basically -- the hidden information for this powerful software. Unlike the other 'guides' on the market, this book doesn't tell you what you already know. Instead, it focuses on what you don't.
'Inside Lightroom' also showcases new features of the software, available only in Lightroom 2.0, so if you have recently upgraded from Lightroom 1, this book will help you reap the benefits of your investment.
Practical, jargon-free and full of stunning images, Richard Earney's book should be on the shelf of every Lightroom user.

* No-nonsense guide that shows you advanced features of Lightroom to speed up your workflow
* Includes in-depth information on presets enabling you to customize Lightroom, whatever your style
* Written by Richard Earney, established expert on Lightroom and owner of the popular Inside Lightroom website 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58097 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Richard Earney is the owner of Method Photo and Inside-Lightroom.com, an experienced professional photographer, a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society, Adobe tester for Photoshop and Lightroom, and pro-contributor to Adobe's new Lightroom "help community" wiki. Richard is also the series editor for Focal's Digital Workflow Series.

Customer Reviews

Old Photoshop Dog learns New Lightroom Tricks
I was a late convert to Lightroom, partly because I had trouble deciding why it was different from Adobe Photoshop Bridge, and partly because the user interface hides its very bright light under a bushel. I tried out the trial version, and actually removed it thinking it wasn't for me, mainly because I had to keep jumping into Photoshop all the time. I just didn't get it.
I wish that I'd had this book back then. Being an iStock exclusive photographer, I lived in Photoshop searching out even the smallest flaw in an image, and its quirky interface was almost second nature. Having invested a lot of time getting to know the old eccentric, I had neither the time nor the energy to acquaint myself with the new kid on the block. We met, but neither of us knew what to say, so we went our separate ways. Inside Lightroom 2 is a good way to find out what to do with Lightroom. It "bridges" the gap. :-)
The author starts by saying what Lightroom is, and presenting an overview of basic functionality. You'll already know most of this, but the description is coherent, has a logical flow and provides a context for what follows.
He goes on to describe the type of system that you'll need to run Lightroom 2 well. He covers the usual stuff: processor speed, RAM etc, and talks about the advantages of the 64 bit version. The section has a bit of a Mac bias, which is admitted up front, but it still has enough information to be useful to a user of the Windows version of Lightroom. The sections on backup and archiving will be useful to all users, for example.
Next up is a description of the differences between version 1 of Lightroom and version 2. This aspect of Lightroom has been covered extensively on the Web and in magazines, but it needs to be here. I found that although I knew about the main differences, there were little things that I'd either forgotten or overlooked. This chapter builds nicely on the basic functionality chapter, and by this point I felt that I had a coherent picture of what the software did, and I was ready to dive in deeper.
The next two chapters really hit the mark for me. Chapter 4 does an in depth exploration of how to manage your photos. It explores how to best structure your files on your disks, and keyword them so that you can find them. This chapter really drives home the point that Lightroom is actually a database, not a file browser, and at that point the light dawned! I also realized that it would be wise to use more than one catalog. Doh.
A chapter on an example workflow follows this. This chapter brings what's gone before together, and I'm revisiting my photo collection bringing order to the chaos. I now know what to do with filters and smart collections, and no longer jump into Photoshop at the drop of a hat.
The book goes on to look at presets. This really unpacks how presets work, and if you have the courage & time, it shows you how to edit them in a text editor. This lets you duplicate some of the tone curve functionality from Adobe Camera Raw. I'm going to reread this chapter at some point.
The author finishes by reviewing online resources for Lightroom, some of which I knew about, and many that I didn't. It's handy to have even in this age of Google.
What would I change? I think I'd like another example workflow, perhaps of a portrait to contrast with the one on the landscape.
I'm glad that I read this book, and I'll be keeping it close to my computer. It has changed the way that I use Lightroom, and I now only use Photoshop in my iStock workflow if I have a lot of cloning to do.
Recommended.

A no nonsense book for serious photographers
I had to wait for this book which I had on order before its release. I must say it was worth the wait. I have been using Lightroom since the launch of its first version. However, this book clarified many of the filing and workflow issues to increase efficiency. The book is meant for those who have some insight to Lightroom already or first time Lightroom users may benefit from another book which details on the "how to" of the various lightroom functions.
The book has a wealth of lightroom resources summarised in the last chapter which is very helpful.

Essential reading for the Lightroom user
An excellent book.

I've been using Lightroom since the late Betas, and find it a wonderful application, offering huge flexibility and power. Nevertheless, I've always been aware that I was not using it to its full potential. Richard Earney's book seems to provide the essential guide to really make the most of the software. I have read it from cover to cover and know that it will be in regular use: Earney really is a practical guide and mentor to getting the best from the software.

There are too many typos and, I believe, a couple of transposed illustrations, but the meaning is never obscured, and they are a tiny irritation rather than detracting in any practical way.

I believe that any "normal" (non-expert) Lightroom user will benefit from reading this book, probably most experts, too.