While Adobe Photoshop has long been their choice for editing digital photographs, many photographers want a more focused tool. That’s where Adobe Photoshop Lightroom comes in. Designed from the ground up with digital photographers in mind, Photoshop Lightroom offers powerful editing features in a streamlined interface that lets photographers import, sort, and organize images. This completely updated and expanded bestseller, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book, was also written with photographers in mind. Author Martin Evening describes features in Photoshop Lightroom 2 in detail from a photographer’s perspective. As an established commercial and fashion photographer, Martin knows first-hand what photographers need for an efficient workflow. He has also been working with Lightroom from the beginning, monitoring the product’s development and providing feedback on the public beta. As a result, Martin knows the software inside and out, from image selection to image editing to image management.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book contains 624 pages of comprehensive and detailed coverage of all aspects of Lightroom. In this book you’ll learn how to:

• Work efficiently with images shot in the raw or JPEG format
• Import photographs with ease and sort them according to your workflow
• Create and manage a personal image library
• Apply tonal adjustments to multiple images quickly
• Integrate Photoshop Lightroom with Adobe Photoshop
• Export images for print or Web as digital contact sheets or personal
portfolios

The book structure has been organized to match a typical Lightroom workflow. The introductory chapter provides an overview of all the main Lightroom features, showing how Lightroom 2 was used on a studio photo shoot that was specially shot to illustrate the book. The following chapters cover all the essentials, such as importing photos, working with the Library module, and managing the catalog database. The biggest section of the book is devoted to working with the Develop module and provides some unique insights into working with new features such as the localized adjustment tools. There is also a whole chapter devoted to image sharpening and another on integrating Lightroom and Photoshop, where you will learn how to devise the best workflow methods for working between these two programs. This is followed by a chapter on printing and a presentation chapter on the Slideshow and Web modules. Lastly, there are two appendix chapters. One offers a complete overview of the Lightroom 2 preference settings, while the other provides some in-depth explanations and background reading on how the Lightroom program works.

The book is richly illustrated, mostly using the author’s own photographs, and one of the nice features of this book is the way enlarged panel views are used throughout, making it easier for readers to follow the settings used in the various step-by-step examples. There are also lots of tips that will help you take your Lightroom techniques to an advanced level.

If you are looking for the most comprehensive coverage of Lightroom, written by an author who is closely involved with the development of the program, this is the book to get.

About the Author
Martin Evening is a London-based advertising and fashion photographer and noted expert in both photography and digital imaging. In addition to being a bestselling author, Martin is sought after for speaking and lecturing. He also works with the Photoshop and Lightroom engineering teams, consulting on new feature development and alpha and beta testing. He is one of the founding members of PixelGenius, a software design company producing automated production and creative plug-ins for Photoshop.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Lightroom 2 is essential if you want to learn the new software
Comment: All of Martin Evening's books are excellent: Lightroom 2 is no exception. Martin clearly explains in detail how to use the new Lightroom software while providing very useful tips as sidebars throughout the book. I have most all Lightroom and Photoshop books from many different authors. Some of these authors do not provide enough detail and/or make it difficult to understand. Martin's books have all relevant detail and are written in a style that is easily understood, logically organized and essential to understanding either Lightroom 2 or Photoshop CS4. Both the beginner and advanced photographer would benefit from having both his new books.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best book about Lightroom
Comment: This book can be classified as a bible of Lightroom because its nearly 600 pages covering all aspects of this application from the basic topics to the more advanced.

The organization of this book is quite right for begin with an induction in using basic concepts and then move on to topics that focus on each of the stages that make up the workflow in Lightroom (importing, organizing and basic editing in the Library module, editing in the Develop module, printing and output for presentations or web). The book contains interesting additional items such as converting images to black and white, sharpening, integration with Photoshop and Lightroom preferences. These topics are a major differentiator with other books of this application.

The screenshots that support the explanations about the application interface and all the images that are used within the book are an excellent size and quality which clearly displays details such as menus, lists, values, etc.

The author Martin Evening is a renowned photographer who has written numerous books on management of digital imaging in Photoshop and Lightroom.
If you are a professional or amateur photographer who enjoys knowing all the possibilities of an application and not afraid of the extensive guides, this book will be your best option and certainly the only thing you need on Lightroom.

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Marlon Ceballos
Colombia Adobe User Group Manager

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Thorough Lightroom Reference
Comment: This book is certainly one of the best if not THE best book on Lightroom 2 (that is currently available). While extremely dense with information (so much so the type had to be reduced a bit to fit it all) and very nicely done screenshots, it is quite a lot to read through. If you're one of those people who starts books and leaves the rest unread at page 100, be sure it's what you need. The good news is, if you buy this book there are few scenarios I can think of that would require you to own any other Lightroom book; it is quite comprehensive. Lightroom 2 has many features to learn, but all are fairly easy to digest once you have gotten the lay of the "land" and see how the different functions affect your images and work with one another.

The only real question you'll want to ask yourself is whether you really need this much information. If you're new to Lightroom, then unquestionably I think this is a good investment. If you're not new to Lightroom and are just looking for information about the new and updated features, it might be a bit overkill for you. In that case I might recommend you check out one of the thinner, well-reviewed books out there before buying this one. You definitely get your money's worth but if you already know 60% of the material inside (i.e. what you've learned from prior versions), there might be better options for you.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book
Comment: I have been reading Martin Evening's books for 10 years. He brings the important role as a photographer to the technical focus of software and using equipment while achieving an aesthetic balance in terms of information.

This book is not only readable but explains in important detail what the user needs to do to be successful. Thanks to Mr. Evening for doing the hard work of making the photographer's job easier. My copy is already becoming raggedy with wear.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: friendly and comprehensive
Comment: Lightroom seems friendly enough to "learn by doing", but this book taught me a number of techniques and explained details that I had missed. From the ins-and-outs of input and output sharpening, print color-management, and even efficient methods for working through the development sliders, I couldn't ask for more.

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