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The education you will gain will reward you many times over.This isn't a traditional "inspirational book" with lots of beautiful photos that we all wish we had shot; the authors deliberately keep each picture as simple as possible to make the concepts clear. Admittedly some sections are more difficult, but are well worth the effort.
It continues to be a resource that I return to over and over again. The book's strength lies in that it offers the principals of lighting, which can be applied to a variety of subjects.
I have a copy of each edition of Light Science & Magic. Regardless of whether you have a ton of lighting equipment or use only existing light, there's information in this book to help you use the light better, more efficiently, and to the advantage of your subjects.Most of the book is an easy and practical read, building each subject based on what has been covered earlier.
It is not a "here's how I shot this particular picture" book. If you understand the principals, you can adapt the lighting to suit your subject and your artistry, and not just try to copy what someone else has done.
Just take your time. But it WILL give you the skills to get out there and shoot those beautiful photos for yourself.
After reading many raves about this book in the photo forums, I finally had a chance to read this book. It could bore some to be sure. But if you are taking product shots and you need to be better, order it today. I have many books on lighting in my library. It's not about portraiture lighting, but I can't imagine a portrait photographer not benefiting from it.This book will stay in my studio. This book has helped the most. Why did I wait so long. If you don't want to read words like "absorption" and "refraction" don't bother with this book.
It has changed the way I think about light. It has expanded my vision on how good a photographer I can become.The book is technical, the book talks about the science of light. If you need to know how to deal with reflections, and making metal, or plastic, or glass look good in a photo, this is the book. I totally recommend it for yours.
Review of Focal Press publication Light, Science & Magic by Neal Brown for Fairbanks, Alaska Apple Mousse clubAn early statement in this book echoed my experiences with film as I took pictures of aurora in the mid-1960's. A complicating factor is how the texture and color of your subject affects how that light is reflected.Lastly, revising but essentially repeating a statement from a reviewer copied on the Focal Press web site that I concur with, the authors, while assuming that you know little about lighting, they present the topic in a non demeaning manner, and advance each topic very quickly.I strongly recommend this book to those photographers who want to get detailed pictures of items like jewelry, antiques, paintings, and portraits. You may make mistakes that the camera fixes, costing you a learning experience; or the camera can make a mistake and you innocently blame yourself for it."The two statements above in particular intrigued me right from the start to read this book carefully.Light: Science and Magic provides you with a comprehensive theory of the nature and principles of light to allow you to think through the lighting you will need, and can afford, to take the pictures of unusual things like black on black, white on white, metal, glass.
By the time the students got the film developed and printed, they had forgotten the subtleties of the lighting, they had photographed; it was much harder to see what they had done wrong."It is much easier to learn from your mistakes right away now, with modern digital cameras because they allow you to see the picture within seconds after it is made.A contrary idea worth thinking about is "A digital camera is also a computer; for this reason the camera maker can program the camera to alter the image without the foreknowledge or consent of the photographer. Ultimately it is not a "how to" book, for the examples are universal examples of problems you run into.The essence of this book is to learn to carefully evaluate several elements of the light you are working with, or in the light you are planning to add to make your picture look better. "A camera that shot 35-mm film, the primary tool of generations of student photographers, was probably the worst way to learn.
There are detailed examples and photographs in this book showing you what happens when you use a spotlight or a diffuse broad light, or when you use polarizer or not. This is often a good thing because the camera decisions are usually right. The bigger problem is that it is harder for the student ot know whether what's happened, for better and for worse, is because of the camera's decision or because of the photographer's decision.
Though it sounds simplistic, the reality is that when you take a photograph you need to think front and center about the fact that you are photographing light that is reflected from your subject. I came away from reading it knowing I won't remember all the detail, but I will remember where I can go to learn the detail I need when I need it.
Although I have quite finished it yet, I can highly recommend this book. If you are serious about learning to master studio lighting--both the hows and whys--get this book. You won't regret it.
I was skeptical. Not to worry though, this is not a tough science textbook, it's a "physics for poets" level textbook (no hard science or advanced math involved at all). I learned quite a few things from this book (i.e. I was wrong. It might be too much for someone just starting out in photography unless they have a strong science or technical background (they should probably wait until they've mastered the basics of photography first). This book is quite unique. Based upon the pages of the book that one could see via Amazon's "Look Inside" I thought there would be little new for me here. Advanced photographers may know a lot of the material in this book from experience but Light, Science and Magic brings a careful scientific/mathematical perspective to explaining how light works (and with good/relevant illustrations throughout).
It covers light and its use as a photographer might be concerned with it from a more scientific viewpoint than any other photography how-to book I've ever seen. One might categorize this book as an applied science book textbook. issues regarding shooting white-on-white and black-on-black and issues regarding various types of reflections) and think most photographers, through advanced and professional levels, will also. Kudo's to Thom Hogan for recommending this book via his website.
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