Product Description

A rigorous practical guide to photographic lighting techniques, complete with hands-on assignments

Offering digital photographers a complete course in photographic lighting, this book covers everything from using flash systems and studio lights to working outdoors in bright or low-light conditions. Full-color examples show how the right lighting can enhance color, improve contrast, and open the door to new creative possibilities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65496 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Back Cover
ACTION. MOOD. ATMOSPHERE.

CAPTURE THEM ALL WITH LIGHT

Your camera needs light to create any image. To create a spectacular one, you need the best light possible, and Chris Bucher shows you how to find it. How to work with the light that's available wherever you are. How to augment it for different effects. How to use light to accent a scene, express a feeling, or flatter a face. Discover how to master the magic of light.

• Explore the elements of light and understand white balance, color temperature, and light quality

• Choose and use appropriate accessories

• Learn to work with natural light, indoors and out, and to create effects with shadows

• Discover how light affects motion, landscape views, and closeup shots

• Try your hand at night and low-light photography

About the Author
CHRIS BUCHER is an accomplished commercial photographer who divides his affections between promotional photography and the landscapes and images that feed his fascination with light. His work has appeared in dozens of publications.

Customer Reviews

A one-size-fits-all Lighting book doesn't cut it in an already crowded field
After reading the impressive Photo Workshop Series "Composition" book by Blue Fier, I expected this book to build upon that base of knowledge and move the reader to the next level. Instead, I learned that lighting is a basic ingredient for good composition, and if you understand good composition, reading about lighting is redundant. This book fails to build upon basic composition techniques, nor is it a proper first read for a beginning photographer to start off with.

Lighting has many specialized subfields, and a one-size-fits-all lighting book underwhelms all audiences. Novice photographers would be better served by reading a book on composition. Advanced users will want more details on studio lighting, gray cards, night/low light photography, or using handheld light meters. Neither audience is well served by this book. The night & low light chapter was especially disappointing for me, with very little practical advice.

The author could have improved the book by adding before & after teaching pictures in the book (e.g. various good and bad exposures of the same picture, direct versus bounced flash, snow pictures with/without a gray card) showing how applying the techniques improves the photograph. Instead, the author presents his photography exhibit throughout the book. While his photos are very impressive, they lack teaching acumen.

A far better book is "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. I also suggest the "Composition Photo Workshop" by Blue Fier as the one book in the PWS series that is a must-read. Both books combined have better teaching photographs (before & after). They also both have easy to remember advice on metering in night and low light conditions, and will give readers a much more rounded perspective on how to take a great picture.