The Landscape Photographer's Guide to Photoshop: A Visualization-Driven Workflow

by Guy Tal

"You are not offering testimony to the existence of something, you are bringing something into existence—something that did not exist before, and that would not exist if it were not for you." - Guy Tal The first step to creating an expressive photograph happens before you even click the shutter: it is the act of visualizing an image in your mind’s eye. Once composed and captured, the data recorded by the camera is then transformed in processing to match the visualized image. To become a better expressive photographer means, among other things, to become a better visualizer. This requires more than just technical skill, but also an understanding of what art is, what it means to be an artist, and how to translate your thoughts, feelings, and experiences into visual creations. In The Landscape Photographer’s Guide to Photoshop: A Visualization-Driven Workflow , Guy Tal provides a broad theoretical foundation for digital landscape photography as an expressive visual art, and for understanding how art and technology come together to serve your creative purpose. He then offers a roadmap for a visualization-driven approach to processing images in Photoshop. Topics include: Bringing all of these techniques together, Guy presents a detailed case study, beginning with his initial visualization for the final image and working through his processing steps from RAW conversion to the final print.

Genres: Photography

328 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2017

About the author

I am a professional writer and photographic artist living in Utah. I am the author of several books, a blogger, and an educator. In my photographs, I aim to express emotions and moods rather than to document or commemorate the appearances of places or events.

Reviews

[Barry Stoch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give out 5 star ratings but this was a no brainer for me.

Guy Tal's approach is perfect for any aspiring photographer. If you are looking for a methodology to create images that look like what you visualized when you took the image, this book will help you tremendously.

I enjoyed going through the basics of shooting and developing digital images, I found lots of interesting bits of info that explain tools that I know how to use, but sometimes don't always know why you use it in a certain way. Histograms was a good example!

I really related to Guy's approach, which encourages creativity, learning to visualize, and providing a methodology, with explainations of the tools he uses, to develop your images in photoshop so that they are representational of your initial visualization

Highly recommended!!

[Craig Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guy Tal is, perhaps, my favorite landscape photographer. His images are exquisite. Spending time with his book demonstrates why. Trying to digest his workflow in single reading is like attempting to sip from a firehose.

I plan to keep it on my desk where I can envision it becoming dog-eared from overuse.

[Lefteris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational as much as educational

Guy Tal is as good with words as he is with his camera. A true artist. The book offers insights to the photographer’s artistic vision before, during and after a photograph is captured.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want advice on how to visualise your finished image and bring that to life in Photoshop, this is the perfect book. Guy Tal explains everything clearly, step by step, with example images and workflows. Highly recommended.

[Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read in spite of requiring some familiarity with Photoshop. I will likely buy this expensive book in the new addition.