SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

I also find Scott Kelby's books to be helpful. He also has a book on PS, but spends way too much space on Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). LR and PS have a great interface, making them work very well together without ever going to ACR in PS!

Another good resource is CreativeLive. This is good for having someone show you what they are doing. Often better than reading in a book. They have free tutorials, find these on their website under "On Air" under which you will find listings of what is on air now, and what is upcoming. If you really like a tutorial (they may go through things too quickly for you), you can purchase access to it so you can use it any time. And videos can be paused or you can go back and repeat that last part. All levels of photography (as well as other subjects) are covered, and the instructors are excellent.

Scott Kelby also has a subscription website KelbyOne where you can choose from their wide selection of video tutorials and watch them in any order you like, at any time that is convenient for you.

Lots of professional photographers have their own websites, and many offer free tutorials and ebooks as well as ones you can purchase for your continuing use. I have learned who they are through both of the above websites, as well as by searching for websites of pro photographers whose work I admire. By looking at their sites, you will get to see more of their work, as well as discover whether they offer any learning materials.

By using different sources for learning LR and PS, you take advantage of multiple teaching styles, and also the different tips that one will present, while another gives you another!

I will also repeat what others have said: Tackle LR first. It is more intuitive, having a large percentage of adjustments made by moving sliders. The other tools are also easy enough to use - learn one at a time, and each subsequent one will be easier as you go along. Make virtual/proof copies to work on, so you do not work on your original. This allows you to make as many copies as you like, and try out different editing techniques. Experimentation is important to the learning process!

RonBoyd

FWIW, the Develop Module in Lightroom is ACR.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

KelbyOne.com and Lynda.com are subscription learning sites. Each service has full courses covering just about anything you wish to learn about Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

This is technically true, but the presentation is different. I learned LR first, and could never get comfortable with ACR. Plus LR has the advantage of offering a cataloging system for your images.

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA

For a beginner, I would forget about PS (photoshop) and concentrate on LR especially learning the Library module and of course the Development module. The latter is built on ACR (Adobe Camera RAW). Once you learn the basics of editing in LR you will be able to move an image to PS for other enhancements, but there is not a whole lot that a relative beginner cannot do in LR.

My $0.02[/quote]

Ditto on starting w LR only.

lsimpkins Loc: SE Pennsylvania

Along the same lines, Laura Shoe has two excellent DVD courses available that teach Lightroom. They are very detailed, but she indicates what lessons are the most important to learn first. Check out her website for some free tutorials that will give you a feeling for her teaching style.

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

Ben willmore has an excellent lightroom bootcamp available on creativelive.com it's Adobe® Lightroom® CC Photo Editing: The Complete Guide he is also the best and most thorough instructor of all the videos I've seen from various sources like kelbyone, Lynda.com. There is a French photographer Serge Ramelli and he uses a very interesting "relighting" technique in LR which really makes photos pop. His stuff is free and out on YouTube. Julianne Kost from adobe also has a bunch of free videos available...

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Ben Willmore is great! I watched his LR Boot-camp when it was free, then purchased it. Same with his PS Boot-camp. Both programs were broadcast free for 4 weeks each, and the video is set up as chapters so you can either go back to one or know where you left off when watching your version.

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

I too did the PS bootcamp and then bought it. Even though I had a lot of Lightroom know how and skill ( I teach it at an arts center), I waited for a sale and bought the Lightroom class to use as a reference. It is so complete and covers every aspect of lightroom... It's organized into bite size chunks (chapters) so you can jump around if you need to reference something..

Ben also has a masters academy on facebook where he provides one video per week (deep dive) into some aspect/tool/technique of Lightroom or Photoshop. Stuff you just don't see anywhere else.. He is definitely masterful and knows how to convey it. I struggled with PS for years trying to master it and after the bootcamp and now my participation in the master's academy, I can actually get PS to do what I need... and understand how it works

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA

Agree that two great sources for quality instruction are CreativeLive and Lynda.com.

timepass Loc: Yardley,PA

Thanks for the info on the lightroom book.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I really like the two DVDs that Laura Shoe sells. I found them informative, instructional and complete and highly recommend them. Eash are about $ 50 but they go on sale every now and again. I highly recommend these.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Previously mentioned has been Victoria Brampton, the "Lightroom Queen".

In exchange for your email address, she will give you a free "quick start" e-book aimed directly at the beginner.

I would not get anything thicker or more complex until after reading this starter book.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/quickstart/

drharveys Loc: Holly Springs, NC

Also, see https://www.lightroomforums.net which is a very friendly forum with folks that really know LR and are gentle with newbies!