Can you recommend a good book on lighting?

Can anyone out there recommend a good book on lighting techniques, maybe even a little beginning studio lighting techniques?

What is the advantage of using "flash" lighting over "always on" lighting like tungsten? It seems to me with always on lighting you could set up better (especially with macro).

Check out ;
Master Lighting Guide (for portrait photographers) by Christopher Grey
The Best of Photographic Lighting by Bill Hurter
Both are published by Amherst Media, and readily available everywhere.
(Online - Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million)

I second the recommendation for the Christopher Grey book. It's an excellent resource.

There are a number of books available, although I've usually found that it takes several books to cover what I'm interested in at the time rather than the whole book covering everything. So I end up buying many books. Which is ok, because later on when I find aother lighting interest or a different situation comes up I need to read about, that is usually covered in one of my books.

There is one author that I've found that comes pretty close to covering it all in one book though. The author is J.J. Allen and I can't recommend his two books enough. The first one is probably a tad better than the second one, but they are both excellent. J.J. writes in a style that is very informative but doesn't lose you in techno-speak, nor talk to simple for those with some knowelege already. He gives good discriptions and examples that are on the same page so you don't have to keep flipping back and forth to view a diagram or example while reading about it. He's one of those rare authors that knows what he's talking about and how to say it. His web site is at: http://jjaflair.home.a​tt.net/

His books are: "Posing and Lighting Techniques for Studio Portrait Photography" and "Lighting and Exposure Techniques for Outdoor and Location Portrait Photography". On the second one, there is another book out there of the same name, so if you get it, make sure it's by J.J. Allen.

Some other books that I have bought, liked and used are:

"Create Lighting Techniques for Studio Photographers" by Dave Montizambert.

"Master Lighting Guide" by Christopher Grey.

"Lighting for People Photography" by Stephen Crain.

"The Portrait - Professional Techniques and Practices in Portrait Photography" a Kodak book.

And though a bit more technical, still one that is worth having on the shelf, "Light Science & Magic" by Fil Hunter and Paul Fuqua.

"Still Life and Special Effects Photography - A guide to professional Lighting Techniques" by Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz.

"Digital Photography Expert - Light and Lighting" by Michael Freeman.

"Basic Studio Lighting" by Tony L. Corbell.

Another great source is http://www.lightingmag​ic.com/directry.htm the web site for Scott Smith. He has some excellent sources on his web site, a Q&A section and some pretty good books as well.

I just bought a few new ones the other day that look pretty good. They are:

The Best of Photographic Lighting - Techniques and images for digital photographers by Bill Hurter.

Portrait Photography - Secrets of Posing & Lighting by Mark Cleghorn

Portrait Photographer's Handbook second edition by Bill Hurter

Digital Portrait Photography and Lighting by Catherin Jamieson and Sean McCormick.

This should be enough to get you started and is only a drop in the bucket of what's available out there. And you are right about asking others for recommendations. Not all books on lighting or photography are created equal. I've bought a few that had I been able to look at them before I bought them (I buy a lot on Amazon.com)I wouldn't have bought them.

I hope this helps.

Mike

good info

Light-Science and Magic is absolutely the best general princicples of lighting book I have read.

The Portrait - Professional Techniques and Practices in Portrait Photography, a Kodak book mentioned earlier, is one of the better books on portraiture prinicples. Other books I had found are too much mimic-this-setup, and leave you short on understanding the principles.

Wow! Thanks for all the info! I'm going to buy a couple of your recommendations right away. And thank you for putting so much thought and time and expertise experience into your answers! This forum is fantastic because of people like all of you.

Light-Science and Magic is $35 @ a adorama.
http://www.adorama.com​/BKLSAM.html

Go with Grey.

Is the Scott Kelby book on lighting any good? I have the Digital Photography book and it is a good book but because of his simplification of things I find that once you get past the initial concept and want to know the "why", not just the "how", it falls a little short.