Editorial Reviews:
Synopsis
An amazing (and some would say magical) resource on photographic lighting that has been talked about in the community and recommended for years. This highly respected guide has been thoroughly updated and revised for content and design - it is now produced in full color! It introduces a logical theory of photographic lighting so if you are starting out in photography you will learn how to predict results before setting up lights. This is not primarily a how-to book with only set examples for you to copy. Rather, Light: Science and Magic provides you with a comprehensive theory of the nature and principles of light to allow you to use lighting to express your own creativity.brbrNumerous photographs and illustrations provide clear examples of the theories, while sidebars highlight special lighting questions. Expanded chapters on available light in portraiture, as well as new information on digital equipment and terminology make this a must have update! brbr*New four color art package with contemporary lighting examplesbr*Based on the behaviour of light br*Theory book for serious photographers
Amazon.com Review
SPAN class=h3colorBAmazon Exclusive: A Letter from Fil Hunter, Paul Fuqua, and Steven Biver, authors of iLight--Science Magic/i, on Lighting /B/SPANbr table align="right" cellpadding="4" width="201" tbody tr align="center" tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/FilHunterSmall._V153730560_.jpg" alt="Fil Hunter"/ div class="imageCaption"smallFil Hunter/small/div /td tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/paul_fuquaSmall._V153730563_.jpg " alt="Paul Fuqua"/ div class="imageCaption"smallPaul Fuqua/small/div /td tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/steven_biverSmall._V153730560_.jpg" alt="Steven Biver"/ div class="imageCaption"smallSteven Biver/small/div /td /tr /tbody /table pWe photographers now live in a gadget-based world. If you don’t believe me, just look at the Web or any photography magazine. What do you see but item after item extolling the virtue of this or that gizmo?/p pThe lighting side of picture making is no exception. In fact it has become so intense that a huge proportion of questions I’m asked are of the “How can I work without a . . . ?” or “Will I ever be able to make good portraits without a . . . ?”/p pFortunately two sentences written for the first edition of iLight--Science Magic/i some 25 years ago by our co-author, Fil Hunter are just as relevant today as they were then, a quarter of a century ago: /p ul“No photographer has enough lighting equipment to do every assignment as well as possible." and “Most photographers have enough equipment to do almost every assignment well.”/ul pTo put those two pithy lines another way, iit’s what you do with what you’ve got that counts./i/p pSure, there most certainly are those times when the newest and niftiest piece of gear would make life a lot easier. But if you can’t afford it, don’t go out and shoot yourself. Instead, start trying to figure out a different way of getting the job done. /p pYou’ll be amazed at how many times you can./p p--Fil Hunter, Paul Fuqua, and Steven Biver/p hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="bucketDivider"/ SPAN class=h3colorBAmazon Exclusive: An Example from Paul Fuqua, One of the Authors of iLight--Science Magic/i, on Lighting /B/SPANbr table align="right" cellpadding="4" width="201" tbody tr align="center" tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/Howard_Small._V153977852_.jpg" alt="Howard"/ /td /tr /table pFor the most part, my co-author, Steven, and I specialize in very different kinds of photography. Steven usually works using lights. I almost always work with only the ambient light I find where I’m shooting. /p pBut as different as these two ways of working are, the approaches we use to lighting our subjects are almost identical. That’s because no matter where you find it or what its sources may be, light always behaves in certain predictable ways. /p pTake this portrait of my friend Howard. To make it I moved him into the “open” shade of a nearby barn. This flooded him with the kind of softly diffused light I had pre-visualized for the picture. /p pI then positioned Howard close to the edge of the barn’s shadow. This allowed a small number of the sun’s brighter rays to fall on the camera right side of his face. /p pThe result of this slightly uneven lighting was twofold. First, Howard’s facial features were nicely modeled and second, the diffused light prevented any unattractive hard-edged shadows on it. /p pWhat’s important about the above is that I was able to use the ambient light I found on a location to make this portrait using exactly the same basic approach that Steven could use to produce identical looking lighting using studio strobes. Simply put, light is light, and iti always /ifollows the same laws of nature wherever it is and whatever produces it./p pAnd that’s iexactly/i what iLight--Science Magic/i is all about. /p p-- Paul Fuqua/p hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="bucketDivider"/ SPAN class=h3colorBFeatured Photographs from the Authors of iLight--Science Magic/i/B/SPANbr table align="center" cellpadding="4" width="201" tbody tr align="center" tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/SmallWater._V153728319_.jpg" alt="Water "/ div class="imageCaption"smallThis glass of water was photographed with two lights--one on the background and the other in the foreground. (For more on photographing glass see Chapter 7)./small/div /td tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/SmallVance._V153728318_.jpg" alt="Vance"/ div class="imageCaption"smallThis dramatic studio portrait was created using three lights--a Fresnel for the hair light, a grid spot and, a strip light for the face. (For more on portrait lighting see Chapter 8)./small/div /td tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/SmallLamp._V153728318_.jpg" alt="Lamp"/ div class="imageCaption"smallExterior lamp on building wall shot with available light. The hard-edged shadow is a result of the bright specular light, the sun./small/div /td /tr /tbody /tablebr table align="center" cellpadding="4" width="201" tbody tr align="center" tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/SmallVeggies._V153728315_.jpg" alt="Veggies "/ div class="imageCaption"smallStill life was lit with one large soft box. This type of light modifier enables you to create as soft and often pleasing “window light” look./small/div /td td /td td /td td /td td /td tdimg border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/SmallGirl._V153728318_.jpg" alt="Girl "/ div class="imageCaption"smallLocation portrait photographed with dappled ambient light.brbrbr/small/div /td /tbody /table hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="bucketDivider"/ SPAN class=h3colorBFeatured Excerpts from iLight--Science Magic/i/B/SPANbr pRead a few sample pages on how the cover was made. [PDF]/p pRead a few sample pages on how to photograph glass. [PDF]/p
