Customer Reviews

Mastering Flash Photography: A Course in Basic to Advanced Lighting Techniques

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

 

 

Most new cameras come with a built in flash or the capability to add a separate flash unit. Usually the instructions that come with the camera tell you some of the mechanics of using the flash, including something called through-the-lens flash, but leave you in the dark (pun intended) about when and how to use them. If you feel that you want to get something more from a flash than a little light in a dark room, you may be looking for expert help. Well, Susan McCartney may be of a little help but not much more. On the other hand, since this seems to be the only fairly recent book on the subject in the catalog, maybe this is as good as it gets.

McCartney's book is divided into four parts. The basic flash section deals with cameras with built in flash with an emphasis on point and shoot cameras. The second part deals with detachable flash. The author calls the third part advanced flash (which is a collection of hints). The fourth part deals with specialized and professional flash, which includes those larger units with their own power sources that the pros haul around. The author tells you how to use your electronic flash on your camera and off, both as a main light and as fill flash (or as she insists upon calling it, flash fill.) However, she is so repetitive that you wonder if this couldn't have been a sixteen-page pamphlet. I personally found more help in reading the forty pages on flash in Bob Krist's "Secrets of Lighting on Location". And at least Krist's pictures are exciting while most of McCartney's are pedestrian.

The biggest problem that every flash photographer has to overcome is the Inverse Square Law, which explains that light from a point source falls off dramatically the further you get from the source. That is why flash pictures often have well lit foregrounds with dark backgrounds. A good flash book should deal with this problem extensively, but "Mastering Flash Photography" gives only a page to the subject. McCartney scarcely mentions that the easiest way to deal with this problem is to keep all the important elements in the picture at about the same distance from the flash. In fact many of her illustrations demonstrate the dreaded "hot spot" that poorly managed flash creates.

I was also disappointed by the fact that the author did not discuss when flash was the appropriate tool to use. I know from my own experience that there are times when it's better to take a long exposure than to use flash, and other times when just a touch of fill flash can change the whole nature of a picture. There's no hint of this in the book.

This is an area of photography where the technology is changing rapidly. The newest cameras all provide "smart" fill flash features that weren't readily available five years ago when this book was written. Unfortunately, the most up-to-date material will be the instructions that come with your camera or flash unit, and these will tell you what to do technically but won't tell you much about making better pictures. I've actually found that I've learned a lot about using flash for artistic purposes from John Shaw's nature photography books. But I suppose, if you're really intent on fully developing your flash skills, plowing through McCartney and then trying to apply what the author has to say, with a lot of experimenting, will be of a little value to you.

As a photographer working with available light only, I bought this book hoping to learn to ins and out of flash photography.
A few pages into it realized that this book wasn't the one. The first chapter covers the fundamentals of flash operation -
how does flash work and the basic concepts to remember, and that was VERY helpful. But it was written sluggishly, which
made the reading tiresome, confusing, and un-exciting.

It's down-hill after that. I found later chapters to be off the subject, or irrelevant, or too general. For example, I didn't need to read about the difference between portrait photography and photojournalism photography, or the different style of people photography - I just wanted to know how to apply flash in both - and this information was missing, or too shallow. I had to fish for the relevant information among lots information that repeated itself but wasn't interesting, like the different types of camera that use flashes. The information I was looking for, like specific techniques and ideas, was scattered throughout the book in an unorganized matter, if at all.

The sample pictures were mediocre, at best, stuff that I wouldn't even consider showing my friends... Seriously, I was surprised to find pictures like this in a photography book. I didn't learn how to take good flash pictures in different situations, I didn't learn how to apply different techniques of flash photography to take special or interesting pictures, and I didn't learn anything that my flash or camera manual wouldn't teach me.

I wish I could return it to the book store, but I threw away the receipt. Very, very disappointing, not the book for anybody who has been using a camera for more than a few weeks. If this is the first time you've seen a camera, maybe. For everyone else - waste of time and money.

This is an excellent book for those who wish to know the A-B-C of how to use an electronic flash in all manner of situations. The big minus is that it doesent give you any pointers on how to take appealing looking photographs. Nearly all of the sample pictures in the book are little better than posed snapshots and don't make you want to grab your camera and rush out the door like Brian Peterson's books do. If you want to compose good flash photos you have to combine the books of the two authors.

Good book. Lots of equipment information - good for choosing the right flash. It's a shame that Susan, the author, uses in almost all photographs a Nikon N90 and a SB26 flash, which I think limits *a little* the book. If you have such equipment, you'll be delighted, and if you don't you can still learn a lot about other flashes, but you won't have so many examples and technical detail. Still worth to buy.

I've had this book for several months, and have gone through it several times. I find that my initial reaction was correct: it really is not a very useful book. It may be good for someone with their first 35mm camera, but for anyone with even an intermediate knowledge of flash systems, I suggest you save your money. Perhaps the most telling example of the level that this book caters to, are the photos that McCartney uses to ilustrate the book. Except for a few of them, almost any amateur could produce photos as good or better.

I have to add my vote to the reviewers who consider the book pretty awful. The pictures are indeed uniformly terrible, and the content is a disorganized hodge-podge, barely succeeding in sticking to the subject of flash photography. It also seems true that there aren't many books on the subject. Attention photography writers! Here's a big opportunity for an imaginative and authoritative writer on this subject. Where are you? This is such an important and confusing topic, and of course amateur photography is burgeoning now. Surely you can outdo Ms. McCartney and rake in the dough.

This well written book covers the basics of flash pretty well. Though lacking somewhat in technical detail, it did provide a good overview of many different uses for flash, especially outdoors. The book is large, with a broad range of examples and lots of text.

I bought this book, because it was refreshingly free of techno-babble. I found the pictures inspriring and, in some cases, amusing. Perhaps you shouldn't buy this book if you want to make photographs of weddings, babies and bar mitzvahs, but if you are striving to improve your flash photography on an artistic level, you should find this book a terrific help. I haven't reached the advanced level yet, but the book will take me there when I'm ready.

Signed, Serious Amateur Photographer Long Island New York

This is a very good books written in plain English. The details about the various light sources (flash, strobes) was very helpful. I read this book before I bought my first flash and strobe lights. It is not perfect but motivated me enough to try flash in my photography. Now my photos are much richer than before. The quality of photos shown in the book is very poor. The photographer seem to lack the artistic skill. Yet this is a very good for someone new to flash photograhy. So the books served its goal.

Should be taken out of print! Welcome to the digital age. I would not recommend to anyone, including a beginner.