Photo Live Magazine First Issue Photo live - cat's add in 2017 versioin | Page 165

Let’s talk presets - love them or not?
Why?
Like any tool, presets can help
or hinder, depending on the way
they’re used. I see a lot of people
trying to use presets for absolutely
everything, but they’d get a better
result if they learned to use the slid-
ers. Presets also tend to come and
go with fashion, making photos look
really dated, whereas good photo
editing is timeless.
On the other hand, presets can be a
great way of getting some inspiration
when you’re stuck, or learning which
sliders to combine to get a particular
kind of look, or just ensuring consist-
ency over a set of images.
Adobe’s subscription plan has prov-
en popular as it makes a lot of their
software more immediately afforda-
ble, but does this give opportunity
for different companies like Capture
One or even Apple’s Photos oppor-
tunity to break into the market in a
bigger way?
The Photography Plan is a fantastic
deal, because it means everyone
can have access to industry-stand-
ard tools at a very low cost. There
has been a sudden influx of new ed-
iting tools, and some of them show
great promise. That’s really exciting.
There hasn’t been a lot of choice for
users over the last few years, and
competition is a really good thing, as
it pushes these companies to con-
tinue to grow and innovate.
You’ve got a bunch of great books
on Lightroom, even a free one, tell
us about your books, how long does
it take you to put one together and
are you asked by publishers or even
Adobe to write them or are they your
own product?
How long it takes depends on the
size of the book, but I like to spend
the time to think it through properly.
A free eBook might take 3-4 weeks
to perfect, but on the other end of
the scale, I spent 2 years completely
rewriting my main LRCC/6 book.
I’ve been offered book deals by
big publishers, but I’ve turned them
down. I want to be able to write the
books that readers want to read, not
the books that the publishers want
to publish. Self-publishing gives me
control over the whole process,
so I’m not limited by page or word
counts, or someone else’s vision of
how the book should look, but in-
stead, I can take feedback directly
from my readers. They’ve given me
some great suggestions over the
years, and I’m constantly tweaking
and improving the books based on
their comments.
Finally if someone wants to learn
about Lightroom where should they
start? I mean do they get your free
download book and go from there?
Yes, my free Lightroom Quick Start
eBook:
www.lightroomqueen.com/quickstart
would be a great place to start. It’s
designed, not only to guide new
users through the basics, but also
helps them avoid the most frequent
problems I see, such as thinking their
photos are “in” Lightroom and then
deleting the originals. Many readers
then move onto the Fast Track that
weaves its way through my main
Missing FAQ book, taking their learn-
ing one stage further, and then they
can dip in and out of the rest of book
when a particular topic takes their
interest.
Adobe also has some excellent Get-
ting Started videos:
helpx.adobe.com/support/Lightroom.html ,
which are an ideal companion to my
Quick Start book.
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