Essential lighting guide for users of compact cameras and dSLRs

One of the most important aspects of photography is lighting, but getting the lighting right is tricky.  When should you use flash? Are a camera’s automatic settings dependable? Should you use reflectors or diffusers and where do you place them? This handy, portable reference will show you when, where, and how to create and capture perfect light, every time. The book includes a color checker card to help you maintain true color, as well as examples of stunningly-lit photos of people, wildlife, and landscapes to inspire you.

• Walks you through the essentials of lighting for digital photography
• Helps beginning and intermediate photographers leave the safety of automatic settings and confidently control lighting themselves
• Shows how to evaluate natural light, decide when to use flash, and how and when to use diffusers or reflectors
• Includes a tear-out color checker card to help you maintain true color in your photographs
• Comes in the handy, portable Digital Field Guides size, perfect for camera bags

Create and capture the perfect lighting every time, with Lighting Digital Field Guide!

Amazon.com Exclusive: Author's Introduction and Lighting Case Studies

By Brian McLernon

Light. You can’t make a photo without it. And so begins the opening chapter in my Lighting Digital Field Guide for Wiley Publishing. When I began this project, I wanted to share my love of photography and shed some light on the many techniques photographers employ to understand and manipulate lighting to create stunning images that resonate in clarity of intent, color, and design.

The first few chapters detail just what light is and lead the reader through the many nuances of light and color and how to control those qualities with the digital camera. Comprehending the many flavors of lighting effects available in any number of shooting situations is critical to producing images you can be proud of. I next describe and illustrate various types of flash lighting equipment that is currently available on the market from high-powered studio flash systems, to monolights and monoblocs and finally to speedlights, those small external dedicated flash units that pack a lot of flash power into a very affordable, compact package.

The book then moves on to describe and illustrate the many light modifying tools available to today’s photographers, from umbrellas, softboxes, beauty dishes, ring lights, reflectors, gels, cookie cutters and flags. Additional information is included describing lighting accessories and gear you’ll need to set up a complete home studio for portraits, products or online auction photography, along with tips on how to use and transport this equipment for both indoor and outdoor location shooting.

The remaining chapters are specifically dedicated to understanding and controlling the lighting in several genres of photography, such as weddings, sports action, portraits, concerts and events, landscape and nature, wildlife and pet photography and for nighttime and low light shooting. To give you an idea of how your understanding and approach to lighting changes with each location, subject and circumstance, I’ve included three examples described below that do not appear in the book and are exclusive to this article on Amazon.com. They explain how considering and managing the lighting that was either found or created in each scene is crucial to each photograph's success or failure.

Like the rest of the books in the Digital Field Guide series, the Lighting Digital Field Guide is meant to go with you in your gear bag for handy reference in the field or in the studio. You will find many different solutions to managing and controlling the lighting in a vast array of photographic situations, enabling you to create beautiful images that tell a story or show your subject in the very best light possible.

Embrace the light and have fun shooting.

Case Study: Starlight Parade Truck Case Study: Wheat Stalks Case Study: Studio Child Portrait

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