Newbie question about shaping

I've got Peter Reinhart's book and have made a few things out of it with moderate success.  However in his pictures, his dough, hands, and board are usually drenched in excess flour, I assume to prevent his hands and board from sticking to the dough.  The question is: Doesn't this make it difficult to shape the dough? IE, isn't it hard to seal seams and cracks, etc when shaping into boules, batards, etc?  I have a hard enough time doing it and I don't use nearly the flour he seems to.  Is there a trick to it?  Do you keep a little water handy to seal the seams?

This looks like a great forum.  Thanks.