I just bought this book to assist in my learning of photographic lighting! I wanted to start this thread as a general discussion regarding the information found in this book.. as I read I may have some questions, and would like to attach them to this post. Those of you who have read the book, feel free to post your take away!
It doesn't work that way. He's not a pundit telling you how to light things...it's a book describing the nature of light as it pertains to photography.
I think you'll find that many of us are totally non-partisan. I own a small pro-level continuous lighting kit that I use for video work. When we say "you don't want to use continuous lights for still photography" we're oversimplifying it to put the pros and cons into a nutshell for those of you with less experience. It's our way of saying, "you can do it if you really want to, but you're going to make life more difficult for yourself if you do."
And that totally changes if you shoot product, or still life, or automotive, or giant set-pieces with limitless budgets like Gregory Crewdson. There's no one answer.
The point of a book like this is that it teaches you to understand light, not understand individual pieces of equipment.
Light is like a woman, the more you understand her, the more responsive she is to your touch.
Great text book and a terrific resource.
Highly recommended. It also provides great benefit to the available light shooter too.
Read it and refer to it.
It was the first book I bought on lighting, and it is still the most useful. I enjoy the way they offer options and problem solve situations. I got lucky and bought it right when they invested in the third edition to offer beautiful full color images.
I read through this book at a local library and wasn't very impressed. Perhaps I was expecting something different. "The Technique of Lighting for Television and Film" would be my recommendation and I think it is one of the must have books on lighting. Although it could just be that I prefer cinematic lighting to traditional photographic lighting.
Just picked up my copy today. Thumbed thru it and I can't wait to sit down and begin. From what I saw, it is exactly the book on lighting that I needed. It gives you diagrams on how shots were carried out and breaks it down.
I would not call it a "how to" book, but instead more of a science of light manual. I loved it. It really makes you think about light in a different way. And while the examples are generally geared to product photography, the principles are applicable to all photography. Well worth my time to read, and need to hit it again one of these days.
I must be an abject idiot but I have this book and it is way too complicated for me. I understand what is trying to be accomplished -- explanation of how light behaves in lighting products -- but I cannot grasp the concepts and explanations. Maybe someone can recommend another book I can look at (being written for a 4 year old and in crayon is ok).
nycfirefighter wrote:
I must be an abject idiot but I have this book and it is way too complicated for me. I understand what is trying to be accomplished -- explanation of how light behaves in lighting products -- but I cannot grasp the concepts and explanations. Maybe someone can recommend another book I can look at (being written for a 4 year old and in crayon is ok).
Thanks for the help.
Strobist has some pretty good 101's. Once you start picking it up and practicing, you'll be itching to get back to the meaty stuff.
