Studio & Location Lighting Secrets for Digital Photographers

Book description

Improve your photography with more than 200 lighting tips from a top photographer

Written by Canon Explorer of Light Rick Sammon and leading fashion and studio photographer Vered Koshlano, this guide is packed with professional advice on the essential element of photography: lighting. It provides detailed information and insider secrets that are bound to make you a better photographer.

You'll learn the basics of studio lighting as well as how to achieve special effects. A 90-minute DVD is included, with additional tips on using reflectors, diffusers, accessory flashes, and more.

  • Explores the basics of studio lighting in various situations

  • Features more than 200 lighting tips and secrets for planning and taking the most impressive digital images in the studio

  • Compares available camera equipment, accessories, software, and printing options

  • Covers post-shoot digital darkroom techniques and workflow tips and tricks

  • Companion DVD includes advice on making the most of accessories such as diffusers, reflectors, and accessory flashes

  • Written by two top professional photographers and illustrated with full-color examples

Studio and Location Lighting Secrets provides information from the pros to improve your photograpic skills.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Authors
  3. Credits
  4. Rick's Acknowledgments
  5. Vered's Acknowledgements
  6. Introduction
  7. 1. Studio Starter Kits
    1. 1.1. Basic Home Studio
    2. 1.2. Basic Hot-Light Kit
    3. 1.3. Basic Strobe Kit
    4. 1.4. Simply Beautiful
    5. 1.5. Garage Glamour
  8. 2. Our Lenses
    1. 2.1. Love Those Longer Lenses
    2. 2.2. Studio Lighting and Lens Lineup
    3. 2.3. Modeling Light and Fun Photos
    4. 2.4. Favorite Lens for On-Location Portraits
    5. 2.5. Favorite Lens for Environmental Portraits
  9. 3. Photo Composition and Model Positioning
    1. 3.1. Shoot Horizontals and Verticals
    2. 3.2. Get Close and Closer
    3. 3.3. Bank on Professional Backgrounds
    4. 3.4. The All-Important Background
    5. 3.5. Contrasting Colors vs. Tone on Tone
    6. 3.6. Props Pay Off
    7. 3.7. Shooting a Composite
    8. 3.8. Finding and Working with Models
  10. 4. Creative Lighting Tips
    1. 4.1. Overcome Meter-Challenging Exposure Situations
    2. 4.2. See Light in the Eyes
    3. 4.3. A Word on Eyeglasses
    4. 4.4. Photographing Shiny Objects
    5. 4.5. Low Key versus High Key Lighting
    6. 4.6. Play with Light Placement
    7. 4.7. Dramatic Hair Light
    8. 4.8. Work Hard at Creative Lighting
    9. 4.9. Tips for Baby Shots
    10. 4.10. Balancing Act
    11. 4.11. Testing, Testing, Testing
    12. 4.12. Repositioning the Flash
    13. 4.13. Add an Effect for a Creative Portrait
  11. 5. Hooked on a Feeling
    1. 5.1. Create a "Look"
    2. 5.2. Make Eye Contact ... or Not
    3. 5.3. Go For a Total Transformation
    4. 5.4. Master Makeup
    5. 5.5. Understand Body Language
  12. 6. Oh, the Details
    1. 6.1. Watch the Hands
    2. 6.2. Notice the Nails
    3. 6.3. Pay Attention to the Nose
    4. 6.4. Watch the Lips
    5. 6.5. Gain the Model's Trust
  13. 7. The Beauty of Black and White
    1. 7.1. Good Production Trumps Lighting
    2. 7.2. Much Space Needs Much Light
    3. 7.3. Using a Light in Your Frame
    4. 7.4. Main Light Selection
    5. 7.5. Have a Great Model
  14. 8. Tools of the Trade
    1. 8.1. Basic Diffuser Setup
    2. 8.2. Basic Reflector Setup
    3. 8.3. Basic Flash/ Diffuser Portraits
    4. 8.4. Flash/ Diffuser with Reflector Keeper
    5. 8.5. Basic Flash/ Reflector Portraits
    6. 8.6. Flash/ Reflector Keeper
    7. 8.7. Creative Lighting Accessory
    8. 8.8. Mo' Behind-the Scenes Photos
    9. 8.9. Try a Triflector
    10. 8.10. Variations on a Theme
    11. 8.11. Jump Into Creative Outdoor Lighting
    12. 8.12. Just Takes One
    13. 8.13. Combine Flash and Ambient Light
    14. 8.14. Dealing with Contrast
    15. 8.15. Digital Darkroom Explorations
    16. 8.16. Karsh-like Images
  15. 9. Unleash Yourself
    1. 9.1. Wireless Tools Expand Your Capabilities
    2. 9.2. Trigger Your Camera Remotely, Too!
    3. 9.3. New Features Add to the Fun
    4. 9.4. ... and It Looks Good, Too!
    5. 9.5. One Flash/ Lighting Kit Combo
  16. 10. With a Little Help from Friends
    1. 10.1. Keep It Simple
    2. 10.2. Work with Twilight
    3. 10.3. Light...and Lack of Light
    4. 10.4. Dramatic Side Light
    5. 10.5. Soften an Off-Camera Flash
    6. 10.6. A Regal Look
    7. 10.7. Focus Carefully When Shooting With Fast Lenses
    8. 10.8. Know the Fundamentals
    9. 10.9. Flag It
    10. 10.10. Have a Story to Tell
    11. 10.11. Add Some Imagination
    12. 10.12. Carefully Light the Background
    13. 10.13. Use Your Mind's Eye
    14. 10.14. Consider Rim Light
    15. 10.15. The Defining Moment
    16. 10.16. Create an Intimate Moment
    17. 10.17. Light Illuminates, Shadow Defines
    18. 10.18. Shape the Light
    19. 10.19. Shoot and Light'em Separately
    20. 10.20. Inspired by the'60s
    21. 10.21. Do-it-Yourself Tilt/Shift
    22. 10.22. Bring Back the Magic of Portraiture
    23. 10.23. Blessed Soft Lighting
    24. 10.24. It's All About the Light
    25. 10.25. Go to Extremes
    26. 10.26. Plan the Shoot, Process the Shot—Carefully
    27. 10.27. Use What You've Got
    28. 10.28. Bounced Light is Nice
    29. 10.29. Shoot Beautifully Inside the Studio ... and Out
    30. 10.30. Traveling at Lightspeed
    31. 10.31. Use Sunlight as the Key Light
    32. 10.32. Many Lights + Large Crew = Cool Image
    33. 10.33. Who Needs Expensive Gear?
    34. 10.34. If You Don't Have All Day ...
    35. 10.35. Teaming a Photographer and Stylist
  17. 11. Student Studio Lighting Experiments
    1. 11.1. Shannon Bradley
    2. 11.2. Amy Dieker
    3. 11.3. Chayanne Marfisi
    4. 11.4. Monica Phillips
    5. 11.5. Chris Pino
    6. 11.6. Jacquie Puoci
    7. 11.7. Amy Roberts
    8. 11.8. Lisa Wood
  18. 12. Photoshop Enhancements
    1. 12.1. Count on Changes
    2. 12.2. Add a Spotlight or Omni Light
    3. 12.3. Change the Lens and F-Stop
    4. 12.4. Create Beautiful Black-and-White Prints
    5. 12.5. Beyond Black-and-White
    6. 12.6. Create a High-Fashion Stylized Look
    7. 12.7. Frame It
    8. 12.8. Add a Nice Vignette
    9. 12.9. Create Professional Color Effects
    10. 12.10. Add Simple Artistic Effects
    11. 12.11. Enhance Details
    12. 12.12. Go for a Spin and Blur Reality
    13. 12.13. Create Movie-Star-Style Lighting
    14. 12.14. All Together Now
  19. 13. World is my Studio
    1. 13.1. Love, Respect and Seeing
    2. 13.2. Envision the End Result
    3. 13.3. Work with Backgrounds
    4. 13.4. Create the Disequilibrium Effect
    5. 13.5. See the Light
    6. 13.6. Control the Light with a Reflector
    7. 13.7. Control the Light with a Flash
    8. 13.8. Look for and Create Diffused Light
    9. 13.9. Models, Props and Makeup
    10. 13.10. Make Pictures
    11. 13.11. Meter Your Exposures
    12. 13.12. Work with Colors
    13. 13.13. The Eyes Have It
    14. 13.14. Paying People
    15. 13.15. Play with Plug-ins
    16. 13.16. HDR Plug-in Effects
    17. 13.17. Working with Mirrors
    18. 13.18. Shooting Profiles and Silhouettes
    19. 13.19. Draw More Attention to the Subject
    20. 13.20. Why Off-Center Composition Works
    21. 13.21. Don't Underestimate the Importance of an Interesting Subject
  20. 14. Cool Websites for Flash Info
    1. 14.1. Strobist
    2. 14.2. PocketWizard
    3. 14.3. Westcott
    4. 14.4. LumiQuest
    5. 14.5. Back to Back
    6. 14.6. Canon Digital Learning Center
    7. 14.7. Bogen Imaging
    8. 14.8. Lexar
    9. 14.9. Kelby Training
    10. 14.10. Honl Photo
    11. 14.11. Rick Sammon
  21. A. Rick Sammon's Basic Lighting and Portraiture DVD
    1. A.1. What you'll see and how to see it!
  22. Wiley Publishing, Inc. End-User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Studio & Location Lighting Secrets for Digital Photographers
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: September 2009
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470521250