[jamarley]

I saw today's thread regarding 30% off an Amazon print book (through Sunday with code HOLIDAY30) and was curious if any of you out there could chime in on which Lightroom 5 book you like best and why. Being old school I tend to do better with printed material and this may be just the kick I need to get more out of LR5. I'm considering Scott Kelby's The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book for Digital Photographers, Martin Evening's The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers or Lightroom 5: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process by Rob Sylvan & Nat Coalson. Feel free to add another title to the candidates.

Thanks in advance for your input,

Jeff

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Last edited by jamarley; 11-29-2014 at 08:27 PM. Reason: better title

[chuck_c]

I have found Scott Kelby's books to be fairly useful. I purchased his book on LR4 and won the digital version of his book on LR5 last year in a local version of his WorldWide PhotoWalk Photo Contest. I just like his writing style. He injects some humor and keeps things kind of light but explains everything in detail, in easy to follow steps. I have three other books by him on digital photography. In fairness I have to say that I have not read the other books that you mentioned but I am familiar with Martin Evening.

[mikeSF]

FWIW, i have an older edition of the Evening Photoshop CS4 book and it is so comprehensive. Way too much for me to ever read, but I use it as a desk reference and it really delivers.

[Mikesul]

FWIW, i have an older edition of the Evening Photoshop CS4 book and it is so comprehensive. Way too much for me to ever read, but I use it as a desk reference and it really delivers.

Yes, that is the dilemma. These books are great once you are familiar with the subject and know what you want to know. Trouble is, they are not very helpful to a beginner who must wade through so much material that may never be needed. I find myself getting better use out of the Evening books now than when I bought them a couple of years ago.

[MadMathMind]

I have Lightroom book about which you are asking. It has some nice tips in it. But as pointed out, there's probably too much to go through. Only about 1/3 of the book is dedicated to development tricks, so that may help a lot. If you don't care about how to make photo books, for instance, then you can skip a large chunk of the text.

[chuck_c]

Way too much for me to ever read, but I use it as a desk reference and it really delivers.

I agree. I use the Kelby books in the same way.

[Mikesul]

The Kelby books have a lot of good information but the chatty style can wear thin.

[Miguel]

Evening's writing is easier to get through and has more comprehensive coverage. Kelby is OK, especially if you can handle his "humor."

My public library has Evening's book as well as a few others available in ebook formats. See if yours does as well.

M

[chuck_c]

The Kelby books have a lot of good information but the chatty style can wear thin.

It certainly can, and he freely admits to it and pretty much keeps it confined to the first page of the chapters. Beyond that I found the information concise and easy to follow.His style is not for everyone. There is one chapter on creating photobooks and also one on DSLR video. I had no use for either of those and skipped them, since that isn't something that I am interested in right now. But aside from a lot of useful LR5 editing info there are also a couple of chapters on printing, and layout for printing and posting online as they pertain to LR5.

There are any number of books available on using LR5 with varying styles and differing depths of information, all of which could be helpful to you. I hope that you find the right one for you.

[jamarley]

First off, I want to thank you all for your comments. I opted for the Syvan & Coalson book for a couple of reasons. First, the reviews on Amazon are at least as good as the others. Second, it's a bit shorter so possibly a bit easier to read in bed. Lastly, I have read other Scott Kelby books so it might be refreshing to get a new perspective. I have read in many places about the style issue but his humor didn't dissuade me. In fact the more clinical approach alluded to for Martin Evening's writing steered me away from his.

For future reference of this thread, even though the promotion will be over, I'll impart my opinions at a later date.
To be continued....

Jeff

[reeftool]

I bought Martin Evening's LR book for LR3. While it was helpful when I was first starting out with Lightroom, I later bought one of Kelby's books because I was able to find what I needed much quicker and easier. As time went on, I relied more on Matt Kloskowski's Lightroom tips page but he has recently left Kelby and now works for OnOne so I don't know what will happen to the Lightroom Killer Tips site.

[emalvick]

I have a few of Evening's books because I like them best. They work for me best as references. I have one of Kelby's books (for CS4 maybe). It was a bit more methodical and thus easier to use up front. Long term, I found it a bit less useful and rarely look at them anymore. Evening's books are more useful to me now than they were originally, but I learned a lot up front. He just provides a complete reference and many smaller details aren't necessary until you get really familiar with the software.

That being said, I think the internet can be one of the best places for real beginning with software. There are a lot of tutorials and videos out there that really help a beginner more than a book might. However, I think books are fantastic once you get past the beginning. While the net can be good for real specific stuff, I find that there is more to be gained from the major books just because you get a fairly uniform perspective to guide you from start to finish and you can see how everything ties together.