The best Photography Lighting books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

For this type of photography, my guess is that the elements of success are:

Camera choice: 10%

Lens choice: 15%

Food prep skills: 25%

Mastery of lighting techniques for glass containers and liquids: 50%

A good book is Light, Science, and Magic

and the Strobist website mentioned in another comment is also very good to study.

For the camera, it might be important to pick one hat you can shoot tethered (connected to a computer) so you can use a big computer monitor or TV screen to preview the shot in the studio.

This book is written by Richard Cadena, who is the technical editor of Lighting and Sound America. It will answer virtually every question you've asked in your post, and it will also help you stay safe on the job. Worth every penny.

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EDIT: Submit your questions for Richard's r/livesound Q+A here.

Budget: $40

• Light Science & Magic (Book) - An oft-recommended book here in \/r\/photography, it's a great resource for photographic techniques with regard to lighting.

The best resource for this in my opinion is Richard Cadena's book "Electricity for the Entertainment Electrician and Technician." [Amazon] Worth every penny.

Richard was nice enough to do a Q&A for us - read it here.

I'm a portrait photographer primarily. I wouldn't quite say I'm exactly where I want to be, but my photography has improved tenfold in the last 12 months, which I attribute entirely to deliberate effort.

For me, there are two major components- education and practice.

For education, I've proactively worked to educate myself with reading, watching, and asking lots of questions.

Here's a book I found invaluable to understanding light. The main focus is the behavior and characteristics of light, and would be useful for all photographers: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0415719402/

Also, following photographers on YouTube/IG/etc. who make work I admire has been greatly helpful. Often, they're available for questions and providing feedback on your own work.

Reading and interacting with the community here has been incredibly useful as well, of course.

For practice, I've worked to establish a feedback loop which enables me to receive critique and evaluation from others I respect. Joe Edelman's TOG Chat group on Facebook provides the most insightful critique I've found and has been invaluable in helping me refine my work.

I also work to be critically honest with myself. This starts with reverse engineering work I admire so I can pick apart the elements which I appreciate.

What does this look like? I focus on the pose, clothing, background, lighting, retouching, sharpness, composition and any other elements of a given image which can be defined and manipulated by the photographer. Once I can understand these variables and how their manipulation changes an image, I can take intentional control of them during the photo-taking process, rather than allowing them to happen incidentally.

I think that these two components- education and practice, are the basis for becoming an "expert" in any field, especially photography.

https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0367860279

There's the book you want. Light: Science and Magic by Fil Hunter. The chapters on lighting glass were revolutionary for my own work.

Looks great! If you’re looking to expand your techniques as well as materials for lighting, definitely check out Light — Science and Magic . Great book that goes over how to light any material and different approaches based on your goals.

It’s geared towards photographers but you can apply its teachings to C4D as well.

To learn about lighting, try:

Light: Science and Magic - Fil Hunter and Steven Biver

https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0415719402/

Using a ColorChecker for white balance or profiling/calibration is more about color cast (from light sources) and color accuracy vs. how your camera would represent the RGB values by default than about saturation. It's accurate to what color the thing is, but not so much what it looks like to your eye. So, yeah, you're going to have to fix this in post.

In Lightroom bumping clarity and saturation is likely to get you what you want. You may also want to consider reshooting with the lights placed differently so you don't get as much glare. It's all about the angles (like bankshots in pool) to redirect reflections away from the lens, and 45º might not always be optimal. (See also: <em>Light—Science &amp; Magic</em>).

This book breaks down 50 images in terms of what the design/message was about, how and why it was constructed that way (and also some technical parts of the how it was done). Not sure if that would be the kind of thing you are interested in.

Stellar shot. I don't like using my flash so I almost never do, but then I miss out on some amazing shot opportunities like this. I really should learn to use that tool. I have two 580EX II Speedlites, and even have a couple books on the topic (Speedliters Handbook and Hot Shoe Diaries) that I bought a decade ago but never really read.

I would never think to shoot 1/8000 with flash, but it certainly works here, and makes for a dramatic shot. Well done!

"I am a photographer and am attempting to make jewelry. It doesn't come out as well as the ones in the Cartier catalog. What am I doing wrong?"

It looks exactly the same to your eye as it does to the camera, the difference is you are changing the angle of the light. It's all about the lighting, not the camera. Watch some YouTube videos on lighting gems/jewelry and get this book: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0415719402/

There's an overlap with product photography in pretty much the sense that there would be an overlap with any kind of photography.

But there's nevertheless a substantial difference in that product photography, broadly speaking (not necessarily in every context) is something that leaves a ton of room for creative expression. Whereas documenting artefacts in a museum has zero to do with creation, and everything to do with strictly following the formulas that optimize the quality of the documentation.

I once talked with a photographer who was working for an hospital, where all he did was rigorously document "tissues", against white, with a ruler in the shot, to have a reference of what things look like (healthy tissue, diseased tissue, tumors, fairly yucky stuff). There was zero room for creativity there, it was purely technical.

I'm not saying nobody could enjoy doing this, that's not my point. I'm just saying that I don't really know that "product photography" as a whole would necessarily prepare you all that much better for archivistics than the same technical concepts as they apply to photography in general—laid out in this book, if you're interested.

If you are able to get a copy of the book Light Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting I would highly suggest it. It covers all sorts of lighting, and has a full chapter dedicated specifically to shooting glass.

It's all about reflections and angles. The college textbook you want on this is Light—Science and Magic. The reason your second shot looks that way is that you've angled things so that any light reflected off the cord is not going straight to the camera lens. It's kind of like playing bankshots in pool:angle of incidence = angle of reflection; you want the camera's lens not to be where the reflection is going to travel.

You need some way to still get those shiny specular highlights on the pendant, but not get them off the cord, which is going to be tough. If you're using softboxes, try lighting with the edge of the softbox, not the center to "feather" (gradient) the light. You could also try rigging up some flags/gobos of black paper/cardboard/foamboard to block the light from hitting the cord. You could also try moving the lights in closer to get it softer.

For under $50 you could pick up a used third-party flash, a reflector (if you don't already have one) and a used copy of this book. You'd definitely get good value from that, it would open up countless possibilities for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Speedliters-Handbook-Learning-Craft-Speedlites/dp/032171105X

Then if you have the money, get a used nifty fifty as well.

You have a really nice portfolio!

One small footnote, if you're going to go with speedlights (instead of, say, LED panels) don't get the Yongnuo YN-560 gear he uses; get Godox TT600 or TT685 speedlights instead.

A TT600 is the same price as a YN-560 IV, the Godox XPro transmitter only slightly more than a YN-560-TX. But in the Godox system, there's a lot more room for expansion. And while you won't get remote zoom or wakeup like you would with the YN-560 gear, you will get HSS, which the 560 system doesn't do.

Godox supports TTL/HSS for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus/Panasonic and Pentax and that support is (mostly) cross-brand.

Yongnuo only supports TTL/HSS for Canon, Nikon, and Sony, and all three of those systems are independent and incompatible.

Godox makes speedlights, battery-powered ministrobes and monolights, and AC-powered monolights and a pack and head system. And it's all in the same radio triggering system.

Yongnuo only makes speedlights and one ministrobe they copied from Godox's AD200, only they made it fixed instead of interchangeable head to make it cheaper, removing half a lot of what makes the AD200 the swiss army knife of pro lighting gear. And they now have something like five separate incompatible radio triggering systems: their 603/560 "manual" system, the 622 TTL/HSS system, a Sony-compatible system, and a Canon RT-clone system. Figuring out what works with what can be a massive headache.

Also, find Light: Science &amp; Magic. It's the college textbook on lighting, and most of it pertains to product photography.

I'd recommend giving this channel a look.

Also the book light: science &amp; magic is recommended.

You can achieve a ton with a simple window and some baking paper/sheets or a foldable diffuser. Not much equipment needed to shape light in a pleasing way.

I'm not food expert, but it's a subject I've planned on improving during the winter season :)

This is well explained in Richard Cadena's book on electricity for event technicians. It's a great investment: https://www.amazon.com/Electricity-Entertainment-Electrician-Technician-Richard/dp/0415714834

Strobist is for off camera flash and not a good place to start for event photography. Instead read Neil van Niekerk's book On Camera Flash (you can find it online for free as well)

The first thing that came to my mind is the book Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz. The book is largely a discussion with various DPs and gaffers, so it may be helpful for you. It was about 20 years old when I first read it in college 20 years ago, so you're looking at big names from the 70s and early 80s. I see that there was a new edition published in 2012, so that may be more relevant to you.

https://www.amazon.com/Film-Lighting-Hollywoods-Cinematographers-Gaffers/dp/1439169063

Some people have mentioned the Team Deakins podcast. One that stands out to me is the interview with Rachel Morrison--she talks about working with gaffers the division of responsibility varies with different relationships.

Spend your first $50 or so on "Light - Science and Magic". (There are older edititions that can be had for less.) Lighting and photographing glass is an art in itself. You'd be better off learning more about it before you start buying gear.

sure. read this. https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0240812255

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it has a detailed scientific explanation of how polarization and cross polarization works, and when and how it can be a helpful tool in studio photography.

It's all about the angles at which you place the lights and lens to grab or avoid reflection. The college textbook you want for this is <em>Light—Science &amp; Magic</em>.

You'll have to learn approaches to photographing reflective subjects—if you're wondering what you would be googling.

Of course the more thorough investigation is explored in Light Science &amp; Magic.

Book you want: Light—Science &amp; Magic. I also think it just had a new edition where they updated the gear to include things like LED panels. It's the standard college textbook on lighting. It talks about reflections, surfaces, angles, all that jazz, and explains the principles behind what works and what doesn't with a lot of demonstration photos.

Yes, strobist blogspot, and the book Light: science and magic

The latter being more about how to use light in general.

Light: Science and Magic That’s the book you want or buy, in addition to the lights.

The book covers photographic lighting. Knowledge is all you need here. With the right knowledge and a bedsheet and a window you could make plenty of nice images.

You really don’t need anything else than those things. Don’t get bogged down on gear, focus on knowledge.

A whole bunch of juicy ideas in here: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0240812255

It's going to be about how you light the object—position and quality of light.

There's this book if you really want to explore this more in depth.