Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place. Another wet, rainy, and cold Thursday draws to a close, making us thankful the warmth of home!
Today’s reading list is LIGHT—SCIENCE & MAGIC an Introduction to Photographic Lighting, by Fil Hunter, Steve Biver, and Paul Fuqua.
This book is a veritable goldmine of lighting knowledge. These guys have put together something that no photographer should be without. This great book introduces us to light, its characteristics, and how to use it. There are lessons, exercises, and lots of ideas to be had here. They’re on the fourth edition now, which just goes to show you how valuable a resource it is.
Much of what they cover applies even without a flash. The nature of light is the same, whether you’re using a flash or shooting ambient only. The book starts at the most basic information about light, runs through light transmission, reflection, refraction, and onto to more photographic information. They cover angles and the families of angles, as well as some very useful stuff that will make you say “Aha, that’s how they did it!”
One of the early points in the book is that not every photographer has enough lighting equipment to light everything perfect, but every photographer has enough to do things well. A flash or studio strobes are nice, but light is light. It generally acts the same every time, which allows us to use almost any light source for great results.
The other really nice thing about this book is that it covers even tricky subjects like glass and metal. That alone makes it an invaluable resource to someone trying to learn lighting. It’s definitely worth the price. Check it out and let me know what you think.
I hope things are coming along nicely as you work on exposing yourself for this week’s theme. I can’t wait to see what you Volks come up with!
Remember to cast your vote for next week’s theme. Don’t forget to get your pics posted at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!
Showing posts with label reading list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading list. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Reading List: The Negative
Greetings, Hohenfels, welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place. Shorter days and lots of fog made our visibility very limited this Tuesday. Cold, foggy, and wet, together they combine to make for some serious winter like weather. It looks like Hohenfels can expect snow before too awfully long!
This post will introduce the book “The Negative.” This is a piece of advice for those who desire more knowledge about photographic techniques and methods. Ansel Adams wrote The Negative in the 1940s as part of his series on photography. It was part 2 of a 3 book series. In its final version, written by Adams in 1981 and still published today, it provides an incredible amount of guidance to the photographer and would be photographer. It also helps the photographer understand exposure in more detail, breaks down controlling exposure and contrast, and introduces concepts and theories that will advance even the beginner along the path toward better photos.
The chapters include Visualization, Exposure, The Zone System, as well as chapters on natural light, artificial light, and filters. I find the chapters on exposure and the zone system to be the best material on the subjects. One of the main reasons is that Ansel Adams explains exposure in extreme detail, while making it understandable to anyone remotely interested. The other reason is he co-created the zone system. No one else could have brought it within the grasp of so many people.
Even though he wrote this book for users of film, Adams himself envisioned a sort of digital photography. When you take into account that photography remains writing with light, and that the concepts are the same, you can see the use of studying this handy book. Some of the terms used may no longer be common, like candles/square foot, but the information remains within grasp. For example, in the previous example of foot candles or candles per square foot, a lux meter will give you a measurement in lux, which can be converted to c/f2 by dividing the lux reading by 10. Knowing this, you can use a reflected light lux meter, do the math, and use the exposure formula in chapter 3 of this wonderful book to get your exposure correct. A concept introduced is that every ISO has a native aperture. That native aperture is the square root of the ISO. For example, ISO 200 has a native aperture of approximately f/14. ISO 125 has one of f/11; ISO 400 is f/20, and so on. Keep that in mind, as in an upcoming post we talk about the exposure formula.
Another great feature of this book is the inclusion of some of Adams’s amazing photography to emphasize a point or introduce a concept. If you only get it for the pictures, it’s worth the price. You can get it for as little as $12.00 new!
On to something else. Are you visualizing your shot for this week’s theme? Are you thinking about how to get something great, just the right DOF, and how to get the angle? I’ve had a couple cool ideas. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Well, Volks, here’s hoping your week stays short and interesting.
Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!
This post will introduce the book “The Negative.” This is a piece of advice for those who desire more knowledge about photographic techniques and methods. Ansel Adams wrote The Negative in the 1940s as part of his series on photography. It was part 2 of a 3 book series. In its final version, written by Adams in 1981 and still published today, it provides an incredible amount of guidance to the photographer and would be photographer. It also helps the photographer understand exposure in more detail, breaks down controlling exposure and contrast, and introduces concepts and theories that will advance even the beginner along the path toward better photos.
The chapters include Visualization, Exposure, The Zone System, as well as chapters on natural light, artificial light, and filters. I find the chapters on exposure and the zone system to be the best material on the subjects. One of the main reasons is that Ansel Adams explains exposure in extreme detail, while making it understandable to anyone remotely interested. The other reason is he co-created the zone system. No one else could have brought it within the grasp of so many people.
Even though he wrote this book for users of film, Adams himself envisioned a sort of digital photography. When you take into account that photography remains writing with light, and that the concepts are the same, you can see the use of studying this handy book. Some of the terms used may no longer be common, like candles/square foot, but the information remains within grasp. For example, in the previous example of foot candles or candles per square foot, a lux meter will give you a measurement in lux, which can be converted to c/f2 by dividing the lux reading by 10. Knowing this, you can use a reflected light lux meter, do the math, and use the exposure formula in chapter 3 of this wonderful book to get your exposure correct. A concept introduced is that every ISO has a native aperture. That native aperture is the square root of the ISO. For example, ISO 200 has a native aperture of approximately f/14. ISO 125 has one of f/11; ISO 400 is f/20, and so on. Keep that in mind, as in an upcoming post we talk about the exposure formula.
Another great feature of this book is the inclusion of some of Adams’s amazing photography to emphasize a point or introduce a concept. If you only get it for the pictures, it’s worth the price. You can get it for as little as $12.00 new!
On to something else. Are you visualizing your shot for this week’s theme? Are you thinking about how to get something great, just the right DOF, and how to get the angle? I’ve had a couple cool ideas. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Well, Volks, here’s hoping your week stays short and interesting.
Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Some Good Reading
Here's some further information on exposure;
Cambridge in Colour A Learning community for photographers. Sean McHugh puts a lot into his site, check it out!
For a more in depth and technical explanation on exposure, I recommend reading "The Negative" by Ansel Adams. His work has inspired folks for nearly a century and will continue to do so for as long as we admire beauty! You can get this book new from Amazon for about $14.00.
A great source for general photography, is the "Digital Photography" series by Scott Kelby. There are 3 books in the series with a fourth one coming soon. You can also get this at Amazon.
Here's a link to Amazon, just search for those books and read on. Just so you know, I'm not getting anything from Amazon for this.
I hope to see your questions and comments!
Take care.
Cambridge in Colour A Learning community for photographers. Sean McHugh puts a lot into his site, check it out!
For a more in depth and technical explanation on exposure, I recommend reading "The Negative" by Ansel Adams. His work has inspired folks for nearly a century and will continue to do so for as long as we admire beauty! You can get this book new from Amazon for about $14.00.
A great source for general photography, is the "Digital Photography" series by Scott Kelby. There are 3 books in the series with a fourth one coming soon. You can also get this at Amazon.
Here's a link to Amazon, just search for those books and read on. Just so you know, I'm not getting anything from Amazon for this.
I hope to see your questions and comments!
Take care.
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