Light Science and Magic 4/e Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00ABKGIXW | Format: PDF
Light Science and Magic 4/e Description
This book is renowned for being the book to own to understand lighting!
This is better than all the other how to books on the market which just provide set examples for photographers to follow. Light Science and Magic provides photographers with a comprehensive theory of the nature and principles of light to allow individual photographers to use lighting to express their own creativity. It will show you in-depth how to light the most difficult subjects such as surfaces, metal, glass, liquids, extremes (black-on-black and white-on-white), and people.
With more information specific for degital photographers, a brand new chapter on equipment, much more information on location lighting, and more on photographing people, you'll see why this is one of the only recommended books by www.strobist.com.
- File Size: 6060 KB
- Print Length: 352 pages
- Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
- Publisher: Focal Press; 4 edition (May 2, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00ABKGIXW
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,768 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #9
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Photography > Lighting - #29
in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Equipment, Techniques & Reference > Lighting - #63
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Photography > Digital Photography
- #9
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Photography > Lighting - #29
in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Equipment, Techniques & Reference > Lighting - #63
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Photography > Digital Photography
I consider myself a professional photographer. I don't make my living at it, but I do earn enough from it to pay for all the equipment I own. I am a lover of flash photography, and regularly use about a dozen different strobes, lights, flashes, and controllers.
I also own well over 100 books on photography. They are divided into two groups. The first is a small shelf in my office that holds maybe 15 books, the other is a large shelf in the attic that holds the remainder. This book has earned a place on the small shelf-it is that useful.
The Good Points
* The title is somewhat misleading. When I bought the book I was expecting a collection of lighting tricks designed to produce nifty special effects. That is not what the book is at all. Rather it is a review of many standard lighting techniques useful in everyday situations. There are tips on portraits, still life, product photography, and even some basic theory of light.
* Everything is kept simple. The authors don't go out of their way to impress you with how brilliant they are, they avoid the use of jargon, arcane terms and other vocabulary designed to show off rather than inform.
* The book shows real examples, and shows the lighting setup used and the results obtained. The lighting drawings are somewhat inexact, but certainly detailed enough to understand and duplicate the setup. They also do not go out of their way to specify exact exposure details, and instead direct the reader to "experiment". I have watched several photographers who I could consider first-tier professionals use the same technique-set up the light, take a shot, fix the lights....repeat until you get what you want.
* The examples they use are generic enough to be useful on a wide variety of subjects.
First, I want to be clear that while I am also a photo book writer, I don't personally know any of the authors of this book and I am not affiliated with the publisher in any way. I say that because I have to rave a bit about the quality and content of this book: it's one of the best books on studio lighting that I've ever come across and if you are a professional photographer (or have a desire to become one) and if you work with product photography (particularly glassware) then you should own this book. And while I single out glassware (because the book does such a stellar job of discussing and teaching it) the book deals with a lot of subjects (various reflective products, shiny wooden products, portraits, etc.) and it covers each of them in a very thorough and practical way.
The book starts out with a short but good (very good) lesson on the basic concepts of both natural and studio lighting. The second chapter goes further into light and discusses the topics of brightness, contrast, color, reflection, etc. A very nice chapter. (And some good tips on photographing flat art--very useful basic techniques that will save you a ton of time and wasted energy.)
The bulk of the book, however, consists of photographs of various subjects with diagrams on how they were lit. For years I wrote the "Lighting Masters" column for PDN (Photo District News), a magazine for professionals, and this is exactly what my column was: an examination of how a particular photo (or series of photos) was made and I gave specific diagrams of what the lighting plan looked like.
Light Science and Magic 4/e Preview
Link
Please Wait...