Synopses & Reviews
What if your image could only communicate one thing: one major idea, overarching theme, or driving emotion? If you identified this, you’d discover your vision for that image—the internal, invisible guiding principle that directs both how you capture the image and how you develop it in the digital darkroom.
Without vision, you likely find yourself flailing both behind the camera and in front of the computer—indiscriminately shooting and arbitrarily moving sliders in hopes of stumbling upon something great every once in a while. With vision, you bring direction and intention to both the creation and development of all your images.
Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is about identifying your vision and using Lightroom’s Develop module to give voice—that outward expression—to your vision. Photographer David duChemin begins with the fundamentals of a vision-driven workflow, where he discusses everything from vision and style, to the importance of mood and color, to the crucial role of histograms and of getting the best possible digital negative to work with. After demonstrating how the Develop module’s tools affect the aesthetics of your image, duChemin then offers a straightforward approach to developing your images in accordance with your own personal vision: identify your intention, minimize the distractions, maximize the mood, and draw the viewer’s eye—all while leaving room for play and serendipity. Finally, duChemin applies this approach to 20 of his photographs as he takes you into his own digital darkroom and, beginning with the original RAW file, works step by step through the development of the final image.
Review
MyMac.com
9 out of 10
“David duChemin’s images of people and landscapes never feel posed or artificial. There is a dignity and intimacy to his portraits of people living in impoverished conditions...This book is highly recommended for photographers seeking to refine their voice and style.”
Synopsis
David duChemin, author of the bestselling
Within the Frame, believes there are three images that go into making a photographer's final image: the one she envisions, the one she shoots, and the one she develops.
Vision and Voice is about this third and last component, as the photographer brings the image into the Develop module of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom--today's most popular digital darkroom.
Most often, the most powerful images strongly communicate just one message, theme, or emotion. This book teaches readers how to take that theme or emotion they had when they first shot the image, and carry it through to the development process in Lightroom. After discussing this crucial process of bringing the photographer's intention and vision to Lightroom, duChemin first gives the readers a quick look at Lightroom's Develop module, explaining the features and settings--not only in how they work but in what aesthetic effects they have on an image. duChemin then reveals his personal process for developing images in Lightroom, as he works through 20 images, beginning with the RAW digital negative and finishing with the final, developed image ready to share.
This book is not an exhaustive overview or tour of Lightroom. Instead, duChemin takes a unique approach by concentrating solely on the Develop module, the component of Lightroom where a photographer has the most powerful tools to bring their vision and voice to the image.
About the Author
An assignment photographer specializing in humanitarian projects and world photography, David duChemin has been creating compelling stories with a camera in hand for over twenty years. A passionate contributor to the international photography community, duChemin's first book, Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision, received worldwide acclaim for its vision, passion, and depth. David has shot on five continents for assignments and projects covering places as diverse as Paris, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, India, Nepal, and Mongolia. Find David online at Pixelatedimage.com.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part One: VISION
CHAPTER ONE Vision in Focus
CHAPTER TWO Vision And Process
CHAPTER THREE Vision and Style
CHAPTER FOUR Vision-Driven Workflow
Part Two: VOICE
CHAPTER FIVE Voice Training
CHAPTER SIX The Means of Expression
CHAPTER SEVEN Twenty Visions
CHAPTER EIGHT -Conclusion
INDEX