Lightroom 3

[Joe Copalman]

Resurrecting this one from the dead, as both Bill and I have recently picked up LR3, and I know I can certainly benefit from the input of some LR3 veterans.

Two questions off the top of my head:

1. Any recommendations on what I should do first?  I want to dive right into it, but want to make sure I'm getting the most out of it right out of the gate.  Any "I really wish I had done such and such when I first got it" input would be greatly appreciated.

2. Any recommendations on tutorials/books/websites that can help me get up to speed on what I can do with this?  Tons of into out there, just looking to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Thanks!

[Paul Dumm]

1. Better use of Keywords as they carry over into Flicker, Sumgmug, ect. I use them now but I should have used more to break it down better.
2. Scott Kelby has some good books out there plus his web sight hs a lot of info. (but that cost too)

[Jay Beckman]

Honestly Joe, I could show you faster than I could explain it here...

Drop me a note and we can do a LR session if you'd like.

[Jay Beckman]

Don't hold my feet to the fire on this but it's possible that since folks bought LR3 so close to the release of LR4, you might qualify for the upgrade for little to no money...

I'm seeing rumblings where people have accomplished this.

[Chris Kennedy]

Free upgrade policy.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/153/tn_15304.html?PID=4485850

[Stephen Marshall]

Thanks for bringing this up, as I had no idea they did that. Just bought LR3 on Feb 29th and just submitted my case to adobe. Here's hoping for the upgrade!

[Jay Beckman]

FWIW, folks may want to hold off on installing LR4 just yet...

Initial reports say it's got some issues.

If you purchase it, I'd wait to install until 4.1 comes around which probably won't take too long.

[Paul Dumm]

Darn, I have it installed and running. 

[Lynn Evans]

Hi Jay,
Can you give us info or a link so I can educate myself on the LR 4 problems. I have the beta (no problems yet), and bought the 4.0 but have not yet installed it.
Thank you 

[Jay Beckman]

@ Paul: And?  How's it working for you?

@ Lynn: There's really nothing specific at which I can point.  I dip a toe into several different photo forums a day and the "buzz" is that LR4.0 isn't 100% for everyone right out of the box.  It may be due to older computer hardware in some cases.  It may be software conflicts in some cases and it may be even be operator error in others.  In short, I guess it's acting pretty much like most software nowadays.

[Paul Dumm]

Jay, it been working great so for. Lots of cool new stuff, and I'm not talking about the book or maps. The soft proofing was a nice touch and the development sce. has real improved.

[Lynn Evans]

Thanks Jay, I will install it on one pc and see if I am ok.

[F-16_fixer]

FWIW I haven't had any real issues with my conversion from LR3 to LR4 other than it runs much slower than LR3 did but my PC is getting a little long in the tooth and I do need to update it soon.