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Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting 5th Edition

by Fil Hunter (Author), Steven Biver (Author), Paul Fuqua (Author)

4.7 467 ratings

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Light ― Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
$170.00
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Photographic lighting is a topic that will never go out of style, no matter how sophisticated cameras and other technology get. Even with the most high-tech gear, photographers still need to put a lot of thought and vision into lighting their photographs in order to get great results. This key skill has the power to dramatically and quickly improve photographs.

Light Science and Magic provides you with a comprehensive theory of the nature and principles of light, with examples and instructions for practical application. Featuring photographs, diagrams, and step-by-step instructions, this book speaks to photographers of varying levels. It provides invaluable information on how to light the most difficult subjects, such as surfaces, metal, glass, liquids, extremes (black-on-black and white-on-white), and portraits.

This new edition includes:

All new chapter titled "Setting Up Your New Studio"

A re-vamped and expanded chapter 8 now titled "Making Portraits"

New appendix of reliable photo gear sources

Over 100 new photographs and informational sidebars

Updated information about advances in flash equipment, LED panels and fluorescent lights

Styles of lighting continue to change, but the nature of light will always remain the same. Once photographers understand the basic physics of lighting, they can apply that knowledge to a broad range of photographic styles.

ISBN-10

0415719402
ISBN-13

978-0415719407
Edition

5th
Publisher

Routledge
Publication date

February 25, 2015
Language

English
Dimensions

7.75 x 1 x 9.25 inches
Print length

382 pages
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Bryan Peterson
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Fil Hunter
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John Szarkowski
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Ansel Adams
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book offers a set of tools that a photographer can use to promote their own sense of art and beauty. While your photographs reflect your individual taste and vision, the tools in this book give you options to highlight or diminish the elements in the photograph and as a result, lift those images to something more, something even better. The authors have done an amazing job by writing about a difficult subject in an easy style that allows the reader to fully understand the concepts of lighting and how it will shape your images." - Apogee Photo Magazine

About the Author

Fil Hunter was a highly respected commercial photographer specializing in still life and special effects photographs for advertising and editorial illustration. During a career spanning over three decades, he worked for such clients as America Online, US News, Time-Life Books, Life Magazine (27 covers), the National Science Foundation, and National Geographic. He taught photography at the university level and served as technical consultant on a number of photographic publications. Mr. Hunter won the Virginia Professional Photographer's Grand Photographic Award three times.

Steven Biver has over twenty years of experience as a commercial photographer specializing in portraits, still life, photomontage, and digital manipulation. His client list includes Johnson & Johnson, USDA, William & Mary College, Conde Nast, and IBM. He has been honored with awards from Communication Arts, Graphis, HOW Magazine, and Adobe, who have also included his work on a Photoshop 'extras' disc to inspire other photographers. He is also the co-author of FACES: Photography and The Art of Portraiture, another Focal Press publication.

Paul Fuqua has worked as an editorial and wildlife photographer for more than thirty-five years. He started his own production company in 1970 and is dedicated to teaching through the use of visuals. Paul has written and produced educational and training material in a variety of fields including law, public safety, history, science, and the environment. For the last ten years he has produced educational material dealing with the natural sciences and the need for global habitat stewardship. Paul is also a co-author of FACES: Photography and The Art of Portraiture for Focal Press.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 5th edition (February 25, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 382 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0415719402
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0415719407
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.43 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 1 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #809,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #36 in Flash Photography
- #76 in Photography Lighting (Books)
- #582 in Digital Photography (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 467 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

467 global ratings

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Mgeyser

Good book

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2022

Informative

Light, Science and Magic

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2020

Verified Purchase

You need this book, unless you are a super-pro photographer. I have 10 or 12 photography books, from beginner to more advanced technique., most recommended by a professional photographer, (makes his living 100 % from photography). They will all have a chapter on lighting. Light, Science and Magic gathers all the lighting information in one book, 382 pages of it.
There is lots of information on light placement, with diagrams and illustrative photos. The illustrations are of studio lighting, but work with multiple speedlights. There is a chapter on speed lights and how to set up your first studio.
It explains reflections and how to overcome them, the family of angles, how to photograph metals, glass with light field and dark field.
Ask 10 photographers what specular lighting is and you will get 12 different answers. Light, Science and Magic clarifies the meaning as well as how many photographers use it.
It covers portraits, still life, museum exhibit photography, documents, artistic and documentary photography.

6 people found this helpful

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van

It helps

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

Good reading

One person found this helpful

Helpful

reviews again

Go Kelby's way, or get the knowledge and critical foundation, can't do both

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

I bought this book as soon as I read someone saying "if you like Scott Kelby's books this one is NOT for you ...". I cannot stand Kelby's literature, the man cannot take a half-decent photo once. He is a living proof how worthless yet complete knowledge of inner workings of Photoshop will take yiou absolutely nowhere in visualaspectof photography. Why am I saying this here? This book, as expected form description and most reviewers, is about how light works. Like everything else, if you care to have command of light youdo need to get involve in its physics. This is thorough albeit expectedly hard read at times, but stick with it, perhaps push yourself through when read seems a bit overwhelming, but you will be glad yiou did ... eventually. Nothing ever works as Kelbys describe things as every case if different. If yoiu believe in self-claimed "masters" (like Kelby) then surely continue on his path to never reaching your own potential. But if you care to distance yourself from the common myths Kelby describes on nearly page of his books, get this, get inside the subject, split time between shooting to your heart's desire and getting to know the few main yet relevgant principles. The results will come on their own without you ever noticing the moment they did.

12 people found this helpful

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Edward A. Ingold

What Every Photographer Should Know

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is a classic, a must-have for every photographer. It is both technical and practical, addressing situations we all face in lighting objects in the studio. There are many books on the "how," but few like this one which excels in the "why" and "when." It puts to rest the myth that crossed-polarizers are the universal answer to 3D lighting.

2 people found this helpful

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Nata

Good book, bad quality

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2022

Verified Purchase

Good read for beginners, nice and clear explanations.
BUT the book is falling apart -literally. And it is interesting, that a book about light in photography was printed on such a glossy paper, that it is difficult to read it because of the reflections.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Matt

Good Information

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

Good information from clearly qualified photographers, but the text is wordier than necessary! Overall I have gained so much from this that it is well worth the read!!

2 people found this helpful

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C. D. Bean

AMAZING book on lighting

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book is a must have for anyone who's having a hard time wrapping their head around photography lighting. And the best part is that it's all written in a simple, easy to understand way. IMO, this book is better than watching hours of YouTube videos on lighting.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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Wayland

Full of useful information.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

I thought I knew a reasonable amount about the subject but this book has taught me a lot that I didn’t even know I didn’t know.

It breaks things down to the ground, builds solid foundations and then gives you the tools to construct your lighting with a deeper understanding.

Worth every penny.

Santiago

Clasico sobre iluminacion.

Reviewed in Spain on September 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

Este libro es uno de los grandes clasicos o "grandes biblias" sobre iluminacion. Es un libro que explica los conceptos muy claramente y los ilustra con multitud de fotografias. Viene distribuido en capitulos, unos generales sobre la luz, y otros especificios sobre como fotografiar materiales concretos (metal, cristal, etc...) Este libro esta traducido al español, pero no la ultima edicion que es la que estoy revisando, que esta en ingles y tiene algunas paginas más y, tambien, algunas fotos más. Por eso escogí esta edicion. Con este libro no necesitas ningun otro sobre la materia. Si tuviera que puntuarlo dira que 10/10

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A. J. Weatherburn

Excellent but some old terminology & technology persists in this edition.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

An excellent book which I highly recommend.
One opportunity for improvement is that even as a 2015 5th edition there are some points at which it is still more focussed on film technology than on digital, talking of reciprocity failure for example rather than the noise consequences of using high ISOs (p82). A further update to 2021 terminology would benefit the younger / non film reader.

One person found this helpful

pjm

One of - if not *the* - classic book on lighting in photography

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

One of the best books on lighting that an aspiring beginner or enthusiast can read. It is aimed at those who are competent at using their camera without flash and are happy in manual mode. It takes you through the basics of lighting and into some more advanced topics such as the reflective properties of different materials, light polarisation and the like.

It does not get too bogged down in physics, angles etc., but an understanding of or least a passing acquaintance with the fundamentals is beneficial, and this book explains that as clearly as any.

It is probably more suited to those who wish to understand how to light static objects in situations such as product photography, rather than landscape or portrait photographers. However, many of the lessons learned in this book would apply to these other disciplines.

If you want to understand lighting, this is probably one of the best reference books on the subject.

3 people found this helpful

Dietmar C.

Wertvolles Grundlagenwerk

Reviewed in Germany on July 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

Das Buch "Light Science and Magic" kann ich jedem ambitionierten Fotografen empfehlen, denn:
1. Es enthält wesentliche Grundlagen zur Beleuchtung von Motiven. Diese erscheinen mir für viele Motive so essentiell, dass man um das Erlernen dieser Grundlagen nicht herum kommt.
2. Die Schilderungen sind sehr gut verständlich, die Erklärungen sind im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes klar und nachvollziehbar.
3. Die Beispielfotos zeigen das, was sie zeigen sollen, und zwar deutlich. Das ist bei vielen Fotobüchern nicht der Fall, bei denen im Druck die wesentliche Information verlorengegangen ist.
4. Man muss kein Profifotograf sein, um die Inhalte zu verstehen.
5. Sehr guter, umfangreicher Index.
6. Zumindest für mich angenehme Sprache, sehr sachlich, aber keinesfalls langweilig.

2 people found this helpful

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