Customer Reviews

Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've scoured Amazon.com for wedding photography books that encompass the perfect blend of inspiration, technique and overall workflow. And finally, this book arrives. The layout is excellent, with logical chapter breaks, informative call-out boxes, and full sections devoted to natural light, on camera ETTL flash, off camera flash, ceremony workflow, reception workflow, and a few more. Also, some books are pretty dated as far as equipment, but the author refreshingly describes using his Canon 5D Mark II AND 7D. That might not seem like a big deal at first, but in many places he talks about leveraging the amazing high-ISO capabilities of cameras like this with your other settings. For example, in the off camera flash sections, he talks about the use of these high ISO settings to cut flash power by half, thus conserving battery life. There's not a lot in here about pricing/contracts, but that's not what I was looking for. If you know what you want to charge, but want to take your wedding photography to the next level, this is the book. Buy it.

I have been a professional photographer specializing in weddings for over 30 years and have NEVER read any book with such intense information! Check for yourself: search the other "instructional" books listed on Amazon, Borders or any bookstore and you'll come to the same conclusion as me- there is nothing that even comes close to Mr. Ziser's "how to" approach. We as photographers, enjoy delving into a beautiful image and explore the impact and composition, but rarely are provided the insight in order to obtain those outstanding results. David's approach comes across to the reader as if he is in front of the class giving a seminar. The book is written in a very easy to understand and conversational language that any aspiring photographer to the most advanced can comprehend.

So often, many books written by photographers illustrate specific points, but rarely do the accompanied images reflect such depth and dimension as Mr. Ziser's. The quality of the photographs almost "jump off the page" and the cool thing is, he explains the technique to achieve it! There are many "starving" photographers out there, wondering why they can't make a good living at their craft. By its very nature, once the photography improves, they can raise their prices with confidence. What David teaches in his book will make one's images stand out! He opens the door to unbelievable lighting techniques that include everything from nature's light to creativity with a simple "flashlight."

After just reading a few pages, the reader will start to view wedding photography as truly an art. The information revealed in "Captured By the Light", along with the beautiful photographs will never be out of date. The lessons in this book are timeless; because the most basic areas of photography that are discussed explore the simple rules of photography as an art. Some of these topics include: exposure, lighting, composition, choice of equipment and camera lens, etc. and they are covered in rich detail. I think this book will soon become the "bible" in photography from the advanced amateur to the seasoned professional photographer. I also would like to commend publishers on the outstanding quality of the book.

This publication is surely: "The essential guide to creating EXTRAORDINARY wedding photography!" The cost of this book is very reasonable, but what one takes from it- education, is priceless!

I don't normally buy wedding photography books, but after flipping through this one I couldn't resist getting it. The author, a former engineer, gives very specific advice on how to get certain looks, defines his terms, and shows example pictures both using and not using his techniques, very helpful.

I liked the simple description of "loop" lighting and why it is desirable for this type of photography. The composition chapters, which very specifically list things to look for to set up a good shot, are also excellent. The author's advice on how to work with assistants to dynamically position off-camera lights to add depth and separation is also great, although unfortunately this technique requires at least one full-time assistant, so don't expect to duplicate the author's work going solo.

Some minor nitpicks: I thought the advice for making a snoot out of a rolled-up magazine was silly, it looks unprofessional and there are many inexpensive, sleek-looking snoots on the market that don't risk damaging the flash unit or present a fire hazard. Also, the author repeatedly uses the word "perspective" when I believe he means "cropping" or "framing" as on page 25 when he says he stays in one place while zooming to change perspective. Additionally, I thought his equipment recommendations were strange since they involve low-end zooms that change aperture based on zoom settings, I would think this would interfere with the manual flash control the author uses.

The book doesn't focus on gear but be warned the author uses Canon equipment so don't expect any Nikon CLS tips or anything but passing references to other brands. Surprisingly the author uses relatively inexpensive gear and recommends even cheaper gear to save money, which is fine I guess but considering that the author routinely shoots all-day events with two assistants, I would think the assistants' salaries are going to dwarf any equipment expense and this topic is not really touched on.

Curiously missing from this book is any specific information of how the photos are post-processed in programs like Photoshop. Clearly some of the shots are retouched and the author occasionally refers to Photoshop, but there is no chapter on what his post-processing workflow is.

Anyway, this is an excellent book filled with beautiful photos and real-world advice from someone who has done the work. Highly recommended.

Yup, yes I was. To be Fair, Mr. Ziser does show a number of lighting techniques and ideas. However, this book is for the beginning wedding photographer.
I'm a full time wedding photographer who believes very strongly in excellent lighting techniques, but I found this book more about lighting for Mr. Ziser's particular style of photography, which is not my, nor my clients aesthetic.
Also, I fear that, as a Jpeg shooting photographer, Mr. Ziser is a little diminished in what his images can look like. I found a number of his sample images underexposed and not in an artful way.
The notion that you can create a candid, or god forbid, stop a first dance between bride and groom, father and bride, mother and groom and have them look into the camera and smile?! I felt like emailing Mr. Ziser with a dictionary definition of the word Candid.

Now a single negative review amidst a sea of 5 stars is not an indictment against the author, nor his work. I am merely suggesting if you are looking for more dynamic ways to light naturally occurring scenes, and perhaps the ways to create those scenes, then this isn't the book. I would re title this book, Wedding lighting for portrait photographers.

Joe McNally produces a series of great books about lighting different scenes.

This book covers systematically all topics in wedding/portrait photography. This book is an inspiration source, a repetition of techniques, or truly an essential guide. You may need to be an intermediate photographer to get the most out of the book - know your gear and lightning/photography theories. However, it isn't just simple to buy this book and become a wedding photographer. Most off-camera-flash setups in the book are based on an assistant that can move the light source around. Light stand can help, but can not replace the flexibility of a person, especially when time is limited during a wedding. This book constantly remains me about "situation awareness": looking for backgrounds, compositions, geometry, lens choice, lightning/ambient, planning ahead - do it right first time and save lots of time in post-processing. Overall I am very happy to have this book. Highly recommended. Thank you David Ziser.

This book is simply the best wedding photography up to date, and every wedding photographer or aspiring wedding photographer should get at least one copy. A lot of wedding photographer books out there showcase a lot of great pictures from great wedding photographers, but most of them are insufficient in discussing basic technical and practical aspects. Therefore, you get only a little bit from those books.

Captured by the light by David Ziser is different. It is not only about lighting. It guides you from the very basic such as posing, lighting, composition, equipments technical aspect of shooting, wedding walk through and so on. It is presented in step by step with plenty of illustration along the way.

Ziser is also generous about sharing about camera gears that he used. He use Canon system as his main gear and several strobes such as Quantum. He discussed his camera and lenses one by one from his most favorite which is Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS. This is quite surprising to me, but he has argument to back up his decision. Although Ziser discussed extensively about his Canon gears, if you shoot Nikon, Sony or other brand, don't be discouraged because other brands have comparable camera and lenses too.

So what is the major take away form this book? If you are following his instruction and practice it well, then your images should be significantly improved, especially lighting and composition.

What this book is not:

This book is about traditional wedding photography, so if you are looking for ideas for candid/photojournalistic style, you might be disappointed. It does not discuss about relationship between photographer and client or business too. This book is also not about how to retouch your photos, it is trying to get everything correct in the first place.

In conclusion this book is a must have for beginner wedding photographers. It does not covers all aspect on how to be a great wedding photographer, but it provides a strong foundation. And because it discuss a great deal about portraiture, especially on location portraits, you might get a great benefit if you loves shooting portraits. Save yourself plenty of money from attending basic wedding photography workshop by reading this book.

Visit my blog (you can get the address from my profile page) for more book review, camera gears and photography tips. Thanks for reading.

Would you like to learn how to create more beautifull and dramatic photographs of people? "Captured by the Light" will teach you! David Ziser has done a marvelous job of sharing his extensive knowledge and experience. The book is clearly written and logically organized. Photographs clearly illustrate the effect of each technique.

This book is not just for wedding photographers; it is for anyone who photographs people. As David explains, the book is about photographing people; his subjects happen to be brides.

As a summary for wedding photographers, David walks you through a typical wedding, explaining how he shoots each segment--from preparations, the ceremony, formal photos, and the reception. You may not have a lighting assistant to help you position your main light, but David's technique will help you decide how to best light your subject.

If you recently attended one of David Ziser's "Digital Wakeup Call" seminars, you may assume that the book is simply a review of his on-stage presentation. That would be a mistake. This book is vastly more useful than the seminar presentation.

"Captured By the Light" is sure to help you create more beautifull and dramatic photographs of people.

Dennis Baker
Freelance Photographer
[...]

I'm going to start with the biggest negative on this book and then explain why I gave it 5 stars. The author is almost always discussing every shot with at least 1 or 2 assistants. If you are shooting with 2 assistants, you probably aren't the type of person to be buying an educational book. For the lone shooters out there, this book makes one wish they had the assistants.

With that said, this book is fantastic. David Ziser is one of the best educators around and not only explains everything in a way that is easy to understand, he will explain it in fine detail. Most photographers are guarded when they discuss their techniques. I feel that half of them are afraid of competition and the other half are saving stuff for the "next book". Not here. This book goes in to finest detail and is THE MUST HAVE book for wedding photography. I wouldn't limit it to wedding photography either, as it's actually one of the better portrait photography books I've encountered.

One thing the book is not, is a guide to how to lurk in the weeds and capture the wedding completly like a photojournalist. But, as the author makes clear, nobody purchases pictures of the backs of people's heads anyway.

This is my 4th or 5th wedding photography book I've purchased. And, quite frankly, the only one that is worth keeping now that I have Mr. Ziser's book is the one by Neil VanNiekerk. Partially, because he also left nothing behind and gave up all of his secrets. And, partially because he explains the speedlite / single camera flash techniques in much more detail than David Ziser did.

The only other way, aside from buying this book to get the information contained, is by having the decades of experience that the author does.

I bought this book to learn more about photographing people, event photography and lastly (by a good margin), wedding photography. The book spends most of its time discussing lighting, which was a major reason that I bought it, as well as composition, posing, and many other practical aspects of photography. You do not need to be interested in shooting weddings (which are where all the example images in the book are from) to find much of value here - as I inferred before, I have little expectation of becoming a wedding photographer.

I gave this book five stars and IMHO it fully deserves it. It is well illustrated and has easy to understand text which explains concepts well and coordinates well with the illustrations. I highly recommend this book for newbie or intermediate wedding photographers as well as those who shoot portraits and/or events.

Now that I've given this book a well deserved five-star recommendation I will nitpick a little;

On page 19 the author discusses histograms and while the points that the author makes about histograms are generally correct, I don't think he explains them well. When an image is under-exposed the histogram may be "shifted" to the left but it will not necessarily "hit the x-axis" except possibly on the right hand side of the histogram since few pixels in the image are probably bright. He says that the histogram "will go to zero (hit the x-axis) before it hits the right-hand y-axis" - awkward and not necessarily correct. I think there might be a less awkward way of saying this (how about; In an underexposed image most pixels tend to be not as bright as they should have been and therefore the histogram will appear to shift leftward with the histogram showing few if any pixels registering as having the brightest values - okay, I'm not the greatest wordsmith). Fortunately the author has good illustrations and images of histograms here.

The book says that it was "Produced by Kelbymedia Group Inc". I've noticed that there are generally two types of instructional photographic technique books. One type explains concepts in running texts and hopefully has appropriate images and captions to go with the running text to give good examples of what is being explained. The other major style is to organize all the text into a step one to X cookbook style. Hopefully there there are also ample images and captions to help explain these steps. The author has some explanatory running text but seems to force too much text into the cookbook style. This style seems typical of Scott Kelby produced materials and while this style can be quite effective I got the impression that too much of the text in this book was forced into that organization (and that it did not always benefit from that).

The author praises the high ISO performance of modern DSLR cameras on, what feels like, practically every page. I think most people will get the point if it is mentioned no more than ten times. :-)

Lastly, and this may be my pet peeve, the author uses the term "nodal point" on pages 136-137 to refer to where two lines intersect (as in the compositional technique known as the "rule of thirds"). Considering that the term nodal point has a number of very specific meanings in photography I would suggest simply saying something like "where two lines intersect" or "intersection #4 in figure #3" and not use a term that is generally used to refer to something else (i.e. in lens design).

All in all, even with my few nitpicks, I highly recommend this book to those interested in portrait, event and/or wedding photography.

This book was so informative! I love reading a book where when I'm done I feel so well informed and empowered.