World Famous Comics: Jeff Smith's Lighting for Outdoor & Location Portrait Photography
Jeff Smith's Lighting for Outdoor & Location Portrait Photography
By: Jeff Smith Publisher: Amherst Media, Inc. Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Amherst Media, Inc. Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: June 01, 2007
Shattering the notion that location lighting has to be difficult, inconvenient, or compromised in its quality, this resource provides guidance on how to create unique and personalized images shot in parks, on city streets, at sports arenas, in workplaces, or in a client’s home. With an overview of equipment and a discussion on the essential tools for a shoot, this guide walks photographers through the creation of dozens of location images—from casual headshots to full-length, formally posed portraits. With strategies for meeting lighting challenges found outside of the studio—from evaluating existing light to modifying or supplementing light as needed—this book will help photographers shoot confidently by developing a plan for creating professional-quality location portraits.
good book for beginners, but nothing spectacular good book for beginnners, but there is not much info, huge color photos, and 128 pages, the space would be much better if was used for more information not photos, because photos I can see on internet for free. Also the photos contained in the book are too soft with almost no detail.
photographer review I enjoyed this book - I LOVE outdoor photography and it gives great advice about different aspects of the game...
I would definitely recommend this book...
Not a whole heck of a ltot to offer I was far from impressed with this book.
My biggest problem is with the sample images. There are, on average, several images per page, and every single one of them has a cheesy Photoshop soft focus effect or a diffused glow effect applied to them. The author states over and over again the importance of shadow transition zones, and then goes into photoshop to blur the transition between shadow and highlight and artificially enhance the lighting.
The second problem with this book is that the author insists that artificial lighting on location must be done with portable studio strobes. This is simply not true, and most beginners would benefit from some advice on using speedlights on location, whether singularly or in groups. On-camera flash is what most armatures have, and what most professionals use on location, and there are techniques that allow photographers to get professional results without investing thousands of dollars in studio strobes and portable battery packs. The author avoids the topic completely by saying "If you would not use an on camera flash in the studio, why use it on location?" The answer is that on location you have natural light as your main light and flash as your fill or accent. In the studio you have to create all of the light there. There is a difference.
In short, this book does not provide armatures with the information to get into outdoor portrait lighting right away, but is not nearly inventive enough to give professionals any really new ideas or techniques.
SEEING THE LIGHT
Being that flying is what it is, I find myself doing more reading and less traveling for educational meetings. The first thing I liked about this book is that it is all Jeff Smith and not a compilation of many authors saying " Well, I do it this way". Within a very few pages, I realized that this is a true gem of a book. I found Jeff Smith challenging concepts that many of us as photographers have been accepting for years. What is more important is that he is correct. In one example, he inquires if we would use on camera flash in the studio. Of course not we think and then he asks.....then why would you do that outdoors? The theme of the book is how to get PROFESSIONAL pictures in location photography be it indoors or out and I think he accomplishes that admirably. He not only explains why he does certain things but why we do it as image makers either consciously or unconsciously. There are many facts without a lot of verbiage and although in my compulsive manner, I like to highlight as I read, I found I was highlighting practically everything. Yes, a few of the comments could have been explained better but after more reading you figure out where he is taking you. An excellent, well thought out book that will unquestionably give you pearls to walk away with and whets my appetite for more of his books and thoughts.
A great book, but not for beginers. A good book on the subject, but not very detailed on specific camera settings and other tips; therefore it's not for everybody.