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Books on PhotographyLight, lighting and studioPhoto Books: Comment on the books in our Photo Blog!
[Have not yet read it but it has been highly recommended. It is on my "Wanted" list.] Sounds like a very interesting book to me since I
often find myself "on location" (not in a studio) where light is
difficult to manage. Here's what Amazon says about the book: "A
fascinating look at how this top photographer produces impact full,
contemporary images. Practical commentary covers composition, lighting,
colour and form & filters, as well as digital photography. Practical
instruction is accompanied by 200 stunning colour images, encompassing a
worldwide collection of landscape, architectural and travel subjects.
Mackie helps readers to see subjects that others might miss, and to
simplify images down to their basic elements, as well as exploring the
use of strong colours and shapes, lighting and filters."
[Have not yet read it but it has been highly recommended. It is on my "Wanted" list.] This is how it is described on Amazon. Michael Grecco
is one of the best-known celebrity photographers in the world. His
beautiful, insightful work is all around us--on movie posters, in
advertising, on magazine covers, everywhere. "I delight in inspiring
people," he writes. "I want them to stop, think, and feel." Now Grecco
shares the secrets of great portraits with photographers at every level,
in Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait. Sections on cameras,
illumination, film and digital, creativity and conceptualization,
connecting with the subject, and having a point of view, plus intriguing
case studies that show "how I got that picture," make this book a
resource photographers will use again and again through the years.
Whether the subject is a star or a soccer mom, Grecco shows how to add
artistry, drama, wit, humour, and personality to their portrait.
This is a very unusual book. You should not read it if you do not like textbooks. In many ways it is a brilliant book. But you really have to make an effort to read it. But when you do (and if you go through some of the exercises) it will give you a tremendous insight into how light works, how light interacts with different sort of material (e.g. how reflections are different on different types of surfaces), and what you need to do to get the effects you want. You really have to make an effort to get through it but if you do I think it is immensely valuable. It will not tell you "tips and tricks" (put the light here and the reflector there and it will be OK) but it will teach you how light works and then you will be able to figure all out for yourself. It is a very solid, fundamental, thorough (and boring sometimes) book on the theories and practicalities of light and matter. Reading it feels a bit like being back in the physics lab at school. Which is perhaps not surprising because it seems to be written as a photo school book. A brilliant book on light - but certainly not for everyone. This is what Amazon says about it: "This highly
respected text, now in paperback, has been thoroughly updated and
revised. It introduces a logical theory of photographic lighting --- one
that teaches beginning photographers to predict results before setting
up lights. This is not primarily a how-to book with only set examples
for photographers to follow. Rather, Light: Science and Magic provides
the reader with a comprehensive theory of the nature and principles of
light to allow individual photographers to use lighting to express their
own creativity. Numerous photographs and illustrations provide clear
examples of the theories delineated within the text, while sidebars
highlight special lighting questions. Although styles of photographic
lighting continue to change, Light: Science and Magic does not go out of
fashion because it is not based on style; rather it is based on the
behaviour of light. These principles will not change until fundamental
physics does.". The person who recommended it said: "It's good because,
with the fundamentals firmly grasped, you can think about what you're
trying to achieve photographically and devise your own lighting setups."
This book is almost the direct opposite of Light - Science and Magic (see other comment). It is a series of examples of studio photos with explanations of exactly (yes, really exactly) how each shot was set-up. It tells you nothing about theories of light, but it tells you everything about how to set up a specific shot to get a specific effect. It is actually a collection of shots from commercial photographers who explain what set-up, what lighting, what camera they used to achieve the effect on that particular picture. Many of the examples are quite amazing - both as to the effects achieved and as to the means to get there (sometimes immensely complex and sometimes astonishingly simple). A book for the one who like to look at things and try to achieve similar effects. Or for the one who sometimes wonders "how could he do that?". Very interesting and particularly useful for the dedicated studio (still life!) photographer. This is what Amazon says about it: "The lighting
techniques used by top international photographers are explored here,
with descriptions accompanying each feature and an illustration showing
the set-up. It also looks at special effects such as montage,
multi-exposure and using mirrors and props." The person who recommended
it said (not very eloquently, but to the point I guess): "this is very
good".
Perhaps I should start by saying that I thought this book was about something that it is not. I thought it was about exposure, as in light and balancing lightness, darkness and colours. But the exposure referred to in the title is, simply, the picture. And there are a lot of pictures in the book. Great pictures - that Peterson explains how he has done. The book goes through some basic picture taking principles and also some more advanced ideas. It talks about how to think about exposure (as in getting the picture not too dark or too bright), about aperture, about shutter speed and lots of other things. Some basic stuff and some very useful ideas. But in the end I was a little bit disappointed. It is not quite a book for beginners, and it is not a book for people who understand the photographic fundamentals, but somewhere in between. (And perhaps it's the perfect book for you if you're somewhere in between.) It reads a bit like a collection of articles from a photo magazine (maybe that's what it is?). And perhaps that's how you should read it - in chunks, when your not looking for too heavy reading but looking for a little bit of inspiration. And you can get a lot of inspiration. There is, as I mentioned, a lot of good pictures in the book. This is what Amazon says about it: "More than 100
vivid, graphic comparison pictures illustrate every point in this
classic and can help any photographer maximize the creative impact of
his or her exposure decisions. Peterson stresses the importance of
metering the subject for a starting exposure and then explains how to
use various exposure meters and different kinds of lighting. The book
contains lessons on each element of the triangle and how it relates to
the other two in terms of depth of field, freezing and blurring action,
and shooting in low light or at night. A section on special techniques
explores such options as deliberate under-and over-exposures, how to
produce double exposures, bracketing, shooting the moon, and the use of
filters. Understanding Exposure demonstrates that there are always
creative choices about how to expose a picture - and that the decision
is up to the photographer, not the camera". It was highly recommended by
some photographer friends. Please commentPlease feel free to comment on this, or to suggest new things that should be on this list! Either by contacting us directly or by posting a message in the Photo Blog.
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En français
Secrets
of Lighting on Location: A Photographer's Guide to Professional
Lighting Techniques
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Lighting
and the Dramatic Portrait
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Light - Science and Magic, Second Edition : An Introduction to
Photographic Lighting
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Still Life and Special Effects Photography
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Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or
Digital Camera 
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