Night Photography

Rating:
Summary: Very Pleasantly Surprised
Review: My first intention was not to get this book. I enrolled in an independent study class in night photography and was looking for a good book to help me better understand this area of photography. I was all set to buy Lee Frost's "Complete Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography" when I noticed that I could buy that book along with Andrew Sanderson's "Night Photography" for a slight discount on the two. Let me just say that Frost's book has gotten little more than a glance through while I haven't been able to put down this book. If you're like me and are just beginning to learn about night photography, you honestly can't go wrong with this book. It is written extremely well and has all the info you need. One BIG plus is his inclusion of charts to help understand exposure times. I really couldn't say enough about this book. Frost's book may be a good complement to this book, but seriously, if you're looking to get into night photography, start with this book. You will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Good but incomplete
Review: The book is very short. I has a good amount of photos, almost all of them are black and white. The book describes some good ideas and techniques for "long exposure" photography. There is also a section on how to take photos of the moon. For those who do their own printing, there is a section about printing as well.

The paper quality is excellent.

I wish the book covers other types of night photography, such as lighting, firework, and so on.

Rating:
Summary: Not useful.
Review: There really isn't any information in this book on technique in night photography that is not self-evident. There are a few useful charts on reciprocity failure and adjusting exposure times for smaller apertures based on your light meter readings, but you can easily make these charts yourself. In fact, I wouldn't trust the reciprocity charts because newer films require much less compensation for reciprocity failure than those charts would indicate. Most of the information in the book concerns black and white photography, but there is some info on color negative and slide photography.

The photographs in the book are not very good, either, which isn't encouraging. The picture on the cover is by far the best.

A full third of this book is devoted to processing and printing night photographs, including a fair amount of information on toning. If you don't develop or print your own film, a third of the book is lost on you. And I can't really say if it would be useful to those who do process and print their own work because it has been so long since I have used a darkroom myself.

Rating:
Summary: Never tried night photos?? You should now.
Review: This is the most helpful book on night photography I have found. I took a class in which all my assignments were to be done at night and so I searched for info. I have Frost's Low Light and Night book, it left me wanting. Low light is not the same as night photography. Sanderson is easy to follow and his night shots are amazing. The exposure chart is what you really need. I have it laminated and in both of my camera bags. This is TRUE photography at night.

Rating:
Summary: Les Nocturnes
Review: This is the most incredible book! How long have the Photographic night owls among us been waiting for the Bible on Night Photogrqaphy? Well I have been waiting for years to be frank, and Andrew Sanderson has come through with flying colours. This is not only a useful work on this murky and oft neglected aspect to culty photography but it is also an inspired, beautiful and elegant work on the subject, which is matched only by the enthusiasm and eloquence of it's author. Few photographic tech manuals can achieve the above accolades and combine them with such skill.

Sanderson takes you on a journey to the end of the night. His example prints and works, which are printed by himself are exquisite and predominantly B&W's that show him as a brilliant craftsman both pre and post exposure. Packed with images and technical detail to accompany the plates, Sanderson reveals the nitty gritty of his methodology and generously shares data which must have taken a great deal of time, effort and good record keeping to accumulate!

Sandersons manner of expressing this information is effortless and
conversational as is demonstrated by some of his chapter headings...

The Basics, The Technical Stuff, The Fancy Stuff etc...

The work is finished off with a great section on processing and printing (A real craft with this guy) and things like "Traffic problems/Unwanted attentions, formulae and calculations and the key steps to good night photography". We are very lucky to have a book like this and I look forward to anything else Mr Sanderson has to offer the world of Photographic literature in the future. This book will take pride of place in your Photo library.