The Hand Exposure Meter Book (Paperback)

by Gerald Hisrchfeld (Author), Bob Shell (Author), Martin S. Silverman (Author), Jim Zuckerman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Definitive Book on Hand Exposure Meters.
A must read for professional and serious amateur photographers alike!

This book is the first and only one published on this important subject in many decades. Written by four experts, it explains the limitations of cameras with built-in exposure automation, and why modern hand exposure meters are an essential tool for perfect pictures under all conditions.

Subjects covered include:

Why exposure meters can't think and can be fooled.
When and how to use reflected and/or incident light measurement.
Spot metering and metering angle-of-view.
Flash photography, fill-flash, multiple flash.
The importance of exposure meters in cine and video photography.
Plus many more.

Soft cover, 8-1/2 x 11, 92 pages, over 30 color plates, detachable Neutral Grey Card

About the Author
Martin S. Silverman is a fine-art photographer and writer who has combined his love of creating images, teaching and writing with a long-standing career in the photographic industry. His images have been exhibited in galleries and museums since 1977.

Silverman has been a contributing editor and writer for numerous publications including the International Center of Photography and the Encyclopedia of Photography. He has held teaching positions as Adjunct Professor at New York University, Director of Photographic Education at the New York Botanical Garden, and instructor at Wave Hill Center for Environmental Studies.

Bob Shell has been the editor of Shutterbug Magazine, one of the world's major photographic magazines. he is also on the technical staff of Color Foto, Germany's top photography magazine. He has been on the staff of PhotoPro magazine, Photo Answers (UK), and was Publisher and Editor of PIC magazine in the UK. He has written more than a dozen books on photographic subjects including his very popular Pro-Guide: Mamiya Medium Format Systems and a number of other camera manuals. He works as a technical consultant to the photographic industry and has had input on the design of many photographic products. Bob has also acted as an expert witness in court cases involving photography and in photographic cases in the U.S. Patent Court. He has also acted as a judge in major international photographic competitions.

Jim Zuckerman left his medical studies in 1970 to turn his love of photography into a career. He has taught creative photography at many universities and private schools, including UCLA and Kent State University in Ohio. he has also led international photo tours to destinations such as Burma, Thailand, China, Brazil, Eastern Europe, Spain, Alaska, Greece and the American Southwest. Zuckerman specializes in wildlife and nature photography, photo- and electron microscopy, and digital effects.

He is the author of six photography books:
* Visual Impact
* The Professional Photographer's Guide to Shooting and Selling Nature and Wildlife photos
* Outstanding Special Effects Photography on a Limited Budget
* Techniques of Natural Light Photography
* Jim Zuckerman's Secrets of Color in Photography
* Fantasy Nudes

His work has been used for packaging, advertising, and editorial layouts in thirty countries around the world. Zuckerman's images have also appeared in calendars, posters, greeting cards and corporate publications. His stock photography is represented by Corbis, based in Bellevue, Washington.

Gerald Hirschfeld, ASC has made over fifty feature theatrical films throughout the world. His work on "Young Frankenstein" was recently honored in Hollywood at the 25th Anniversary celebration of the film. In 1990 he was nominated for the ACE Award for cinematography for the mini-series, "The Neon Empire," made for Showtime. He's been a member of the International Cinematographers Guild for over 50 years. A member of the America Society of Cinematographers (ASC) for the past 48 years. He's the recipient of the Billy Bitzer Award bestowed by the New York cameraman's union for bringing honor to the union. His book, "Image Control - Motion Picture and Video Camera Filters and Lab Techniques" was awarded a prize for excellence by the Krazna-Kraus Foundation which honored him at The Museum of the Moving Image in London, England. For five years he taught Film Techniques and Lighting at the International Film & Video Workshops at Rockport, Maine and became their Filmmaker in Residence. At present he holds special lighting seminars at leading universities and teaches Basic Cinematography at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, where he now lives and writes screenplays.

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: Photo Books Division (January 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0967152305
• ISBN-13: 978-0967152301
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #912,621 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hmmmmm, February 26, 2003

By	S. White (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is simultaneously a great book which undermines itself with redundancy in the order of the ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning on throwing it in the trash, infact I found it extremely useful and interesting reading. What I did find perplexing was why I was reading the same information on the same page written three different ways!

For example suppose I wrote ...

"There are two ways to get from a to b, one of them involves the colour blue and the other red"

Then the follwing paragraph gives you...

"After trying to get from a to b and not succeeding with other colours, we can arrive at the conclusion that there are two way's of getting there, namely blue and red"

And finally...

"Don't even try getting from a to b without doing it the blue and red way"

I kid you not, this is precisely how some pages read, over and over in adnauseum. Now, getting past the awful editing in this area - which feels to me as if they couldn't justify selling the thing with it being so thin so they decided to cheat, beef it up with redundant paragraphs - this is a very good book and extremely informative if you happen to use a hand held meter, especially if you happen to own one of the Sekonic Meters. I do, and thats one of the reasons I bought this book, because I wanted to know more about what the pro's have to say about 13% grey versus 18%.

By all means grab this book but be aware it might not be the best value for money, on the other hand it's about the ONLY book out there which provides this info so you basically have little or no choice in the end. I am happy I got it, but it's a flawed work, thats all.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A real quick slap-together job, December 9, 2001

By A Customer

This book is a real waste of time and money, both of which I had the misfortune to spend on it. It is basically an advertisement for Sekonic meters, which are really first-rate (I have two of them). The book is repetitive, poorly edited, and full of errors (like paragraphs repeated almost word-for-word on succeeding pages). All three (very talented and knowledgeable) contributors make and re-make the same point: incident meters are way better than reflected. It's as though none of them read what the others had written, or even re-read what they themselves had written. Unless you want to spend twenty dollars to have the same (perhaps valid) message thrown at you again and again, skip the book and spend your money on something that is not a glorified ad flogging one maufacturer's (excellent) equipment, like film.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A total waste of time and money!, May 16, 2002

By A Customer

Although not "true" professional photographer, I've been taking photographs for fun and profit for nearly 50 years. I purchased this book after purchasing a Sekonic 508 meter and being told this book was better than the Sekonic manual.

I'll agree its better than the Sekonic owner's manual, but this book is so poorly done it actually confused me... I ended up dizzy after reading the first few pages! In my entire life I've NEVER read anything so poorly organized or filled with so much misinformation.

When I finished the book I took it to the [camera store] salesperson that made the recommendation and asked him if he'd actually read the book. He admitted he hadn't and, after reading it at my insistence, he agreed it's misleading, confusing and often incorrect.

It's difficult to believe a book like this could get by any editor, especially a technical editor, yet it's written by editor's! Unfortunately, this says much about the magazines these guys edit and Sekonic.

This book is a TOTAL WASTE of your time and money.