Still Life and Special Effects Photography: A Guide to Professional Lighting Techniques [Import] [Hardcover]

Frances Hicks Roger;Schultz (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Rotovision (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2880466601
• ISBN-13: 978-2880466602
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #780,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hicks and Schultz, what a team..., February 26, 2003

By 

S. White (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Still Life and Special Effects Photography: A Guide to Professional Lighting Techniques (Hardcover)

I spend allot of time in bookstores searching for useful, yes that's useful books on photography. Once you have long since gone beyond the ranks of amateur, newbie or intermediate and reached the shores of expert and semi pro, wanting to perhaps start making a living from this craft, you find that there is very little at all out there in the way of USEFUL works on the subject at this higher level.

I own great books in the area's where I usually shoot film - (Outdoor, Landscape, Night)- , which I have reviewed elsewhere for those who wonder, but the area of still life and special effects photography is something up until now I have left alone, having always been curious about. Still Life and Special Effects Photography by the above mentioned authors is a superb choice for those looking for an entry point into the professional or fun end of this type of photography.

This is not so much of an in depth step by step guide that teaches you how to shoot Still Life and Special Effects images, but rather it is a primer, explaining in brief tutorial the HOW of individual works of photography.

This work is broken up into various sections which focus on various styles of Still and Special effects images. What you get is a large facing page with the image as final product and on the opposite page a detailed drawing and explanation of HOW everything was set up in black and white sketch style. You get to see exactly what lighting was used, how it was placed, what props were involved and the camera's movements.

Sidebar discussions give technical details of each image, the photographers comments, the art director if there was one and various side bar discussions which give a brief but detailed enough version of HOW this kind of work is achieved. Largely this work is superb not as a 'guide to copy', but it is mean't to serve as a tool for inspiring YOU, the photographer, to create your own works having grasped whats possible and what can be achieved.

I own other excellent works by Hicks and Shultz and this book is just fantastic for whetting the appetite and getting some creative juices flowing. I went down to the art store and bought all kinds of materials after reading this book and am looking forward to expanding my photographic horizons into this fascinating area of image making. Used as a tool for inspiration and you can't go wrong.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be careful if you're not a professional!, August 24, 2006

By 

Oscar Ferrer (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Still Life and Special Effects Photography: A Guide to Professional Lighting Techniques, Second Edition (Paperback)

I think I got used to books saying "professional" just to get the attention of the public browsing books. This one, however, really means it. If you just want an introduction or some simple ideas you could do with limited resources this is not the book you're looking for.

I am by no means a professional photographer, I'm trying to learn different aspects of photography and that's why I got this book, because I seem to have developed an interest for shooting still life, but all the examples in the book require to use a LOT of lighting equipment that you most likely won't have available if you're not a pro.

To be fair, what I could understand with my limited knowledge the book seems to be pretty good, the material of the pages is also excellent and it's very well built , although I agree with another reviewer that said some of the photos seem to be quite outdated and it's a bit odd given how "modern" the books look on the outside.

In short, not for beginners at all but I'm sure it's of some use for real pros; I decided to return it given I'm not.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful, Educational, Long-term Resource, August 6, 2004

By 

Terry Smith "http://terrysmith.net -- http:/... (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Still Life and Special Effects Photography: A Guide to Professional Lighting Techniques (Hardcover)

I found this book to be a great resource for inspirational ideas. It's a beautiful, hard-copy volume with excellent color reproductions. Each image is accompanied by a 2-D plan view of the lighting and studio setup, a 3-D illustration of the studio setup, exposure information, and two or three short paragraphs describing the set and shooting process. This books is USEFUL, even for advanced photographers, and that alone makes it a rare find.

All of the photography represented is done in-camera without digital manipulation. It's unfortunate that this method is almost destined to become a lost artform; however, at the same time my largest disappointment with the book is that it's void of digital capture examples. Some of Jody Dole's digital work would have been an excellent addition. Many of the book's images are obviously dated and produced in the early 80s. Even still, they serve as excellent learning examples.