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Sunday, 25 March 2012

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I hate it when you make me spend money! ;-)

Having upgraded to LR4, I bought the Martin Evening book - I like his style - having seen that it's published. And links to the website are too easy to follow!

Martin Evening's books are comprehensive but unfathomable, at least to me. Scott Kelby's are too wry and sarcastic for real life.I've been using D-65s Lightroom Workbook (Resnick and Spritzer) and Lightroom 3, the missing FAQ (Brampton) I imagine that there will be LR 4 versions of these in the near future.

Couldn't agree more with Mike about the Camera Raw and Sharpening books. I was dubious about the sharpening, but it significantly improves the files. Use their numbers as guides and run your own tests for the look you want.

Mike: Interesting post. I bought Laforet's book about 2 months ago on a whim, and have to second your general notion that the book falls short. For example, it seems important for Laforet to recount how he got those shots at the Olympics, but I doubt that the target audience for this kind of book is going to care all that much.

It seems like the "educational track" is becoming an increasingly important business channel--even a necessity--for many professional photographers, but some are a lot better at it than others. McNally is good at it. You mentioned his "Moment," but I would give an equally strong recommendation to his more recent book, Sketching Light. The focus is narrow (using artificial lighting) and the photos get a bit redundant. But the book is packed with info on how to use speedlights and studio lights, including detailed sketches of lighting setups and his thought process on particular ideas. It's really a good reference for anyone who wants to learn more about using artificial lighting.

I have admired Vincent Laforet's photographic work for many years. He has one of the best eyes for urban aerial work and big scenes that I've ever seen. But, no, I'm not a candidate for this hobby book. I'd rather just see some of his work well-presented.

I must add that I was rather disappointed when Vincent chose to somewhat manically lead the charge towards dslr video when the 5DII was released. I could not escape feeling that he was being naive wandering into the deep, dark, politically-charged movie woods where he would be a nobody. I hope he's met with good fortune in there but I've heard little of him since.

Hi Mike,

For those of us who are visually oriented and don't learn as well from books (as you acknowledged), as an alternative, I highly recommend Michael Reichmann's and Jeff Schewe's Lightroom 4 video tutorial "Introduction & Advanced Guide to Lightroom 4". Once and for all I am going to learn this software.

Chris

...and that the purpose of a UV filter is actually to protect the front element of the lens.

I always thought the purpose of a UV filter was to allow the camera store to sell a few high-markup items with each lens purchase?

(Runs away from the can of worms)

"Once and for all I am going to learn this software."

Isn't that a contradiction in terms? You can't learn software once and for all, because...they're going to change it. Just sayin'.

Mike

I spent the last couple days reading through a quite good new photography book, The Passionate Photographer, by Steve Simon. Simon has been shooting since he was 11, and was a long-time Canadian photo-journalist before pursuing more personal documentary work. The book is part personal, part instructional, part inspirational, and I found both his photography and his ideas excellent.

The "Brampton" book mentioned earlier is The Mssing FAQ by Victoria Bampton, the Lightroom Queen (http://www.lightroomqueen.com). Note that her name has been misspelled by at least two earlier posters.

What we really need is a Linux based photo editing package with all the good stuff from PS and LR. Forget the 90% of the features that are never used. Then we could toast Winblows and cut the umbilical cord to Apple.

Mike,

Hmmm. Good point. I meant once and for all until Lightroom 5 comes out. Sigh.

Chris

Sadly, his book follows along with the level of his iPad app, disappointing.
What could (and should) be quite magical given the enormous body of work of Mr. LaForet, becomes somewhat tiring and lacklustre.

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