Lighting Essentials

Book excerpt: The core goal of photography is representing subjects that have depth and texture in a medium that inherently lacks both those qualities, and this book shows the best way to rise to that challenge: through the careful application and capture of lighting. It demonstrates how to accentuate or minimize textures, add or subtract highlights, and create or combat shadows to showcase the subjects in the best way and create the illusion of a third dimension in the images. Exploring techniques for lighting portraits, still-life subjects, nature images, and architectural shots, both studio and location lighting are covered in detail. The book teaches photographers how to study their subjectsÑwith all of the textures, colors, shapes, and surfaces they haveÑthen visualize the image as a finished photograph before the photography actually begins. With chapters that thoroughly cover the science of lighting and visualization, photographers can apply that knowledge and successfully create artful images.