Best Books on Lighting

[harleygirl239]

What are the best books to read about lighting? I don't want anything big or fancy just something small and easy to handle.
Thanks in advance

[Jon]

Well, don't get hung up on the size - lighting books will tend to have diagrams and example photos; if those are too small, they're unviewable and useless. Amphoto publishes a number of good books on lighting (and almost any other photography topic).

[canonpink]

What are the best books to read about lighting? I don't want anything big or fancy just something small and easy to handle.
Thanks in advance

Maybe save some money and read www.strobist.com (http://www.strobist.com). There is so much info there, I went from where you are to not even needing a book. Learning to backward engineer lighting from samples is the quickest way to learn.

[TMR Design]

Scott Smith (LightingMagic.com) wrote a very good book on basic lighting. He speaks and writes clearly, eliminating a log of the technical gobbledygook and formulas.

He gives you a good foundation to build on and walks you through the process of setup, metering, and recording light in a way that most do not.

I recommend his book highly.

Studio Lighting Made Simple By Scott Smith (http://lightingmagic.com/litbook.htm)

[Rudeofus]

Maybe save some money and read www.strobist.com (http://www.strobist.com). There is so much info there, I went from where you are to not even needing a book. Learning to backward engineer lighting from samples is the quickest way to learn.
I agree, strobist is wonderful. I just would like to point out that I actually did buy this "Light Science&Magic" book he recommends so much and got the impression that reading this book would have literally saved me months of reading online stuff, it's so condensed and complete and goes far beyond anything I've read online.

The web is a highly valuable resource for getting jump started, but at some point one should look out for good books.

[harleygirl239]

WOW thanks for all the information looks like I have some reading to do.

[sparcd]

I've got "Light Science & Magic" on back order as I've heard such good stuff about it.

[bubbawillums]

the new michael grecco book is very good :)

[rhys]

I quite like 50 Portrait Lighting techniques - for pictures that sell by John Hart, published by Amphoto Books, 1995 ISBN 0-8174-3860-9, ISBN-978-0-8174-3860-9. I got mine in Books A Million for $24-95 a couple of weeks ago. Basically it's constant lighting only but it does show you what can be done. If I could find one like it for pocket flashes then I'd dive in. I'm not into massive all-encompassing books as they skate over the details while trying to cover too much of what everybody else has covered in nauseating detail.