Book Review – Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta: The Missing FAQ by Victoria Bampton

They don’t call her the Lightroom Queen for nothing. Adobe released the public beta of Lightroom 3 last night and Victoria Bampton already has a rough cut of her Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta – The Missing FAQ eBook available for purchase.

Quick Facts

• Title: Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta – The Missing FAQ: Real Answers to Real Questions asked by Lightroom Users – Rough Cut
• Author: Victoria Bampton
• Publisher: Self-published (The Lightroom Queen)
• Publication Date: October 21, 2009
• ISBN: not available yet
• Cover Price: US $41.95 | UK £24.95 [See other pricing options in the Where to Buy section.]
• Pages: 428

Review

I’ve reviewed Bampton’s previous book, Adobe Lightroom 2: The Missing FAQ, and that book is still available. This book is a rough cut of her upcoming Lightroom 3 book. Here’s how the author explains what a rough cut is:

Lightroom 3 beta is just that – a beta version. A lot will change between the beta version and the final release of 3.0. There are plenty of bugs and things to be tidied up, and it’s not feature complete yet, but it’s an excellent opportunity to get feedback from the users on the things you do like, and the things you don’t.

A rough cut of a book is like a beta version – it’s an early draft. It’s not finished. So far I’ve updated the information from the Lightroom 2 version of this book for version 3 beta, and added lots of questions which have appeared on the forums over the last year or so. I’ve got stacks of information yet to be sorted and included, many sections to rewrite, a full index to build, and Lightroom 3 beta is far from feature complete, so there are plenty of new features yet to be included in the final release of this book too.

The book is not intended to be a cover-to-cover, step-by-step instruction manual on Lightroom. Instead it offers answers to dozens of common (and some not-so-common) questions from real Lightroom users. I feel very strongly that some of your questions will be answered, as well.

The book moves through the following sections:

• The Database Concept
• Previews & Speed
• Import
• Library Module
• Develop Module
• XMP and ACR Compatibility
• Export and Editing in Other Programs
• Slideshow Module
• Print Module
• Web Module
• General Troubleshooting
• Useful Information
• Keyboard Shortcuts

Each of those sections has many sub-topics, each with a number of answered questions. There were too many to list on this review, but you can view the entire Table of Contents here.

To get an even better idea of the book before you purchase it, check out the generous offering of PDF excerpts on Bampton’s website.

This book is worth having. If nothing else, it’s the first offer I’ve seen for a Lightroom 3 beta book. More importantly, though, it really is full of helpful advice and answers to questions you’ll inevitably ask about Lightroom 3.

Savings hint: Use discount code LRL2009 for an even better deal!

About the Author

Victoria Bampton is known to many as The Lightroom Queen. In Southampton, UK, she runs Photoshop Services, a photography processing and retouching service. Her website, LightroomQueen.com, offers a helpful blog and a free Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts download. In addition to her work there, she’s a very active moderator at LightroomForums.net and a helpful Twitter resource as @vbampton and @LightroomQueen.

Where to Buy

I’m sure the final book will be available at Amazon.com, but for now the author offers the option to purchase the book directly from her website. Here are the all the options and pricing details:

• Color PDF eBook Version – Pre-order the Lightroom 3 Missing FAQ and get the rough cut for free immediately – £14.95 (About $24.95 USD) – Get it!
• Color PDF eBook and Black & White Paperback Bundle (Shipped by the author) – Pre-order the paperback book and get instant downloadable access to the rough cut PDF today. You’ll also get the final version in PDF format when the final paperback ships. – £24.95 (About $41.95 USD) with Free Shipping in the UK (International Shipping is £3.50 (about $5.50 USD)) – Get it!

When ordering from the author’s website, be sure and use coupon code LRL2009 for some savings.

Other Book Reviews

TheLightroomLab.com strives to review books on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, photography in general, and other relevant subjects whenever possible.

• Click here to view all Adobe Photoshop Lightroom book reviews.
• Click here to view all book reviews, regardless of subject.

You can also view books and other products in our Store.

Do you have a favorite Lightroom or photography book? Read this book and have something to say…good or bad? Let us know in the comments.

Filed Under: Reviews

Tags: FAQ • Lightroom 3 • lightroom-book