Photography News | Issue 40 | absolutephoto.com
27
Reviews
LightingPeople Rossella Vanon, Ilex, 224 pages £24.99
TheAnti-HDRPhotographyBook Robert Fisher, Focal Press, 244 pages £24.99
If ever a technique needed some policing, it’s high dynamic range (HDR) photography; a method of imaging that’s been responsible for some truly retina- scraping pictures in recent times. Not that the technique itself is responsible; used with restraint, it’s as valid as any other and is simply a method of controlling contrast, rather than making the world look like a big bucket of oh-my-god has been thrown all over it. Robert Fisher’s book is a great antidote to the bad side of HDR, extolling the virtues of the technique when used in a photo-realistic fashion, and giving lots of ‘what not to do’ examples. Like most HDR books it has lots of info about the kit you need and the basics of shooting bracketed exposures, but then it’s on to the nitty-gritty of exposure blending. This is tackled using both Photomatix and SNS-HDR Pro software, and also Photoshop, with manual blending via simple masks and a good explanation of how to use luminance masks. It’s a little wordy in places, but Fisher writes in an engaging, pallyway, and all the information is given in a techno-babble-free fashion, so there’s plenty here for beginners, as well as some excellent insights for those already au fait with the subject.
If you’re an aspiring portrait photographer or you’re lucky enough to have been given a studio flash kit for Christmas, Rossella Vanon’s Lighting People iswell worth a look. The book combines a good measure of inspiration studio shots along with very solid technical advice. There’s also a useful resource in the back, showing the effects of different lighting modifiers, with hundreds of identically posed pictures, illustrating how minor changes in light shaper and angle can affect the modelling on your sitter. Rossella, a fashion photographer, teaches photography workshops, and that comes through clearly in her tutorial style. The book starts with lots of vital info about lighting types, flash gear and camera settings; then once you’re comfortable with the basics, it begins to layer on the creative advice, showing cornerstone lighting techniques, like high and low key, butterfly and clamshell. To finish off, things get really creative with an emphasis on more complex techniques, including working motion into studio shots, using gels for colour effects, intentional flare and projection effects. There’s also some very solid advice on communicating with models and clients, plus how to read their faces to get the most appropriate lighting set-ups.
octopusbooks.co.uk
routledge.com
MasteringStreet Photography Brian Lloyd Duckett, Ammonite Press, 178 pages £19.99
Street photography is one of the hardest styles to succeed at, requiring a fine mix of observancy, patience, technical skill and confidence. So if candid and documentary photography is your thing here’s a book that’s right up your… no, we’re better than that. Part of Ammonite’s excellent ‘Mastering…’ series, Mastering Street Photography is written by Brian Lloyd Duckett who has distilled a lifetime of urban photography experience into its 178 pages. For many years, Brian was a press photographer, so he knows plenty about shooting in urban environments, as well as getting shots with impact. After a concise chapter on picking the right kind of cameras and lenses for street shooting
(there’s an emphasis on using smaller, more anonymous cameras), there are sections on adapting your exposure and focusing skills to street shooting, how to behave on location, how to develop your observational skills and also how to get inspired by developing your own projects. Legal and ethical issues, including copyright and cultural perspectives, are also covered in detail. What really stood out for me though was that each section has a couple of assignments to try out, something that added a real sense of engagement with the subject matter, rather than it feeling like too passive an exercise.
ammonitepress.com
Powered by FlippingBook