Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers

Rating:
Summary: Learning from a master
Review: Christopher Grey is a master of photographic lighting, and this expertise shines through in his latest book, appropriately titled, Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers. Grey eases his readers into the topic with a discussion on the properties and quality of light and a review of modern lighting equipment, both store-bought and homemade. Then, after an informative chapter on lighting ratios (a frequently misused and misunderstood term) he embarks on an instructive and comprehensive journey that covers everything from classic lighting styles to the advanced lighting methods used by today's top studio photographers. Beautiful color photos and helpful diagrams complement each scenario.

Grey's writing is conversational and witty, which is a blessing when one is digesting material that, in duller texts, can quickly veer off into technical mumbo jumbo. In addition to his lighting information, he sprinkles every chapter with plenty of useful advice - things he's learned during his 30-year career - for saving money, choosing backdrops, building trust with subjects, capturing better expressions and much, much more. I'd recommend the book to anyone interested in portrait photography. The photographs alone are well worth the purchase price, but the lessons enabling readers to create similarly stunning photos make the book an extremely good value.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book to own even if you have similar books
Review: I would highly recommend this book. There is a lot of variety in lighting techniques and they are explained very well. The photos are very good and there is a lighting diagram below each one. I've read a number of books and been to various seminars but I learned many new things that I had not seen elsewhere. The only problem I had with this book was that there are several errors (where the text doesn't exactly match the lighting diagram) but the errors are not that significant. I'll look forward to reading other books written by this author in the future.