I don't find videos useful to learn programs from. There are usually multiple steps to do anything useful with these programs and you have to go back and forth many times to get them down.

I am sure there are some great books on Lightroom. The one that saved me on Photoshop Elements was by Kelby and Kloskowski. I know they have one on Photoshop but don't know if they have one on Lightroom. If they do I'd get it because of the way they do their books. They don't organize around the features. They tell you step by step how to get results. That is what is needed with these complex programs.

I suspect the learning curve from scratch is pretty steep. It seems to me to be about as complex as Elements and the learning curve for it is very steep. Once you get it you tend to forget how hard it was at first.

I am pretty happy with Elements but was thinking of going to Photoshop because I can now get the educators discount. But I went to a presentation tonight where the best photographer in our club showed how he uses Lightroom...demonstrating with the photo he just won first place with at the Idaho State Fair.

I'm almost sold because of how easy it is to save presets. You can't do that with Elements. You can save "actions" with Photoshop which is the same thing and I know you can use actions in Elements; i.e. create them in Photoshop and apply them in Elements. But that's more putzy than just using Lightroom...and I can get the educational discount on it so that may be my direction.

I've been learning LR4, too, and I find that it's a fantastic program. I am using only a small part of what it can do, but my skills are expanding. Basically, I work my way down the right column, making adjustments to the image.

For $25/mo, you can get access to all the videos on lynda.com. Kelbytraining.com offers the same deal.

Your opinion is the minority. I think it disservice to suggest to novices that it isn't a steep learning curve.

I put many hours a day into it over three months because I was retired at the time. This included many videos, including Adobe's and the Photoshop Elements magazine stuff (which is the best). I have two Master's degrees and extensive computer experience. Nonetheless I found Elements highly frustrating.

Your assertions don't wash for me.

Only Kelby and Kloskowski's book saved me.

Tonight the whole camera club that used Lightroom (about 35 people) agreed that the organization does not match the usual workflow. One reported what I wrote above about Adobe agreeing. Might be fine for you but not for the majority.