Congratulations to our Author of the Year 2015 — Martin EveningÂ
Photographers at Work — Essential Business and Production Skills for Photographers in Editorial, Design, and Advertising
by Martin Evening
New Riders Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-99414-1, 312 pages
$45 U.S., $52 CN (Internet pricing is lower)
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC / Lightroom 6 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers
by Martin Evening
New Riders Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-392919-5, 722 pages
$60 U.S., $69 CN (Internet pricing is lower)
Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers, 2015 Release (3rd Edition)
by Martin Evening
Focal Press / Routledge / Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 978-1-138-91700-2, 730 pages
$60 US
Martin Evening published three books in 2015 for serious photographers. Each title is excellent on its own merit. Together they add up to a heavyweight trio that will excel for many years. His Photoshop and Lightroom books continue two series that have thrived in multiple editions. His most recent topic is the distilled wisdom of a lifetime career as a working professional. Congratulations to our Author of the Year 2015 — Martin Evening.
Photographers at Work offers time-tested chapters on how to become a better photographer and use these skills to get paid for your images. Martin explains the many professional avenues available in the current economic and publishing climates. There are interviews and web links for the successful individuals who are described.
In addition to talent, hard work, experience, and luck, you need familiarity with Internet tools, social media, and business basics. Newcomers don’t have to understand everything from day one, but the uphill journey can be intense and lengthy. Did you know there is weather insurance, for example? Or that it’s okay to say no to a prospective client if an assignment is beyond your areas of expertise or seems too good to be true?
Who owns the rights to your pictures? Read this book and you will understand that the answer is it depends. Do you need permission to take or submit every photo that can possibly be used commercially? Keep reading. How about working with models? Martin Evening’s career in fashion is your guide. Must you have the skills of a travel agent, a currency trader, and a customs officer to organize a faraway location photo shoot? Perhaps.
All the above content is presented in the first 180 pages, before Martin addresses photographic equipment and computer methods. He is one of the great masters of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. A chapter on setting up a studio is followed by an extensive section on fine art photography. Don’t skip either of these two. And study the portfolios linked from the photographers covered here.
Many successful pros are featured in this book, with interviews and examples from their portfolios. Photographers at Work has links to bonus video interviews with the notable photographers plus print optimization advice.
Adobe’s subscription-based software service is here to stay. The Creative Cloud Photography Plan offers excellent value and support for the cost of a few cups of coffee per month. But how are you supposed to learn to use the foundation and updated features in Photoshop and Lightroom CC? Martin Evening has the answers.
Hold all calls. Turn off your Facebook notifications. Suspend your Netflix service. Start studying his two books and amaze your clients and colleagues with the results. But don’t drop these books on your toes in your enthusiasm, or you’ll end up in the emergency room. They are heavy!
With regard to authors on Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Martin Evening is the best. There are many rave reviews on these latest and prior editions of The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book and Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, including several here at MyMac.com. Here is my interview with Martin, and here is my review of a prior Photoshop title. Here is Steve Hammond’s snapshot review of an earlier Lightroom guide.
I continue to use and recommend Martin’s Photoshop and Lightroom masterpieces as tutorial texts in my digital photography editing workshops. When I go on a driving vacation, I bring along one or both of these books for ballast in the trunk of my car and for reading in short snippets of time.
These are serious books for dedicated photographers and image editors. The writing is comfortable for specific topic or extended chapter reading. Lessons are lucid, with extensive illustrated tutorials and helpful sidebars. The only thing I don’t like is the narrow sans-serif text from both publishers that makes reading with older eyes less than ideal.
I have attended many Photoshop and Lightroom online courses and demos, and they leave me feeling frustrated and rushed. I always wish I had instead spent the hours digging deeper into Martin Evening’s The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers and Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers.
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