Introduction

Thanks for your interest in this book. You should know right away that this is not a book about how to use the Develop module to make your photos look better, as there are many good books and videos that do that already. You might even want to check out my video Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC (2015 release)/Lightroom 6 Learn by Video, which is 10 hours of content about all aspects of Lightroom.

So, what is this book? In a sense, it’s an answer to the many, many questions I’ve been asked since I started helping people learn about Lightroom and solve Lightroomrelated problems, back in 2007, when Lightroom 1.0 came out. I’ve learned a lot from that experience, and my goal for this book is to pass along some of the key knowledge I’ve acquired to you, the reader, so that you may benefit from the collective experience of us all.

In that time, I’ve seen the same questions asked, the same problems encountered, and the same misunderstandings slow people down over and over again. I’ve designed this book to help you build a solid foundation for understanding the way Lightroom works, which I believe is the key to working smarter and faster and avoiding the pitfalls that so many encounter. I’ve also focused on teaching you about the most important (and often least intuitive) tools, techniques, functions, and tips you need to know to stay in control of your Lightroom library over time.

You don’t need to read this book in its entirety or in any particular order, but I do recommendstarting with Chapter 1 to get off on the right foot. From there, use the book as a reference and resource to help you with the areas that are most concerning to you.

On a final note, I wrote Chapter 8, on common workflows, as a way for you to see how many of the aspects of the other chapters work in a real-world context. The workflow steps I describe are not the only way to perform a given task (as there are usually many roads to the same destination) but rather the steps that I felt would best help you understand how something can be done and from there, as you gain experience, you can customize to best fit your needs and style. I wish you all the best as you learn how to get the most out of Lightroom and stay in the driver’s seat throughout your journey.