Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting 5th Edition, Kindle Edition

Is well known that you could be a great artist and an awful art instructor. I have no doubts that the authors of this book are stellar photographers, who could take great pictures but who do not know how to write. The information in this book is vague and highly disorganized. I have seen repetitions in my life, but not at the level of this book. You could easily find the same idea or concept written over and over through the pages and even on the same page. The first impression I had that this book would turn out to be what it is was the font size, which is almost as big as those you find in children's books. And with margins so wide, the text box on the pages is just six by four and a half inches. That is how the book makes it to four hundred pages. In an adult publication with regular font size and text blocks, this book would easily be two to three hundred pages long. There is no question that novice photographers like me would have something to learn out of this book, but the level of ambiguity and absence of specific information is almost insulting. I apologize to the authors for this commentary, but this book didn't seems to be professionally edited.

You need this book, unless you are a super-pro photographer. I have 10 or 12 photography books, from beginner to more advanced technique., most recommended by a professional photographer, (makes his living 100 % from photography). They will all have a chapter on lighting. Light, Science and Magic gathers all the lighting information in one book, 382 pages of it.There is lots of information on light placement, with diagrams and illustrative photos. The illustrations are of studio lighting, but work with multiple speedlights. There is a chapter on speed lights and how to set up your first studio.It explains reflections and how to overcome them, the family of angles, how to photograph metals, glass with light field and dark field.Ask 10 photographers what specular lighting is and you will get 12 different answers. Light, Science and Magic clarifies the meaning as well as how many photographers use it.It covers portraits, still life, museum exhibit photography, documents, artistic and documentary photography.

A must have book for learning photographic lighting.Finally, I found a book that actually teaches lighting concepts instead of the common "cookbook" type guides, through a recommendation! After searching Amazon, Light Science & Magic didn't even show up! After practicing the techniques, you will be able to creatively light anything.While Light Science & Magic covers lighting concepts well, you should look elsewhere for equipment usage. There's some information about setting up a studio but it's too little to be very useful.

This book is a must have for anyone who's having a hard time wrapping their head around photography lighting. And the best part is that it's all written in a simple, easy to understand way. IMO, this book is better than watching hours of YouTube videos on lighting.

Although the author can be a bit wordy (hey - I am the impatient type) at times. the content is excellent.

Very nice beginner reference or guide. Not super technical, inspirational, well written to enable creativity.

In Peter Hurley's book "The Headshot" he urges photographers to "own their light" and this book will help you "own your light" by offering clear explanations and examples of the science and physics of light. Intuitively, you already know most of this--but having a clear understanding of what is going on with light will allow you to work quicker and more efficiently. I highly recommend this book.

The content in the book seems useful, but a whole section of 30+ Pages is falling apart At the bindings. The whole book it seems will fall out if I keep turning pages. I got the book yesterday and it’s my first time opening it.

It has taken me almost a third of my life to realise that photography is light. That is not to say that there are not any outside influences beyond that statement, but on the whole its true. The changes and strength of light is what we as photographers strive to control. This book shows how to do just that. It is a purely technical book in its format, and for me a degree of effort was required to read it (Similar to reading a text book on mathematics at school), but when you have, the knowledge you have gained will be there to use in virtually every photograph you ever take. A great reference book.

An excellent book which I highly recommend.One opportunity for improvement is that even as a 2015 5th edition there are some points at which it is still more focussed on film technology than on digital, talking of reciprocity failure for example rather than the noise consequences of using high ISOs (p82). A further update to 2021 terminology would benefit the younger / non film reader.

The best Photography Book I have ever bought! I discovered this book by chance at The National Trust's Lacock Abbey (Home of Fox Talbot) the inventor of Photography. I cannot recommend this book enough. If you, like me have spent hours try to get the perfect product shots then this book goes into detail showing how to photograph Glass and a variety of other subject matter.Well recommended !

I really love this book. It's been so helpful in planning and building my extreme macro photography diffusers so that I can get the best out of every image.

just buy it!it has everything you want to know about mastering light on Photography!