The book that I bring you today, at the request and suggestion of the readers, is The Record of Light , by Michael Freeman. The Three Kings were right when they left me at home a couple of Christmases ago.
THE SOUL OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The soul of photography is the subtitle of the book. Photography is light beyond the technical part and this publication is responsible for showing it on every page.
The author has divided this work into three parts: wait , chase and help.
Waiting is the part where the different types of light that you can find are analyzed. Each one is explained in depth about the opportunities that the photographer offers. From the magic hour through the backlight to the light of the sky.
In a second part, Perseguir delves into that fortuitous and unpredictable light, that which is not expected and to which one must respond very differently and quickly in order to take advantage of the conditions and capture it at its best. Some of these lights are storm or fog light.
In both cases it was a matter of simple perseverance without much expectation that things would work. The sudden appearance of a clearing on the horizon is unusual, and the only way to get it is to be there and be lucky. What is not seen here is all the occasions when it did not happen and the cloud cover remained solid.
Helping is a last part in which different resources are shown to manipulate light. Modifying, improving or controlling it are some of the purposes of this section in which we talk from diffusers or filters to processing.
DETAILS
- Pages: 256.
- Soft cover
- First edition: 2014
- Dimensions: 25 × 25 cm approximately
- Price: € 28.40
IDEAL FOR…
... you, if you have been in this art for a while and need to delve deeper into the soul of photography, light. If you are looking to understand it, understand how it works, how you can take better advantage of the different times of the day or the different weather conditions; if you want to improve it, modify it or control it. You will also fall in love if travel photography is your thing.
Not the best choice if you've just landed and are still getting familiar with terms like white balance , exposure, or light metering modes . If this is your case, something heavy and difficult to read can be done to you. Of course, do not lose sight of it because when you have a little more knowledge and practice, you will surely love it. If this is your case, we recommend our Lightbook , designed for newcomers and explained clearly and easily;).
Nor is it for you if you expect artificial lighting tricks, because except for a few mentions of artificial light, this book is basically about natural light; or recipes to follow, it is more a book to understand light, to understand how it influences the image, how the scene changes, etc., not to teach techniques, shutter speeds or apertures ...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in England in 1945, Michael Freeman is a prestigious photographer and writer internationally recognized, with more than twenty publications, specialized in travel photography, architecture and Asian art. He has worked for Smithsonian magazine and for Time Life Books and National Geographic.
THE BEST
The example images and the diagrams that it includes make understanding the text much easier, and your photographs are a delight and pure inspiration.
The size of the photos, not only the number of examples, but they are very large and the detail can be well appreciated.
The edition in general is quite good, except what I tell you now ...
WORST
The font size. It is a book large enough to have increased the font size a bit. Reading it in bed in insufficient light was almost torture, although there are those who say that better small print and large photos than vice versa. I have to say that thank goodness that since I don't see well, it is from far away and not from close up… that if not, I could not have written this review.
I add photo to give you a more realistic idea of the size (no, the pushpin has not been cast, it is there with a clear intention; P).
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
You may be interested in these other publications of the author:
The photographer's eye ( you can see the review here ).
The photographer's mind
Black and white photography
CONCLUSIONS
I will go straight to the point, it is an essential book for the difficult and wonderful art of understanding light in photography. Not suitable for beginners or those who do not see well up close unless you have a magnifying glass and you like to use it
And so far today's review, I hope it has served you well. If so, I will greatly appreciate it if you share it on your favorite social network.
Reading makes us wiser, happy reading!
Prank sombody with the fake Windows 10 upgrade screen which never ends. Open the site in a web browser and go full screen with the F11 key.
