Photographic Lighting Simplified (Paperback)

by Susan McCartney (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"An essential how-to guide." -- Shutterbug

Product Description
For aspiring photographers ready to transform their work from average to expert, here is the "bible" to lighting any subject and space effectively. In specific but nontechnical terms, Photographic Lighting Simplified explains how to take light sources–from outdoor bright sunlight to indoor household lighting–and recreate their effects in the studio. A series of enjoyable, hands-on assignments show readers tips for selecting the right camera format, film, and lenses; the basics of metering and testing; overviews of essential equipment for studio lighting; and much more. Plus, dozens of step-by-step illustrations demonstrate an array of techniques for lighting reflective metal and glass objects; lighting different face types and groups; and special lighting considerations for digital cameras. For anyone who is serious about taking better photographs, this is the ultimate success guide.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press; illustrated edition edition (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581152566
• ISBN-13: 978-1581152562
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #162,668 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Basic principals about lishting, December 22, 2003

By	William Jeffres Jr. (Balto, MD USA) - See all my reviews

Photographic Lighting Simplified is a great book for the beginner like myself. It explains in novice language the details concerning all aspects of photographic lighting. When to use and not to use various lights depending on the situation. The book covers hotlights, flash, strobe lights and accessories. Also covered are exposer-reflective meters to manually set your camera and correct use of the Kodak gray scale for proper exposer. I read the entire 163 pages in about 3 days. The book also has 9 self-assignment for you to try out on you own. All pictures in the book include camera settings and shot detail that make it easy for you to reproduce a similar shot. All photos are in black & white except for the cover page. At first I found this distracting but then realized that black & white photos show the best contrast and light on the subjects in the photographs. I bought the book to improve my knowledge and skills to do lighting for desktop studio photos for Ebay.

Another book that I have heard about but haven't been able to track down yet is Digital Desktop Studio Photography by Rick Ashley & Dennis Curtin. Amazon does not carry this book yet.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Introductory Overview Only, March 7, 2004

By	Terry Smith "http://terrysmith.net -- http:/... (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I regret to have found this book very disappointing. Susan McCartney's book on travel photography, Travel Photography: A Complete Guide to How to Shoot and Sell, is the very best book on the subject. I've read it twice, some sections even more than twice. I purchased Photographic Lighting Simplified with the same level of quality content in mind. Unfortunately, the book is more "simplified" than what I had hoped for.

The book is very fast and easy to read, but the content is useful only to those with no experience whatsoever in photographic lighting. Susan McCartney has broad experience in lighting, and I was disappointed to find the depth of that experience is not presented in this book. For example, she talks more about traveling with strobes and using flashes for on-location travel photography shoots in her travel photography book than in this one. I would like to have seen more of that experience and knowledge related here.

A book on photographic lighting really needs to be in color with stunningly inspirational photographs. Many of the black and white pictures in this book are really dismal and even technically flawed in some cases. Ms. McCartney is a first-rate photographer and I'm sure the originals are perfect, but the black and white reproductions in this book fall short.

However, those critiques aside, if you have not studied lighting before then this book will provide a good overview for you and introduce you to some new techniques. Those with travel photography in mind should check out Susan McCartney's other book mentioned above. For some really creative lighting techniques try Gary Gladstone's book Corporate & Location Photography.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs Improvement., November 12, 2005

By	Findedeux - See all my reviews

I have three main criticisms of this book. First, the book has no color pictures when it is clear the author did not take many of these pictures in B&W (or if she did she needs to find another profession). This is ridiculous when the subject of the book is photography and the pictures are an important learning tool. Second, the author spends too much time on hotlights and flashes when most photographers (even amateurs) will be using strobes because of the availability of light modifiers and other advantages.Third, the last half of the book is about doing photographic assignments rather than adding more information (and there is a lot more) about lighting. In sum, I would skip this book if you're light on cash and get "Master lighting guide for potrait photographers" and "Beginner's lighting guide to photographic lighting" which are both excellent (avoid "basic studio lighting").