Book Review: Mastering Lighting and Flash Photography
Book Review: Mastering Lighting & Flash Photography
Richard Bradbury
All about lighting
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One of Keith’s Photography book reviews
Lighting is key to any photograph. This book in Ammonite’s ‘Mastering’ series looks at all aspects of lighting from natural, through to studio setup and operation. It covers the equipment and techniques needed to make more effective use of light.
Book Details
- Author: Richard Bradbury
- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Ammonite Press (18 Jan 2021)
- ISBN-10: 1781454191
- ISBN-13: 978-1781454190
- Size: 24.8 x 24.8cm
Mastering Lighting and Flash Photography
In reading a book like this you are reminded what a vast subject photographic lighting is. This poses problems for any comprehensive coverage of the subject in a book – just how much detail do you go into?
The author’s wide experience helps in bringing in lots of examples which do their job well in illustrating the capabilities (and pitfalls) involved with any particular light source. A glance at the contents page below, shows the range of options.
The size of the book means that many topics can only be addressed fairly briefly, but that’s more of an appreciation of the size of the subject than any criticism of the author. The post production info at the end seems a little out of place, but if it helps people get the (correct) idea that many successful images are a combination of in and out of camera work, rather than some almost religious ‘do everything in the camera’ approach, then it is well placed.
I’m a working photographer and learnt stuff from reading the book. For example I don’t use large studios, so the notes there were of interest – they didn’t make me want to use a large studio, but they did give some useful tips were it to come up.
However, I’m likely not in the primary audience for this book. To my mind it’s best aimed at relative newcomers to photography and those wanting to expand the areas they cover.
Perhaps the most important message that’s communicated is just how much lighting choices affect the look of your photography, and, that they can be an integral part of developing your own photographic style.
I’ve also recorded a short video to go along with these notes.
Book Contents page
Book Cover
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