"The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC Book for Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby [first impressions]

Disclosure: this is not a full review, I still haven't finished reading the book. These are just my initial thoughts after skimming over the book and reading a couple of chapters.

The reason why I bought this book was to get more in depth information about the latest version of Lightroom. Being a long time user of the software I consider myself pretty knowledgeable around the main features, but with the constant evolution that Adobe keeps bringing with each new version there is always more to learn about the features I use, and even more about the ones I barely glance over.

If you don't know the author, Scott Kelby is one of the most prolific photographer and educator of all things photography. Find out more at ScottKelby.com

Let me start by telling you that this is a big book, at well over 500 pages, even the bookseller joked that by the time I finished it I would know all there is to know about Lightroom. It reminds me of the technical books I used to buy in the 90's, down to the squarish page format.

It is very well structured, starting with importing photos and how to organise them using the Library module. Then moves to the Develop module, starting with simple adjustments and progressing to more advance techniques like local adjustments, gradient and radial filters, using real images to go through them. Side note, don't jump over the introduction because that's where Scott tells you where to get the images he uses for the examples. Map, Book and Print modules are all well covered, only the Web module is a bit left out, but for good reasons.

Each chapter is organised as a series of tutorials, with lots of pictures and well defined steps, very easy to follow along. And, thanks to Scott's usual lighthearted tone, not at all intimidating for complete beginners but also not feeling condescending for the more advanced reader. At the end of each chapter there is a section called Lightroom Killer Tips which, just like it says on the tin, consists of small tips and tricks that aren't very well known or simply aren't complicated enough to warrant a full tutorial. I can tell you that on the first chapter I learned a few interesting things.

After going through the first chapter and a bit, I definitely recommend it for both people who want to get into using Lightroom, and those who have been using it since version 1.  You can find out more about it, and all the other books and courses from Scott Kelby at the Kelby one website 

As always I'll update this with the full review once I have gone through the whole thing.  Let me know if this has been at all helpful for you, or if you have anything to say about it.

#project365 [day 37] Cycling on the Brooklyn Bridge

Walking across the Brooklyn was on top of the things to do in NY. It even topped visiting the Chrysler building, which I didn't even got to do because it as an active office without any facilities to be used as a tourist attraction, shame really. But back to the bridge, the most recognisable bridge in NY, which is saying a lot since there are 16 bridges just connecting Manhattan to the outer boroughs. It's two towers are easily recognisable, and crossing it gives you some very impressive views of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Governors Island and even to the Statue of Liberty if the weather is on your side.On the top deck only pedestrians and cyclists are allowed, and it is one the best ways to commute, since the traffic on the lower deck seems always very dense.

I tried to get a sense of movement from the cyclist going with a slower shutter speed, but had to help it a bit on post processing, because the overcast sky was still to bright to get a slow enough shutter.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Crop, tone and vignette
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

"Get Your Photography On The Web" by Rafael 'RC' Concepcion [first impressions]

Disclosure: this is not a full review, I still haven't finished reading the book. These are just my initial thoughts after skimming over the book and reading a couple of chapters.

So with that out of the way. let's get into the book itself. I bought it because I wanted some advice on how to engage more people with my photography, and to possibly grow my hobby to be self sustaining.

It turns out that the book begins with a low level how-to create a website using GoDaddy for hosting, and Wordpress as a blog and site template. Thankfully it also has a few advices that are not specific to these tools and apply to almost any photo website and interspersed with some short but very juicy interviews with photographers and designers that are relevant to the whole theme of photography on the web.

To summarise I would say this is a very helpful book if you're a complete novice to the whole web-site building thing, and will be not as relevant if you have some knowledge or, as is my case, have done this before in the past with other tools. Some of the information and graphics are also a bit dated, but that's the issue with printed word about the web, it can never keep up. 

I will update this, to a full review, once I finish reading and digesting it. You can find out more about it on RC's Website.

Just heard that a new version is on the works, hope it addresses some of the weaker points with this edition.

 

#project365 [day 35] Departments of Health, Hospitals and Sanitation

In lower Manhattan there is an area dominated by public service buildings, in a few blocks you can find the City Hall, Tweed Courthouse, Court of International Trade, Supreme Court and the Department of Health, Hospitals and Sanitation.

Huge monolithic buildings, mostly made of stone and largely in the Art Deco style. This facade has a wonderful weathered stone and some very intricate metal detailing. I couldn't find any information on the building itself, would be interesting to find out who designed it and when it was built. 

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Crop, tone and vignette
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 34] Going through book cards at NYPL

Wandering inside the NYPL building, I found one of the small reading rooms actively being used for research. Looking through the cabinets full of book cards, one of the readers tries to find the right book. In an age of digital, where all information seems to be found at the click of a mouse, it seemed an action out of time. The Library seems to still be the guardian of old times, where a physical interaction was needed to be able to find what you wanted, and time had to be invested with delayed gratification.

Being an active reading room, I had to stay outside the door shooting through the glass, hence the reflections. But the action being capture seemed to outweigh the technical flaws of the image. Hope some agree... 

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 33] Madame Tussaud’s NYC

Midtown Manhattan, the chaos of the skyscrapers, crazy big adverts, neon lights, thousands of cars and even more people crowding the sidewalks and streets. In the middle of all that, a hand holds a sign over a building. A very big golden hand, that catches my eye in the middle of all the visual noise. It signals the building that houses the Madame Tussauds NY collection. I think about trying to isolate the hand from the rest, but end up deciding on including its surroundings, and show a bit of the sensory overload that is NY.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction