54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Informative and eye-opening, July 5, 2007
This review is from: Lighting Photo Workshop (Paperback)
Just thumbing through this book and viewing all the creative photographs will make you want to jump off the sofa and get your camera out. Personally, I have had issues with creating drama in my photographs, for example how do you get the sky so blue, when exactly is there too much contrast or just not enough?
While most photography books I have read just touch on white balance and the various metering methods, this author places great importance on clearly understanding white balance and how it can really create mood and enhance the exposure you desire.
As for metering methods, the author doesn't just give a definition of what each mode is for, he explains why the in-camera meter cannot always be trusted and how different metering modes work better in specific circumstances. He gives clear examples and images to support his explanations. Not to mention the chapter assignments which allow you to create something from what you just learned! There is even a website specific for this book to upload your finished assignments and to see what others have learned from the book.
Highly recommended by me!
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Improving Your Technique, August 29, 2007
This review is from: Lighting Photo Workshop (Paperback)
Chris Bucher's Lighting-Photoworkshop book is a great guide for any photographer looking to learn understanding and controlling lighting in photography. It starts you off with the very basics of lighting and works you in to more advanced techniques. Anyone can take a picture, but understanding where your light is coming from and how to use it separates the good from the bad.
This book starts you off with the technical side of lighting so you can fully understand what you are doing. It then explains almost every lighting situation (a bright sunny day, an overcast day or even artificial lighting) you can encounter and how to use certain things to your advantage. It also explains specific examples from anything to nature to people photography. I found myself excited to try the assignments and apply them towards my photography.
As a graduate from the Brooks Institute of Photography, this book was a great refresher course in a lot of the lighting techniques I have learned. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to take their photography to the next level.
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55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Getting Past Acceptable, August 27, 2007
This review is from: Lighting Photo Workshop (Paperback)
Nowadays, a person with a modern camera can expect that most of the time, with a minimum of knowledge, he or she can point the camera at a subject and get an acceptable image. To get something more than acceptable it helps to have a little knowledge of how a camera works, and to apply that knowledge.
Ansel Adams, one of the great photographers of history advised photographers that controlling the light in a photograph was a key to success and wrote three books to teach folks how to do just that. Anyone interested in getting more than just acceptable pictures would do well to follow Adams' advice and learn about lighting and exposure. "Lighting Photo Workshop" is aimed at filling that need for the beginning photographer. The book starts out by explaining the basic elements of lighting, including exposure; by then discussing the role of photography equipment in lighting; and then by considering outdoor and interior light. It finishes up with discussion of specific situations, including portraits, action, landscape, travel, close-up and low light photography.
The workshop portion of the book consists of an assignment at the end of each chapter with instructions to post the digital image to a dedicated web site where other photographers may or may not offer comments on one's photograph.
How-to books can vary in the amount of detail and explanation they give to technical subjects. This book is clearly aimed at the most fundamental level, and if all the reader wants is a rudimentary introduction to lighting concepts, this book will do the job. On the other hand, if one wants a thorough explanation, even if it means reading about technical details that will require concentration to comprehend, and techniques that it will take a while to get used to applying, this book may prove too simple.
Consider for example the discussion of exposure. There is a precise relationship between shutter speed, aperture and media sensitivity that can be measured by a mathematical formula. How one applies that formula depends on the effect that one wants (e.g., do you want to stop motion, or have everything in sharp focus from near to far). This precise relationship is not explained sufficiently. Or consider photography equipment. In his discussion of studio lights, the author discusses strobes but not continuous lighting. One of the most valuable tools that many digital cameras provide to control exposure is a histogram, which is a graph of the distribution of light values. The book devotes a few short paragraphs to this subject.
For the individual who wants a simple introduction to photographic lighting this book will prove adequate. Photographers desiring to use light more creatively would do well to read a more advanced book, like "Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers" by Michael Meadhra and Charlotte K. Lowrie.
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