PASSENGER SEAT
Creating a Photographic Project from Conception through Execution in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
By JULIEANNE KOST

Passenger Seat was written for those who are planning to undertake a photography project. Photography projects require organization and the willingness to see the project through to completion. The author provides guidance on the mindset and steps needed to proceed and successfully complete the project. She integrates experience and photographs from her own photo project, “Passenger Seat,” as a project example. Briefly, her project consisted of landscape images shot through the window of a moving vehicle at slow shutter speeds to capture motion blur. The book is well organized, starting off with the first seven chapters that cover the general topic “Telling Your Story.” These first chapters describe the personal effort and mindset that one should have in order to work through a project, including defining the type of images, limiting the scope (so that the project has an end), and pushing through to completion.
The second section in the book is called “Making Photographs” and includes chapters 8 through 10. Topics covered include gear and accessories that you might need, camera settings, and experience with issues related to the author’s “Passenger Seat” project. Chapter 10 describes motion blur techniques. As someone who is very interested in motion blur photography, I did find Chapter 10 to be a bit slim on technique and wish that the author had delved into the topic more deeply, even though the book itself was not specifically written as instruction for motion blur techniques.
The third section is called “The Photographs, A Visual Interlude” and consists of images shot from the author’s project. Although all chapters include images from the project, this midsection of the book consisting only of images is really enjoyable. Personally, I found most of the photographs to be quite engaging and beautiful.
The next three sections of the book, chapters 11 through 32, deal with organization, workflow, and post-processing in Lightroom and Photoshop. These sections are informative and helpful, although more advanced Lightroom and Photoshop users will already be experienced with the concepts and techniques discussed. Beginners and less advanced users will find this information instrumental for organizing and editing images.
The final section, “Presenting Your Project,” chapters 33 through 39, discusses primarily various media for sharing and printing images. A brief chapter is devoted to the important discussion of constructive criticism, which any serious photographer should seek.
In summary, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Photos from the author’s personal project are beautiful and inspiring. Guidance on various aspects of taking on and successfully completing a photography project is solid and very helpful for those who are considering or have started to delve into a project. Those who are very familiar with Lightroom and Photoshop may not find much in the way of new information in the image organization and post-processing chapters, but those with less extensive knowledge will find that information very helpful.
The author, Julieanne Kost, is an established and award-winning photographer and digital editing expert. Her website can be accessed at this link: Julieanne Kost.
This book can be purchased on Amazon here: Buy on Amazon
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