Newsgroups: rec.photo
Subject: Re: Query: Books on Photo composition
From: Spartacus/CUNY LC NY <LENBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Date: Wednesday, 30 Dec 1992 20:53:16 EST
Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center

In article <1992Dec24.015454.6263@bony1.bony.com>, jake@bony1.bony.com (Jake
Livni) says:
>
>In article <1h7nf1INNhh1@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ai918@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeff
>Shafer) writes:
>>
>>In a previous article, arif@ccrl.nj.nec.com (Arif Merchant) says:
>>
>>>I would appreciate suggestions for *basic* books on photographic composition.
>>>More advanced books are also of interest, but I'm just starting out.
>
>>I am interested in the same subject. I found _Image_ by Michael Freeman
>>at the library.
>
>Highly recommended, though it's not quite a "beginners" book.  On the
>other hand, beginners books are so often silly that _Image_ might be a
>good start, after all.
>
>Also see, _Light_ by the same author.  Very instructive.
>
>--
>Jake Livni  jake@bony1.bony.com              10 years from now, George Bush
Arif,
Yup, Michael Freemen books are pretty good.  I would also make
another recommendation.  If you need a book on lighting, checkout
"Light Science & Magic - An Introduction to Photographic Lighting"
by Fil Hunter & Paul Fuqua.   ISBN 0-240-51796-2.
TR590.H84 1990.  Its an excellent book, probably one of the
best I seen on lighting.   It covers the principles of lighting from
easy subjects to transparent glass and metal subjects.  How to
control reflection and glare using "the family of angles."
Below I've included the preface of the book.  According to the
author, even professional photographers could benefit from
this book as well as students of photography.   With Freeman's
"Image" and this book you will have a powerful combination.  Hope
this helps.
    -==--==--==--==--==--==--<*>--==--==--==--==--==--==--

Photographers use an established set of logical methods to decide how
to focus, expose, and develop a picture.  We learn these methods early
in our careers and use them from that time on.  They never wear out.

   One of the reasons these methods need no replacement and little
repair during a lifetime of use is their flexibility.  One photographer may
decide to use a small aperture and a low shutter speed, while another
will treat the same scene in exactly the opposite manner.  Neither is likely
to have trouble understanding the reason for the other's decision.  The
same technical foundation supports both.

   Lighting enjoys no such commonly accepted method.  It is perhaps
the only technical area of photography in which the principles are not
universally shared and understood by all photographers.  For too many
of us, lighting is more like concocting a witches' brew than like baking a
cake.  The result may be excellent--just as willow bark, combined with
the right incantations and the proper phase of the moon, makes a
wonderful headache remedy.  But inadequate understanding of why the
formula works can lead to a rigid unwillingness to experiment (for fear
that next time the formula will not work) or to the accidental omission of
an important ingredient (keeping the moon and the chant but leaving
out the willow bark).

   The purpose of this book is to introduce a logical theory of photo-
graphic lighting as fundamental as those we use for the other aspects
of photography--theory that enables beginning photographers to pre-
dict results *before* setting up lights; allows a professional photographer
of one specialty to easily see how a photographer with a different type
of expertise might have produced a given picture; and makes lighting
more like baking a cake.

   Contrary to the impression you may get from briefly thumbing through
this book, it is not about lighting a selection of classic subjects.  It is
simply about lighting.

   We hope this is not primarily a "how-to" book.  For example, we show
three basic ways of lighting a flat piece of metal.  Only one of these
three makes a good picture and that one by itself would be good enough for
a "how-to."  However, all three show *principles*, and those principles
are likely to be useful even if you never light a piece of metal.

   We have also tried to keep this from being a book about any particular
*style* of lighting.  There was no way to avoid showing our own professional
preferences by the selection of example images and by the emphases
in the text.  But the specific photographs, like the specific subjects, are
only vehicles.

  Consider this a recipe book with an explanation of how each ingredient
works.  Alter the proportions, adjust the time, and add or delete elements
to suit your own taste

    -==--==--==--==--==--==--<*>--==--==--==--==--==--==--
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