Workflow or Photography Books

tipsinartok

I hope this is the right forum for this. I got a gift certificate for Christmas, so now I just need to pick one or two books (need to keep it under $40-ish.) I've been searching through the forums reading book recommendations, and I think I'd like to try one of Scott Kelby's books. I was also thinking of preordering the new Understanding Exposure, as I've had the older one from the library a couple of times and quite like it. I have CS3 and Lightroom. I'm decent with CS3, because I do a lot of digital scrapbooking and digital design as well, but I know there are probably a lot of tips I could pick up specific to photography. I'm a bit lost with Lightroom, and mostly just use it for the organization and tags, but would like to learn more. I mostly take pictures of my daughter, and sometimes of friends' kids. I'd love to eventually make some money taking pictures, but I have lots to learn first.

I think I would like to learn more about workflow. My workflow right now is all over the map. I usually just load the pictures onto my computer using the Canon EOS utilities, use DPP to do a quick look through them and delete obvious bad ones, sometimes I'll adjust wb on really good ones too if needed. Eventually I will import a bunch at once into Lightroom with the tag "Later" so I know they still need to be tagged, but since I still haven't tagged a lot of the original thousands of pictures I imported into Lightroom, I don't use the tags as much as I'd like anyway yet. If I'm looking for a picture I'll find it in DPP or Lightroom and then open a copy into Photoshop and do adjustments there.

I guess I'm wondering if I would be better off getting one of Kelby's CS3 or Lightroom books (and which one), or if I should go for one or two of the Digital Photography books and just concentrate on getting my pictures better to start. Also, would the Digital Photography books be more useful than the "Understanding Exposure" ones, especially since I can get that one from the library here? (Kelby's are available too but always seem to have excessively long waiting lists so I've never actually bothered to put myself on the holds list for them.)

ETA: I just noticed the kitchen sink forum, and I assume this would have been better off there. Please feel free to move it if so! Sorry about that.

[Deleted User]

I think the Kitchen Sink forum is for selling/buying items that are not brand specific.
I think for asking about books or other things this would be a better place to post.

ziggy53

I moved this to the Technique forum, just because I think that's where most of the book questions wind up and hopefully where the thread will find a better audience.

For book recommendations you might also consider books that target specific photographic interests or even guides to parks. For instance, I recently got "The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite" to study so that the next time I go there I'll have the advantage of knowing approximately where to go and what time of the day to go, to gain maximum advantage. That guide was a recommendation that I read from a DGrinner and I think it is worth the purchase price for me.

BradfordBenn

I have both CS3 and Lightroom and have books on both. I really like Martin Evening's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321555619?ie=UTF8&tag=bradfordbennc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0321555619">The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bradfordbennc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0321555619&quot; width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> and learned quite a bit about my work flow through it. I also would recommend spending some time browsing before purchasing. I will often go to the local bookstore or library to look at a book before purchasing the book I want.

There are also some book recommendations here... http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/4055033

The one thing to think about is what you are trying to accomplish. You indicated you are doing "digital scrapbooking and digital design and taking pictures of your kids" so think about what you want to accomplish - and how a book might help. If you are looking to improve your workflow, I would recommend the Lightroom book as I am not using Canon's DPP at all just Lightroom. If you are looking for digital asset management... well the list goes on.

Sorry to ask more questions, just want to point you in the right direction. (My workflow is posted at http://bradfordbenn.com/blog/2007/10/photography-work-flow/ if you want to check it out.)

tipsinartok

Thank you for the suggestions. I've added Martin Evening's book to my list and I really like the idea of looking for specific ideas too. I'll have a look through the suggestions in the link too. I'm going to head to the bookstore this week while they still have sales on and see what they have in stock and have a look through. BradfordBenn, thanks for posting your workflow too! I really need to get into the habit of uploading/tagging photos every day. Right now I do it weekly, if that. I almost wish my card wasn't so big, then I'd have no choice!

BradfordBenn

tipsinartok wrote:

I really need to get into the habit of uploading/tagging photos every day. Right now I do it weekly, if that. I almost wish my card wasn't so big, then I'd have no choice!

I use the Paint Keyword quite a bit in Lightroom and that does speed it up quite a bit. I have also started to remove the rejects first so there is less to keyword.

CWSkopec

I'm a big fan of Scott Kelby. I just plain like his books and his writing style. I've heard from more than one person that his books are more "do this" than "here's why we're going to do this" which normally doesn't work for me, but somehow he's just made it work.

Since you've got Lightroom, I'd recommend getting a Lightroom book focused on workflow because it sounds like you aren't using the program to its full potential. It's entirely replace Canon's software for me as I've found it to be an all around better program. I don't have a specific recommendation for a Lightroom book, but whether it's Kelby or not, it'd probably help you get the most out of a very powerful program.

One book I can recommend is Kelby's 7 Point System for Photoshop CS3. It's largely targetted at saving a somewhat bad photo, but techniques I picked up in the book have really helped me make a good photo great.

Art Scott

I really like Scott Kelby's Lightroom books....he gives great workflow instruction....also like Joe McNallys At the Moment it Clicks and HOTSHOE DIARIES........great books....

If your Gift Cert is for Amazon......buy from one of the sellers NOT amazon (they price at list)......I just got HotShoie Diaries for just under $20.00 and back when I bought Kelby's LR 2 for Digital Photogs ......I got it for well over 50% off the price printed on the book......both new...as I found sellers selling NEW for less than used:D

photosbyles

Art Scott wrote:

I really like Scott Kelby's Lightroom books....he gives great workflow instruction....also like Joe McNallys At the Moment it Clicks and HOTSHOE DIARIES........great books....

I'm a Scott Kelby fan too. His CS3 for Digital Photographers is a great add to your collection. That said, I find I hardly use CS3 any longer after forcing myself to learn more about LR. I might even have his LR2 book, and pretty sure I do; anyway - also a good add to your library. Once you get into adjustment brush use, you might find going back to CS3 even less necessary.

Workflow seems to be the name of the game as far as organization and choosing which images deserve most of your attention. tagging your pics (metadata) can be done on import for the most part, so that gets easier with practice. My first pass in LR is flagging picks with the P key, then creating a collection. I usually use the top down workflow in LR on the develop module and things click right along. Best of luck, and Happy New Year.