Night And Low-Light Photography: A Complete Guide

Rating:
Summary: A shot in the dark
Review: I don't want to spend more time to write about this book. It's not there's nothing to write to, but I don't want to disappoint the authors of this book. The photo are not only boring, but the stories behind are worse. Not good at all. Do they have "zero" star?

Rating:
Summary: Tired, boring photo and stories
Review: I don't want to spend more time to write about this book. It's not there's nothing to write to, but I don't want to disappoint the authors of this book. The photo are not only boring, but the stories behind are worse. Not good at all. Do they have "zero" star?

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: I was looking for a low light photography book. Saw the review of this book in Amazon and bought it. The way authors start with some of the fundamentals of low light photography is amazing. The authors give a lot of ideas for different composing techniques for low light photography. But the book seems to be stretching on a bit with details about composing techniques and others as opposed to techniques in capturing the exposures. Given the fact that this is my first low light photography study material I consider this as a good eye opener in that subject.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: Reading this book expanded the range of my photography significantly. The author includes many excellently exposed night shots, text describing how they were done, and an exposure chart. As is typical for books of this type, the one page that is the exposure chart is the highlight of the book.

The moonlit shots of a bay on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland that I shot on my honeymoon are very fun to own. In my wedding photography, I think this book has had a good influence on learning the technique of balancing the exposure of a night scene with a foreground subject lit by flash.

Of course long exposures can not be attempted without a decent tripod. If you are planning some travel photography, I advise you to refrain from leaving your best gear at home in favor of recently purchased compact gear which may be inferior. Take your full camera bag, and stow a tripod/lighting bag, too.

While I think this is a motivating, interesting book, my only suggestion is for the author to record exposures and publish them alongside the photographs. My recollection is that the treatment of exposure is chart and running text based, and not associated with specific photos. This treatment, while unusual, was, none the less, effective.

Peter

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: Reading this book expanded the range of my photography significantly. The author includes many excellently exposed night shots, text describing how they were done, and an exposure chart. As is typical for books of this type, the one page that is the exposure chart is the highlight of the book.

The moonlit shots of a bay on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland that I shot on my honeymoon are very fun to own. In my wedding photography, I think this book has had a good influence on learning the technique of balancing the exposure of a night scene with a foreground subject lit by flash.

Of course long exposures can not be attempted without a decent tripod. If you are planning some travel photography, I advise you to refrain from leaving your best gear at home in favor of recently purchased compact gear which may be inferior. Take your full camera bag, and stow a tripod/lighting bag, too.

While I think this is a motivating, interesting book, my only suggestion is for the author to record exposures and publish them alongside the photographs. My recollection is that the treatment of exposure is chart and running text based, and not associated with specific photos. This treatment, while unusual, was, none the less, effective.

Peter

Rating:
Summary: For Beginners Only!
Review: Really, I can't say this book was good or bad, just that it was made for people who have almost no photography experience. Although things like composition are very important, when it comes to night photography, exposure becomes paramount. But this book gives only the most general of advice in that area! It would have been nice if the author would have at least put exposure information next to each picture (exposure, lens, film speed, and other info would have been even better). The book would be better served concentrating less on talking about ideas for nice compositions...let us, the buyers of the book, find our own compositions...let the book tell us how to get the right exposure for the myraid of different night time conditions. The bottom line: This book is a nice "chat" about night photography: don't expect to find any seriously useful tips about the art.

Rating:
Summary: Complete but outdated
Review: They weren't kidding when they called this "a complete guide." Practical techniques for every conceivable low-light situation. You need a manual camera to use these methods-they won't work with a fully automatic point-and-shoot, but I think anyone interested enough to buy this book would already have a manual camera.

Loses one star because some of the information about specific films and equipment is a little out-of-date.

Rating:
Summary: Night and Low Light Photography by Bob Gibson & Peter Wilson
Review: This is a most excellent book on the subject. The fact that no one else has written a review of it is amazing. They must all be out there at night with a flashlight, reading it.......

First written in 1987, it has been reprinted in '93, 94, 95, and 97. The information contained in this well written book is very much in time with today's tools and technology.

These gentlemen seem to have covered every possible low light, long exposure, and flash inhanced shooting situation that you can imagine. And a lot more!

I could try to list all of the low light situations that they cover in this book, but to do so runs the risk of my forgetting to include the item that you are looking for. Believe me, the authors did not forget that which you are seeking. Gibbons & Wilson have covered everyone's interests.

My main interest in low light level photography came from shooting landscapes at night, only using the moon as a light souce. The results are awesome. Sometimes ephemeral, always soft and perhaps other-worldly, the results lend a pleasing effect to what might otherwise have been just another ho-hum scene.

Besides covering my interest, this book goes on to give me the info that I need for using my camera after dark in more ways than I could ever dream of. It's like they are giving away professional secrets or somethin'.

Of course it is very well illustrated. After all it is about photography. Where neccessary, the lads have included charts and diagrams to help make the subject easier to grasp.

Buy it.

Use it.

Don't forget your tripod!

Rating:
Summary: A shot in the dark
Review: With high expectations, I purchased this book after reading a great sell-in on the back cover promising a wide range of info from film, filter and processing, to special effects and techniques. With promises of two, "top-notch" photographer's insights into this mytical realm, I took the bait-hook, line and sinker. Pouring over the first few chapters I thought that there was sure o be some major revelation waiting for me, just around the next corner. Unfortunately, it never came.

Targeted to those with extremely little or no photography experience, this book is a treatise in the art of saying nearly nothing with many words. Furthermore, after reading through this book, I can honestly say that I found very little to do with its subject matter. A smattering of dated information, the logistics about where (not how!) to take low-light photos and, quite honestly, an awful lot of rather mediocre examples describes this book that you should remove from your list of "things to read" lest you end up with it in your wood pile.