» Basic Studio Lighting: The Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Techniques

Basic Studio Lighting: The Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Techniques Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Basic is the Key Word
Comment: If you are learning lighting and need diagrams, skip this book.

If you are learning lighting and enjoy creating your own lighting setups and are willing to experiment to be different than the masses, buy this book.

The information will get your feet on the ground and help you grasp what light does, you can then take this a build your own lighting setups to match your personal vision.

If you have lots of experience and know lighting back and forth, then this book may be too basic for you. I enjoyed, even though I knew I was ahead of some of the topics, but if I had been looking from an experience point of view for a new "Wow factor" I would have been disapointed.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book on studio lighting.
Comment: I've read and can appreciate all the reviews that came before this one. This book is NOT a cookbook on lighting. It IS a treatise on understanding how lighting effects photographs and how to best use lighting to define your photographs.

Those reviewers that have complained that the book didn't tell them how to light a given photograph will return to this book for understanding and inspiration once they master the basics.

I've read (and learned from) many photographic lighting books prior to this one and can say this is the finest book I've yet seen. It taught me to understand lighting, rather than simply use lighting.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good book
Comment: I really like it, it's easy to read and good illustrations. good tips on lighting. it's really helping me on my photo technique's and my equipment.

Me gusto, es fácil de leer, y las ilustraciones son muy buenas. Me esta ayudando mucho en mi técnica de fotografia y me da ideas para montar mi estudio

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Customer Rating:
Summary: It's not the book the title implies
Comment: This book should been titled "Studio Lighting Theory". While I appreciate the theory and concepts described in the book, I was looking for BASIC STUDIO LIGHTING instruction, and this book does not deliver. There are many, many nicely lighted portraits and product shots in this book but they are like teasers..."Try and figure out how I lighted this one!" In another review of the book, the reviewer considers the lack of diagrams a plus, but I surely can't see how holding back information can be beneficial.

I suspect, this was just a money grab by the author. A collection of his photographs--most of which he may not even remember the lighting setup used. The book is a bit dated, too, with nothing but film references and no fluorescents even mentioned in the continuous lighting section.

If you are looking for an introduction to studio lighting, this book will disappoint. I suggest looking elsewhere. That's what I'm doing now.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Such a Missed Opportunity
Comment: There is no question that Tony Corbell takes wonderful photographs. Go to his website at [...] to see for yourself. But, as we've often seen, raw photographic talent more often than not does not translate into teachable talent or competent writing skills.

In `Basic Studio Lighting' Corbell tackles a needed subject, writes in an agreeable fashion and delivers with beautiful examples. Yet one finishes this book, while thankful for the nuggets of valuable information, ultimately disappointed.

Disappointed at the missed opportunity. Corbell might very well have delivered a photographic knockout punch. He could have written the definitive textbook on studio lighting. Instead his book falls into the "out of 144 pages, I picked up three new ideas" category that too often describes photographic instruction books.

How do you possibly write a book on basic studio lighting without a single lighting diagram connected to an individual photograph? Tony Corbell did.

He even knows the importance of conveying that information. Consider, on page 128, Corbell writes "Placement of the separation light is of key importance..." yet no diagrams. As in none.

Didn't early on somebody, anybody (maybe an editor who should have known better) say, `Uh Tony? You might want to diagram those lighting setups, just in case someone might actually want to use your information"? This omission alone takes this book from the keeper category and lands it into the `read once and discard' category.

This book reads like Tony's lectures might sound if they were written down with a slideshow of images behind him, not like a book written from scratch.

Such a missed opportunity.

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