Customer Reviews

Technique of Lighting for Television and Film (The Library of Communication Techniques)

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I highly recommend this book to cinematography students wishing to learn about lighting technique and styles. Millerson has taken the trouble to explain a lot of cinematic lighting in detail with a lot of illustrations, charts, diagrams, etc.

This book is a MUST HAVE if one is serious about knowing about film & video lighting. It is easy to understand & is quite well indexed for quick reference.

This book is awsome. It starts from very basic information such as the nature of light to delve into specific details. For example it talks about facial features and how light affects their appearance through shadows, etc.
Another great feature is that it gives images of an object or a scene under different types of illumination. Then there are long captions that describe how the scene was illuminated in each picture and what the results are.
It contains very practical information such as how to light a grand piano, or how to avoid camera shadows and other common errors.
It also talks about the actual design and eventual execution of the lighting and about lighting instruments and their use in specific conditions.
Tons of diagrams help understanding and each of them is carefully explained.

This book will help anybody understand the concepts and then it will become their close companion as it contains many tables useful as reference on the set.

The book is in a "as described" aspect. I would prefered a box-postage (even if a little more cost is needed) and not a soft-package.

"There is another aspect of color which must be understood, and that is "color depth." This is the apparency of depth (relative distance from the viewer) characteristic of different colors and depending on background against which they appear.
Against a white background, colors give the illusion of distance from the viewer in the order:
blue-green (apparently nearest the viewer)
blue
purple
red
yellow
yellow-green (apparently farthest from the viewer)
Against a black background, the apparency of distance changes:
red (nearest)
orange
yellow
green
blue-green
blue
violet (farthest)
Color depth and color harmony must be used in conjunction..
As an example of the use of this technology, I was once submitted a set design for a film which looked a bit unintegrated, as though it didn't really belong together. The main fault was that a black-board in this particular classroom scene looked like it was closer to the audience than the students, when it was actually farther away--thus robin the set of depth. I tried to work with the color wheel (Grumbacher Color Compass) to find some different color background for the set and discovered at that time that I couldn't get the combination that had been proposed on a color wheel or on the depth perception chart. It turned out out that the blackboard would have to be yellow to make the set come off.
Another example, a proposed set design for a Greek temple I was handed had its color depth backwards, collapsing the set and making it look small. The back walls and floors and pillars should have been Greek white marble, and a decorative frieze set in the back wall (because of the white backgrounds in this set) should only have been apple-green.
The costumes would also have to have been followed color depth perception--fabrics of almost all hues were available in Greece.
Further data on color depth may be found in the book "The Techniques of lighting for Television and Motion Pictures, by Gerald Millerson, and published by Hastings House, 10 East 40th Street, NY, NY 10016."
This is on page 105 in the book entitled ART by L. Ron Hubbard
I use this book more than any other lighting book in all of my productions and recommend everyone buying both for your work library.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240512995/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

Hi. Dear sirs, as I can acquire the book 'Technique of Lighting for Television and Film by Gerald Millerson'. A thank you.