Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 - The Missing FAQ: Real Answers to Real Questions Asked by Lightroom Users

This is the best companion guide you can buy for "at your finger tips" quick review or when you are staring at the screen and cannot figure out what you have done to make it go "white out". This book does not take you through the photo rendering process in detail as that is not its purpose. There are many good books that will help you process a photo such as Martin Evenings book on LR5. This is more a handy reference guide but the author knows LR so well that in the end you do learn a lot about photo rendering, how to build a catalog, and all the other functions now available in both LR4 and 5.Try not to balk at two things: the cost and the fact the book is in black and white. Read her description of what she offers in addition to the paper back book so you will understand why it is in black and white and how to display it as a PDF on your computer monitor once you have bought the book. It also gives you direct access to the author whom I have e-mailed several times and she is very responsive and really wants feed back. She takes this feed back and puts it on her web page for member to view; in other words a live update of a paper book.What I like most about this edition as I have the LR3 book that she wrote several years ago, is that she goes into a lot more detail about computers, printers, monitor calibration and many other peripheral things that can make your photos not print or display correctly whether on the web or on photo paper. New camera's now have a 25 MG byte capacity for one photo. Read "groan" if you have an older computer, more than 4 years old. I know that hurts but the truth is, LR is a huge data base as well as photo rendering software. Big pictures equals big files. She explains all of this in a whole section of her book.The change from LR3 to LR4 software was significant enough that I bought the upgrade to the book. Upgrade to LR5 software is a wait and see as only a few of the new benefits really would help my photo work. The upgrade to the book has already opened my eyes to new ways to use all those sliders and bells and whistles in LR.

It is so nice, every now and then to make a phone call and actually have a human answer the phone...such is my experience with this book...Great book...encourage a little more information on Print Module, but, small potatoes. I previously gave the book a lower rating which prompted Victoria to respond and answer one of my many questions. I think that (or perhaps confess that) I was taking my frustration out with the vast learning curves out there on software. Indeed the QuickStart Guide in the beginning of her book helps to address this black hole, and she does manage to cover a great number of issues/questions inherent in mastering the software. And although I gave her a low rating earlier primarily because of seemingly short Print Module, I quickly discovered that she is "there" when you have any questions, and will work with you until you have the answer or understanding needed. That alone might be worth the price of the book as she is extremely knowledgable re LR and responds to questions in short order.As a former photographer who has more recently entered into the digital age, I must submit that on the one hand, the boundaries of what is possible have expanded exponentially...but then so has the complexity and depth of understanding required to master it all. I have corresponded with the authors of other technical books, specifically on Sony and Fuji cameras, books that are generally over 500 pages long as well. And though I do most certainly appreciate the contributions these authors like Victoria make to enabling me to work with a digital camera or the software required to bring pictures closer to the material realm, I sometimes admittedly feel a little flummoxed by it all...and perhaps I doth protest too much! At any rate, I will spare the rant, and simply offer my apologies to Victoria for taking my digital discontent out on her. It is perhaps a bit of a compensation from the days (which might be overly romanticized as seeming simpler) of the darkroom era to be able to pop an email off to the author of a book and get a relatively speedy answer...and Victoria does this splendidly!

Disclaimer: I am not a personal friend or paid advertiser of the author. Check my other reviews, I'm just a verbose consumer.OK, with that:You are not just buying a "How To" Book.You are buying an exclusive membership into a "How To" community.Yes, by "exclusive" I mean non members are excluded. Non members have limited, partial access.Anyone serious about Lightroom, and who are planning on using it often, should consider this offer.1.) You can personally contact the Author, who puts refreshing meaning into the word, "Dedication".2.) Private Web-site pages are open to you, offering the downloadable book in color, Member forums, and more.3.) You receive a Black and White hardcopy of the latest incarnation of the "Lightroom the Missing FAQ".4.) As mentioned, you also recieve the full color edition which can be installed on a tablet for portable field reference, or easier reading at bedside.Think about it, who else gives you both?This isn't a laser printer copy of a book. This is a high quality paperback reference edition.Same quality as Scott Kelby's fine productions!Take note; This is a nice, big, reference book. The size of a encyclopedia volume. It reveals everything.And the unique way it is laid out, makes it your computer-side "go to" manual.5.) Members receive deep discounts on updates, as opposed to new members needing to buy the newest book.Yes, I would enjoy owning all of the different Lightroom books, but right now, I chose this one above the others.I'm glad I did.

This book is accurately titled: it indeed the "missing FAQ" for Lightroom 5. As a fairly new Lightroom user and someone who enjoys reading FAQs on just about anything, I dove into this book and read it (almost) from cover to cover. It was like drinking out of a firehose! Victoria Bampton gives so much information. I do not doubt her self-proclaimed title of "Lightroom Queen" one bit. Virtually any tidbit of information you can think of about Lightroom is covered in one way or another. Some sections are described in exhaustive detail.If you buy the eBook version (a much better value), I highly recommend remembering to highlight passages that are relevant/interesting to you. I didn't think of doing this until well into the book ("Hey! I can highlight text using my Kindle app on the iPad!") and probably missed out on flagging useful material. If you buy the physical version of the book, be prepared to festoon the book with sticky notes.My only issue is that there are tons of related topic links, but I haven't found out yet how to "go back" on my Kindle app. Now that's what a need: a "Missing FAQ" for the Kindle iPad app.

I'm not really sure why but I buy a reference book with each new version of Lightroom, though usually the changes affect a small fraction of functionality. I usually get the Martin Evening or Scott Kelby ones (which are both really comprehensive), but this time I thought I would have a change and get Victoria Bampton's book. It really is very good. It is easy to find the 'nugget' you are looking for amongst all the stuff you know anyway. The information is generally concise and to the point, so you get the clarification you want without having to read through unnecessary related data. The title "FAQ" says it all. I think this is a useful and valuable book whether you are a long term Lightroom user or a new user

I purchased this book after having just purchased Lightroom. I Was a new Lightroom user, so needed to cut to the chase regarding building my understanding of how it worked.In a nutshell, this book didn't help me a great deal, as the information contained in it was difficult to locate. Not only that, I found you had to be asking the same questions as those in the book in order to gain anything meaningful. The information is all there, but the book conveys it by asking questions (as per the title), so for me, this just made the it more difficult to get to. I must stress, this is a personal thing, some people may not have a problem with picking up information delivered in this way.As far as the layout of the book is concerned, it follows a logical flow, so from that point of view it made sense. However, it's lack of colour is a disappointment - this is a book related to digital photography after all. We view Lightroom in colour on our screens, so why not use colour in the book? It just all helps with the familiarisation.If you are a new user, my advice would be to watch the Lightroom training videos that Adobe have created to help users get up to speed (search for Adobe TV). They are free and you'll quickly learn so much more than chewing your way through this book.Overall, this book might work for some people, but for me, the method of information delivery clouded the information itself. Perhaps it's worth considering using the wealth of free online Lightroom related resources as an alternative.

Bampton has become a favoured author of mine with her no-nonsense (and no silly attempts at humour) manuals.Lightroom 5 is, of course, a different kettle of fish from PhotoShop Elements (even the latest versions thereof).But if her previous books are anything to go by, I'll get into LightRoom with her help. Time (and effort) will tell!

Not only is this an intuative book, its a sort of how to book, but you can just go to the section you want, get the information, try it out in lightroom then move on. If you register your copy of the book with the lightroom queen, you can get follow ups and updates if you want for no extra cost to knowledge based emails. I Dont know of another author who does that. Good book