Loving Landscapes | eBook Review

Recently I was asked to become a reviewer for Digital Photography School’s eBooks. I jumped at the opportunity, but have been slow getting started because reading an eBook isn’t the first thing I think to do when I sit down on the sofa with my iPad. The extent of reading I usually do on my tablet is limited to Feedly (my RSS reader of choice) and a handful of news apps.

However, after reading Loving Landscapes – A guide to landscape photography workflow and post-production by Todd & Sarah Sisson I realized that great photography how-to books are NOT limited to print. This book has useful information for the serious beginner and seasoned photographer alike.

What you’ll find in “Loving Landscapes”

First we start out with a brief overview on capturing the photo:

• Chapter 1: Image Capture {a brief overview on exposure, sharpness, color, and image quality}

Next, we learn a bit about backing up our precious photos:

• Chapter 2: Computers & Backups {backing up your photos in the field and in the studio}

Here we dive a bit deeper into the benefits of shooting in RAW format

• Chapter 3: RAW Workflow for Landscape Photography

Then we dive into Lightroom file management and organization:

• Chapter 4: FIle Management in Lightroom {Importing photos into Lightroom and an Introduction to the Library Module}
• Chapter 5: Organizing your Images in Lightroom {Sorting and ranking your images so you can find them later}

Now we get to the fun part – learning how to make landscape photos POP!

• Chapter 6: Outputting Images from Lightroom {Your photos are in Lightroom, now what?}
• Chapter 7: Single Exposure Post-Processing {Introduction to the Lightroom Develop Module}
• Chapter 8: Single Exposure Post-Processing Walkthrough {Selective adjustments using the Graduated Filter & Adjustment Brush}
• Chapter 9: Other Lightroom Tools and Features {Advanced tools in Lightroom’s Develop Module}
• Chapter 10: Single Exposure Techniques {Techniques and tools for capturing awesome single-exposure images}

Ready to use more advanced techniques? On to Photoshop!

• Chapter 11: Photoshop for Landscape Photographers {A few Photoshop basics and comparisons between similar tools in Photoshop & Lightroom}
• Chapter 12: Multi-Exposure Workflow {Working with multi-exposure images in Photoshop and Photomatix Pro, including a short bit on HDR}

There is even a bonus chapter on capturing Star Trails!

• Happy (star) Trails! {How to capture star trails in your landscape photographs}

Who should read ‘Loving Landscapes’

Loving Landscapes – A guide to landscape photography workflow and post-production is for both the serious ameteur and seasoned photographer. This book was a great refresher on many topics (especially the chapters about Lightroom) but I learned many new Photoshop techniques in the later chapters that I can’t wait to put to use!

While Loving Landscapes touches on image capture basics it is worth noting that this book is not geared toward the newbie who is taking their camera out of the box for the first time. The authors assume that the reader has a grasp of basic photography concepts and understands how to make a proper exposure by manipulating aperture, ISO and shutter speed.

My Final Thoughts

If you enjoy landscape photography, then Loving Landscapes – A guide to landscape photography workflow and post-production is for you. Todd & Sarah’s writing styles are engaging and easy to understand. They break down their landscape photography workflow into manageable steps, starting with the easy stuff, and then progress to more complex techniques in Photoshop. The book has bits of humor injected throughout, making it fun to read as well as informative.

I also enjoyed the rich media content allowed by the eBook format. Todd & Sarah have links to additional content throughout the book making it easy to learn more about a given topic or technique.

This eBook is geared toward the Adobe user, specifically, someone with access to Lightroom and Photoshop. If you are serious about learning photography post-processing using the methods in this eBook you’ll want to sign up for Adobe’s Creative Cloud for Photography.

Pick up your copy of Loving Landscapes – A guide to landscape photography workflow and post-production for just $29.99. While you are at it, you may want to check out Todd & Sarah’s first book focused on capturing landscape photos – Living Landscapes as well.