lightroom 4, where to start: I have always used picasa but was told if I would take the time to learn to use lightroom 4 I would benefit greatly from it so tonight I downloaded the 30...

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

I have always used picasa but was told if I would take the time to learn to use lightroom 4 I would benefit greatly from it so tonight I downloaded the 30 day free trial.

Before just busting in and getting lost I was in hopes of some direction as to where to start and step by step where to go to get a reasonable start with this new software.

Any input is appreciated, thanks in advance

John

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

Adobe tv, youtube, learn by video barnes an noble.

Malcolm B Loc: Leicester (UK)

Scott Kelby's book Lightroom 4 Book for digital Photographers is good. Unlike the Photoshop CS books by him, this one starts at the beginning and works its way through.

If you're lucky your library may have it. Certainly worth buying if you decide to go to LR4. At the moment, as Dirtpusher says look on UTube, or better still use the search facility here and see what comes up.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Take throw away pics to play with. Don't load keepers until you decide if you will keep LR- you will :). Reason for this is you will want to setup how you want to catalog your pictures, develop a tagging system, etc once you decide to keep since one of LR strength is its catalog. Kelby explains this at the start of his book but for now I would just play.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

JohnM wrote:

I have always used picasa but was told if I would take the time to learn to use lightroom 4 I would benefit greatly from it so tonight I downloaded the 30 day free trial.

Before just busting in and getting lost I was in hopes of some direction as to where to start and step by step where to go to get a reasonable start with this new software.

Any input is appreciated, thanks in advance

John

Give some thought to the workflow you want to employ. You can Google "photographic workflow" and get a lot of good reading. I contend you want to have your workflow 70-80% determined before you 'get serious' with LightRoom.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

REpeat after me: Scott Kelby, Scott Kelby, Scott Kelby, Scott Kelby. Got it??????

LARRY

craggycrossers Loc: Robin Hood Country, UK

JohnM wrote:

I have always used picasa but was told if I would take the time to learn to use lightroom 4 I would benefit greatly from it so tonight I downloaded the 30 day free trial.

Before just busting in and getting lost I was in hopes of some direction as to where to start and step by step where to go to get a reasonable start with this new software.

Any input is appreciated, thanks in advance

John

John - Excellent Lightroom Tutorials from soup to nuts ...... and FREE !!

http://en.elephorm.com/lightroom-4-training/lightroom-4-interface-customizing-interface.html?autoPlay=true&fullScreen=true#video

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

Thank you all very much for taking the time to advise. It sure looks like its going to be a challange. I hope I can learn enough to at least make it useable

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

craggycrossers wrote:

quote=JohnM I have always used picasa but was tol... (show quote)

Thanks Craggy, I started watching and it started out telling you how much you were going to learn from the series then all of a sudden, to go on and learn anything cost $50.00 to continue, thats when I shut it off.

Thanks for sharing, to bad there intro is less than honest.

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

treadwl wrote:

REpeat after me: Scott Kelby, Scott Kelby, Scott Kelby, Scott Kelby. Got it??????

LARRY

yep, I got it, seems to be a repeating item, need to get to the book store and see if its something I can afford to add to the pile.

thanks for the info

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

brucewells wrote:

quote=JohnM I have always used picasa but was tol... (show quote)

so far my work flow has been download to my computer, go through and delete the worst first then go back through and start dealing with photos one at a time, save the savable and delete the rest. takes time with a few hundred photos from a weekend but it works?

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

Db7423 wrote:

Take throw away pics to play with. Don't load keepers until you decide if you will keep LR- you will :). Reason for this is you will want to setup how you want to catalog your pictures, develop a tagging system, etc once you decide to keep since one of LR strength is its catalog. Kelby explains this at the start of his book but for now I would just play.

good advice Db, no problem, I have lots of those :-)

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

dirtpusher wrote:

Adobe tv, youtube, learn by video barnes an noble.

great advice dirtpusher

Ziza Loc: USA

JohnM wrote:

I have always used picasa but was told if I would take the time to learn to use lightroom 4 I would benefit greatly from it so tonight I downloaded the 30 day free trial.

Before just busting in and getting lost I was in hopes of some direction as to where to start and step by step where to go to get a reasonable start with this new software.

Any input is appreciated, thanks in advance

John

Here is some help.

http://tv.adobe.com/show/getting-started-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4/
http://jkost.com/lightroom.html

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

good luck an have fun, i do.