Night and Low-Light Photography: Professional Techniques from Experts for Artistic and Commercial Success [Paperback]

Jill Waterman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0817432418 | ISBN-13: 978-0817432416 | Publication Date: August 5, 2008 | Edition: 1st

Love the night life...with this indispensable guide. Photographing after dark is a challenge. But everyone loves the glamorous, moody results. Capture those striking images, night after starry night, with Night and Low-Light Photography. Author Jill Waterman looks at the work of 30 top professionals, examining their real-life projects as well as their tips, techniques, and unique approach. The result is a beautiful yet practical compendium of every aspect of night and low-light photography, indoors and out, black and white and color, digital and film, fine art and commercial. The moon and stars, atmospheric effects, cityscapes, industrial light, night events, night landscapes–every night effect is revealed in this lavishly illustrated one-volume resource.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jill Waterman is the editor of the ASMP Bulletin and photo editor for IPNstock, both at Photo District News. A distinguished teacher and artist, and the creator of The New Year’s Eve Project, she lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Amphoto Books; 1st edition (August 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817432418
• ISBN-13: 978-0817432416
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.5 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful graphical layout in mediocre book, December 11, 2008

By 

Nick (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night and Low-Light Photography: Professional Techniques from Experts for Artistic and Commercial Success (Paperback)

This is the fourth low light photography book I have purchased and I would rank it a distant fourth. It is the first photographic book I have felt like returning. I think the allure of a forward by Michael Kenna persuaded me to buy this. I have included a few points to explain my concerns.

There are some reasonable images in the book and even a few very good ones however the average is below par; pretentiousness creeps in at a level not expected in an beginner book such as this.

A surprising amount of space is devoted to techniques for developing film. In fact more space is devoted to "How a divided developer works" than is spent on equipment for light painting. I had to check that it was a recent publication as it started to look like something from the last decade.

One of the five star reviewers is one of the book's contributers!

The learning experience pales compared to books such as those by Lee Frost (The Complete Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography)

The very important technique of High Dynamic Range is mentioned but the book demonstrates little understanding or knowledge of the field

But the worst part of the book by far is the graphical layout. I will not repeat all the comments of Conrad J. Obregon but I agree with him; I have never seen a worse layout in any book never mind a photographic book.

This is not a pleasant reading experience.

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Time Warp, September 8, 2008

By 

Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night and Low-Light Photography: Professional Techniques from Experts for Artistic and Commercial Success (Paperback)

Many photographers put away their cameras when the light grows dim or dark, thus forfeiting at least half the opportunity to take photographs. This book seems aimed at those photographers.

Jill Waterman has assembled a team of 30 top professionals to talk about low-light and night photography. The book begins with the usual mandatory discussion of equipment, although this chapter contains many tips on equipment use, such as stabilizing one's lens against glass if shooting through it. There are also some unusual pieces of equipment mentioned, like large portable spotlights for painting with light. Other chapters include discussions of color temperature; black and white photography, which emphasizes the role of the chemical darkroom in extending range; lighting techniques, which emphasizes light painting; weather, night time phenomena, like the aurora; and post production tools. There is a chapter that analyzes the styles of seven of the photographers and a final chapter that talks about the availability of workshops.

The difficult part of the project was probably wrangling the work and ideas of thirty different photographers into a coherent instructional body and it shows. The book lacks orderly development and approach to this kind of photography and often lapses into a kind of esoteric tip book. Occasionally there were interesting pieces of information that were never tied to anything else, like the distinctions between civil, nautical and astronomical twilight.

What I found strange was the feeling of having entered into a time warp with discussions of film, two-part developers and enlargers. A theme seems to be that film lends itself to a greater range of exposure values then digital, although that may require chemical processing to achieve. The advantages of digital photography's HDR processing to capture a wide range of light were mentioned but not in detail, or to show special considerations for the use of the technique in the dark.

The example photographs themselves were interesting, although many were too self-aware and arty to easily serve as teaching vehicles for most photographers, who probably would be interested in simpler, more direct night and low-light themes. Yet, for the experienced photographer, looking to expand his vision, these same pictures might provide some inspiration.

Although I didn't down-rate this book because of the layout and design, I hated it. Many pages are printed in black with white text, or include large blocks of black-backed white text and white-backed black text on the same page, or juxtapose black background pages with white background pages, all of which are quite jarring to the eye. As difficult are the tiny guest photographer portraits adjacent to tiny unreadable dark grey text on a black background.

Despite problems, there were useful hints here and there, such as changing the point of view when taking pictures to exclude illumination that would be too contrasty or using reflections to add drama to night shots.

Unfortunately, I have not found many recent books about low-light and night photography that are straight forward in teaching the less experienced how to become children of the night (oops-just a joke). For photographers determined to push on into the darkness, this is about as good as anything around.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a great book to learn from, February 1, 2009

By 

Glynn Clapsaddle "[e-mail]" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night and Low-Light Photography: Professional Techniques from Experts for Artistic and Commercial Success (Paperback)

I have gotten tired of flipping through books titled "Everything you could ever know about photography" that is only 120 pages of big fonts. THIS book does not fall into this category. It is well-written, laid out in a logical manner, and full of excellent instruction. It has examples by professional photographers on different techniques and subjects in night photography. Each example has a detailed explanation of how the shot was taken and what settings were used. I am seriously impressed with this and am beyond satisfied with my purchase. If low-light or night exposures are something you are getting into, this book is a Must-Have.