5.0 out of 5 based on 5 reviews. – Customer review on 10/03/2008

(This review is adapted from a review I wrote for Photo News - the newsletter of the Marlborough Camera Club.

This book is considered essential reading by the Strobist movement — a large group of people dedicated to creative lighting, and it was with that in mind that I ordered a copy.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html

But my high expectations did not prepare me for just how good this book is.

An initial browse resulted in several jaw dropping revelations and answers to problems I’d been struggling with for years — I shan’t be embarrassed next time I am asked to photograph a glossy oil painting. It doesn’t so much tell you how to light, but rather gives you the tools to understand numerous lighting situations, and starting points to creating your own lighting set-ups. I found my thoughts constantly running away improvising different ways to use the knowledge I gleaned as I read the book.

The book deals with the nature of light — which sounds dry, but knowing why light becomes polarised, for instance, helps you to both avoid problems and use it to your advantage. It talks about the management of reflections in relation to different surfaces. It gives guidelines on dealing with difficult subjects like shiny metal and transparent glass objects, and how to delineate them from their backgrounds. It has the obligatory chapter on lighting portraits, but more because the techniques are universally applicable to so many subjects, (I use very similar lighting for portraits and studio still life). And it tells us how to cope with extremes like black on black, white on white, or dealing with tonal extremes in the same shot.

The following two images were both taken using techneques learned from the book:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3239/2313907350_5631cdcab8_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/2313907056_69a6e4fd40_o.jpg

5.0 out of 5 based on 5 reviews. – Customer review on 04/03/2008

This is a must have for anyone seriously into photography. The diagrams and explanations are great. You will not be disappointed.

5.0 out of 5 based on 5 reviews. – Customer review on 03/11/2009

No matter how much cameras change in their approach to recording images, the principles of lighting do not. Light creates mood, colour, form, texture, and also a host of problems in difficult subjects. The solutions to lighting dilemmas and the effective use of light is what separates the real professionals from the rest. This book ably sweeps away the mystery of how to use light in wide variety of situations. Concise and clear, it explains the science of light, and then goes on to treat such subjects as shape and contour, metal, glass,surface textures, people in various ways, and equipment used. The diagrams are helpful and clear and the illustrations are good examples of points discussed. As a teacher of photography at an art college I am very happy to have this book available to students and in my own collection.

5.0 out of 5 based on 5 reviews. – Customer review on 12/10/2009

Even though I prefer shooting in natural light the insight into light and lighting is really useful. It's written in easy to follow language with good examples and explanations.
This book provides all the knowledge to practice the magic of photography.

5.0 out of 5 based on 5 reviews. – Customer review on 10/04/2010

This is a great book, easy to understand and full of information. The "science" part is wonderfully easy to understand, thanks to the succinct way in which it is explained, and photographers of any level will gain valuable insight. Highly recommended.