Book Description
Use every amazing option your Nikon CLS offers
Light is the essence of photography. The Nikon Creative Lighting System lets you create the same lighting patterns with a portable, detached, wireless system that professionals achieve using cumbersome and expensive studio equipment. This practical guide is like having an expert at your elbow. It's packed with information about the CLS as well as tips, tricks, and recommendations for lighting a dozen different shooting situations. Take it on every shoot and get the most from your CLS.
* Know all about the features and functions of the SB-800 and SB-600
* Get insider tips for creating flawless portrait lighting and staging the best poses
* Set up masters and remotes, flash modes, channels, and groups
* Choose equipment for a wireless studio
* Use the ideal exposure and Speedlight system settings for shooting events, nature, sports, groups, portraits, or products
Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks
Customer Reviews:
Good resources book.......2007-08-07
Good for beginner and amature photographer. Clean and easy to understand guide book for Nikon's creative lighting system. (Flashes) This is a book for those who wants to know how to use their Nikon flash fast, without going through your boring manual. (I think it is better to read the manual first) Many good tips. Worth the money!
Best Nikon CLS book on the market.......2007-07-05
After just finishing this book I wanted to let other photographers know how great it is. The book begins with explaining the actual flash and what all of those dials and switches do. That section also covers the settings for each mode. Then once you have an understanding of how the hardware works you move into the basics of photography which consists of studio lighting and strobes. This section was particularly valuable to me because the Nikon system meshes with this kind of setup so well.
Only halfway through the book at this point and already learning a ton of very good information. The next chapter is wireless lighting which might be a little beyond the normal photographer, but something you should look in to. A basic basement or guest room can be made in to a great photo studio. You will of course quickly learn this flash isn't only for indoor because it can also be used for some pretty interesting outdoor shots. One of which is extreme sports and events.
Overall I was very pleased with this book and highly recommend you go pick up a copy of your own.
Full of Information.......2007-05-18
I felt the book gave plenty of information on CLS. Sure you have to know a bit to grasp what you are being told here, but one can assume that anyone owning a couple of SB800 already has some knowledge of lighting.
For me it filled in serious gaps in the information Nikon gave in it's manual and we are now able to coordinate four 800 units. The Lumedynes are now in the box for backup and nothing more.
As I often say the great thing in my 40 year in the art and business of photography is that as I have gotten older, the equipment has gotten lighter and faster not to mention controlable.
Nikon D200 Creative Lighting Field Guide.......2007-05-06
This a good but not top notch introduction to Nikon flash photograhy and Nikon products.
I found it a bit thin, and probably not very useful once one had become familiar with the Nikon products.
I am not convinced that once i have gone through it I would keep returning in the future.
Padded and superficial.......2007-03-29
I wish I had noticed the earlier reviews of this book before wasting my money and time reading it. The author lays out the CLS flashgun basics more clearly than do the Nikon manuals, but then passes on into generalities, dwells at length on portraiture in a very superficial way (with pretty poor examples to boot), and further pads with unneccessary side issues. There are also factual errors.
Book Description
Photography is all about light. Canon Speedlites give you the next best thing to cumbersome studio lighting - wireless flash units that you can actually pack in your camera bag and take along. Tuck this full-color book in there, too. It will help you maximize the effectiveness of your Speedlites and help you create professional lighting effects in more than a dozen unique settings. With this Digital Field Guide you'll:
- Learn all your Speedlite's settings and how to use E-TTL metering.
- Experiment with bounce flash, fill flash, and using multiple flash units.
- Set up a portable wireless studio with backgrounds, umbrellas, and soft boxes.
- Use Speedlites to light professional-quality shots ranging from studio portraits to concerts to product photography.
- Explore exposure, lens choices, and lighting for outdoor portraits, still lifes, and much more.
Order your copy today!
Customer Reviews:
Not enough depth or detail..........2007-09-16
I picked this book up at a local bookstore. Unfortunately I gave the book a quick look before purchase only to find it less than I have hoped once I got it home.
The book doesn't go in depth on any specific topic which is what one expects of a book dedicated to a specific niche on a specific product. The whole book reads like a couple of chapters from a more general purpose photography book rather than a book dedicated to the Canon 580ex and 430ex Speedlite System. Please note that other models are not mentioned and while they don't have all the bells and whistles of the new versions, they can be used with some minor tweaks. Too bad he doesn't even mention that.
Well, I do know why he didn't mention that...
The author never gets beyond using the flash system outside of E-TTL II mode where the camera uses the flash in automatic mode. While I think E-TTL II is good, it always isn't the answer. I cannot imagine he never mentions manual mode other than early on when mentioning the various modes available with the camera.
The good is he does describe the Speedlites a little better than the user manual (or at least in a more interesting style) in the first chapter. Some additional good is the wireless section and ratios but it does lack real detail but it is enough to get you started with the concept.
The bad is all the custom functions of the Speedlites are ignored. The examples of flash photography are generally not great examples and the explanations are totally lacking. There are no diagrams of how the flashes are arranged or what accessories are being used. Even if not possible for every shot, some should have been shown with the additional detail.
I also don't know why the book gets into posing techniques unless it is to broaden its appeal. That truly is not the function of a Speedlite. I would rather see some more depth in the use of fill flash which is a complicated thing to do well.
Overall the book is good for someone wanting a quick read to learn the very basics and get some start on more complex flash set ups using the Canon Speedlites at a modest cost. If you are familiar with the functionality of your Speedlites already, then skip the book.
Excellent presentation.......2007-09-04
This book is for anyone interested in learning to use Canon's external flash units, either camera mounted or remote.
No point is left untouched and one can learn good technique towards achieving great pictures both indoors and outdoors. I learned a great deal about using a flash for ourdoor photography.
I would highly recommend this to anyone.
Good for people who don't read manuals.......2007-08-08
I'm sure the manual covers a lot of info provided in this book, but I don't read them because the information is often too dry and boring for me. I thought that this guide was better at explaining the features for someone like me, who is new to flash in general and is trying to understand what certain buttons do. It isn't a good reflection of theory, and I'd recommend considering web searches for certain flash techniques and also the book Light: Science and Magic - 3rd Ed.
Book needs a re-write.......2007-07-19
The book held a lot of potential and promise but barely came through to fullfill. I agree with the author's premise and have been using Speedlites in the field myself for wedding and portrait photography to stay "low impact"; dragging around lots of lights and equipment is just not practical. I fly out to Orange County for a wedding next week and won't be bringing strobes or tripods or any heavy equipment.
The errors drove me nuts. Refering to figures that just plain were not there, indication of examples that did not exist, not picturing equipment such as light modifiers, etc. is just plain inexcusable. Also there were times of great contradiction, such as on page 56 where he says to set your camera to flash setting for White Balance at the top of the page, then at the bottom says leaving your camera set to auto-white balance is more accurate. Which is it? Why not just start the options and tell the user to experiment instead?
I give this two stars since there is some value here; some nice examples and some inspiration. If this can be re-done into a more advanced edition, and be generic to speedlites (not just the 580 and 430) then it could have a wider range audience and won't appear to be out-dated information in a years time. I own the 550 and 420 and I purchased it anyway; so why not include the others and make enough elbow room for when new Speedlites are introduced (like Canon just did with the new 580 EXII).
If you want to gain some technique and inspiration with low impact speedlite lighting in the field, do consider this book. Just don't buy it new. Pick up a used copy for $5-$10 if at all possible, or borrow a friends.
Happy speedliting!!
-Jeff, Johansen Photography
Disappointed .......2007-07-14
I was looking for a book that would help me understand Canon's Speedlite system and E-TTL II. This book is not it. As others have said, it begins as a manual describing the Speedlites with the what and where each button and part. There is a short chapter on setup that basically describes the flash modes. Then there are two chapters on multi-flash, wireless setups. I guess they are good if that's what you are trying to do. The idea for chapters on Applications and Posing is good but the execution is lacking.
What's missing: I tried to find the answer to the question In what modes does the Speedlite operate as a fill flash and in what modes does it operate as the primary light source? This book does not tell you. In a short paragraph on fill flash it mentions that in Tv and Av modes the flash operates as a fill flash. How does it operate in other modes? I couldn't find the answer. Also, missing is a discussion of the custom function settings and why one would set them one way rather than another. Maybe the author consider most of the them obvious. But a short discussion should have been provided. The book discusses the different types of batteries. It doesn't discuss milli-amp Hour ratings and how one might choose rechargeable batteries based the the mAH or why its important.
I am disappointed in this book. It has not enough technical information on the Speedlight and too many pages on basic photography.
Product Description
Whether you are a beginning photographer or a working pro, you will benefit from this solid instructional guide. It begins with in-camera flash basics, then moves to intermediate topics such as automatic and manual exposure flash readings, detachable units, flash guide numbers, bounce flash and fill flash. It then covers advanced methods for using off-camera flash, flash brackets, power packs, remote triggering and many other valuable techniques.
Customer Reviews:
Average flash information.......2006-11-07
While the author provided a few flash pointers, most of the information in the book is common sense. No information on digital photography either. Definitely only for very novice beginners.
This one's no good. Where's the flash book we all need?.......2005-08-20
I have to add my vote to the reviewers who consider the book pretty awful. The pictures are indeed uniformly terrible, and the content is a disorganized hodge-podge, barely succeeding in sticking to the subject of flash photography. It also seems true that there aren't many books on the subject. Attention photography writers! Here's a big opportunity for an imaginative and authoritative writer on this subject. Where are you? This is such an important and confusing topic, and of course amateur photography is burgeoning now. Surely you can outdo Ms. McCartney and rake in the dough.
Very disappointing, probably not the book you're looking for.......2003-11-26
As a photographer working with available light only, I bought this book hoping to learn to ins and out of flash photography.
A few pages into it realized that this book wasn't the one. The first chapter covers the fundamentals of flash operation -
how does flash work and the basic concepts to remember, and that was VERY helpful. But it was written sluggishly, which
made the reading tiresome, confusing, and un-exciting.
It's down-hill after that. I found later chapters to be off the subject, or irrelevant, or too general. For example, I didn't need to read about the difference between portrait photography and photojournalism photography, or the different style of people photography - I just wanted to know how to apply flash in both - and this information was missing, or too shallow. I had to fish for the relevant information among lots information that repeated itself but wasn't interesting, like the different types of camera that use flashes. The information I was looking for, like specific techniques and ideas, was scattered throughout the book in an unorganized matter, if at all.
The sample pictures were mediocre, at best, stuff that I wouldn't even consider showing my friends... Seriously, I was surprised to find pictures like this in a photography book. I didn't learn how to take good flash pictures in different situations, I didn't learn how to apply different techniques of flash photography to take special or interesting pictures, and I didn't learn anything that my flash or camera manual wouldn't teach me.
I wish I could return it to the book store, but I threw away the receipt. Very, very disappointing, not the book for anybody who has been using a camera for more than a few weeks. If this is the first time you've seen a camera, maybe. For everyone else - waste of time and money.
As good as it gets.......2003-04-30
This book "Mastering Flash Photography" by a professional photojournalist and travel photographer
(but not a wedding photographer) will teach you just about anything you want to know about how to use flash in a sophisticated way indoors and out.
It starts at the begining and ends by showing how to set up portable flashes to give results that look as though studio strobes were used. The professional tips can easily be transferred to simpler lighting techniques for your own camera. It doesn't get any better than this when you can learn in good, clear English what you need to know. It takes the mystery out of flash and makes it as accessible as day light. A real discovery for anyone needing help on flash lighting.
Straight to the Point.......2003-03-07
This book stands out from most photography how-to books because it doesn't talk down to the reader. It doesn't waste the first few chapters rehashing exposure, aperture, shutter speed basics. Instead it goes straight to the subject at hand - flash photography. The ratio of text to number of pictures is high, which is what I like. I find most photography books are written as if the reader has a short attention span and can't handle advanced details. I don't agree with readers who want more pictures or details on using flash in specific situations. It's better to understand the basic principles than to be spoonfed. The reader can figure out for himself what to do through experimentation, observation and experience. This book has so much in it that it will take me a long time to absorb it and implement what I've learned. My thanks to the author for getting me through my first wedding shoot successfully.
Average customer rating:
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Electronic Flash (Kodak Workshop Series)
Jack Neubart
Manufacturer: Silver Pixel Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
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Lighting
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
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General
| How-to
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| Arts & Photography
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Kodak Workshop Series
| How-to
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
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Equipment
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
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Similar Items:
-
Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers
ASIN: 0879857722 |
Customer Reviews:
Fine Book.......2001-01-10
I've been a photographer for 25 years, and this book helped me out considerably when I took the leap from news photojournalism to wedding photography. It is full of example scenarios, and the author has a firm grasp of both the theory and how to apply it in practice. If you are using a 283 or 285 Vivitar, this book features that. If you are using Sunpak 544 or Metz 60 CT-1, this book will be a huge help. If you are using the latest overly fancy TTL rig, this book will explain the theory well enough that you will be able to apply this theory to your specific TTL rig, which is probably not detailed here. Excellent photo illustrations of the results and the operation of the flash. This book is best for someone that realizes that there is more to a good photographic result than pointing the camera roughly in the direction of the subject, pushing a button, and hoping for the best.
Book Reviw.......2000-06-14
This book is very useful. I picked up some good hints on flash photography.
Book Description
Electronic flash not only brings light to a photograph, it can be an important artistic tool—if you’ve acquired the knowledge to use it creatively. To master those skills, digital photographers need only turn to this complete reference. Packed with inspirational photos, it takes the mystery out of flash, covering every type of equipment and explaining such essentials as guide numbers, sync speeds, white balance, and more. Photographers will see how fill flash can decrease contrast and shadows in outdoor portrait photography, understand how to control the light using bounce and multiple flash techniques, and expertly employ high-speed and rear curtain synchronization to create impressive motion-blur images. Everything you need to know is here—including a section on studio flash and computer processing.
Average customer rating:
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Metz Flash Systems (Magic Lantern Guides)
Heiner Henninges
Manufacturer: Saunders Photo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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General
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Magic Lantern Series
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ASIN: 1883403049 |
Average customer rating:
- A confusing book at best
- Terrible!
- A Waste of Time & Money
- Minus Five Star!
- Poor Exposure of the SB-28 Speedlight
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Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon Sb-28 (Magic Lantern Guides)
Michael Huber
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
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Lighting
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
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Reference
| Photography
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General
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Magic Lantern Series
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General
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ASIN: 1883403529 |
Book Description
The fully automatic Nikon offers hundreds of options and incredible flexibility--and this "improved instruction guide" explains how to take full advantage of every one. Get all the facts about the camera's user-friendly technology, special features, and much-admired flash system. Sample shots show just how to adjust to a variety of shooting situations. Great photography will become easier than ever before! 160 pages, 24 color illus., 60 b/w illus., 5 x 7 1/2.
Customer Reviews:
A confusing book at best.......2002-04-27
I read the instructions that came with the SB-28. I wanted more info. I bought the book. I became more and more confused. I re-read the instructions. I still don't understand the book, but I take good flash pictures.
Terrible!.......2001-11-14
I purchased the SB-28 flash in Switzerland and wanted a guide in the English language. I already had a fair understanding of the flash and the various modes, but I still had a few outstanding questions that I hoped this book could answer. The book just confused me and raised even more questions. The author's run-on sentences and poor grammar made for difficult reading and comprehension. The examples did a poor job of demonstrating the author's point and often had nothing to do with the text.
Save your money and get your questions answered at the many online resources available. If you must have this book, I will sell you mine.
A Waste of Time & Money.......2001-10-30
Do not believe the promises made in the opening pages of this book. They are unfulfilled. Despite early protestations that this book will be better than, and different from, the instruction manual -- it is barely more than a bad rehash of the instruction manual with confusing additional information thrown in.
When the author asks that "due to constraints of time and cost" we should excuse the "artistic and aesthetic aspects" of his illustrations, we should sense that this was a 'quick and dirty' effort. Forget the "time and cost" for photography! How about investing some conceptual and organizational thought -- and concern for the reader? (Isn't that what we are paying for?) In fact, this looks so 'quick and dirty' that it seems like different people actually wrote different parts, with little communication, and with no visible editorial control. Furthermore, the illustrations are often unrelated to the text. When related, I have seen many illustrations elsewhere that illustrate the point in the text much better.
The book contradicts itself in places. For example, on page 30 it is claimed that "the SB-28 uses a combined CONTROL OF flash energy via flash duration and FLASH OUTPUT ..." [emphasis, mine] and then on pg. 140 we read "To my knowledge, complex electronic CONTROL OF the actual FLASH OUTPUT is presently not used by any camera/autoflash mode ...". Since the context of these two sentences make it explicitly clear that the points being made are completely contradictory, one begins to lose faith in the veracity of other claims in the book.
I read this book from cover-to-cover, twice, thinking it was my fault. What a waste of time! Even with my Ph.D. degree, I could make little sense of the author's intent. A bunch of facts thrown together and often repeated several times throughout the book, with little useful organization or explanation, poor illustrations, and no index. I found myself trying to re-write the book as I fought for understanding.
You should not have to buy a book like this and then have to re-write it in order to understand it.
Save your time and money.
It gets one star, because I can't give zero stars!
Do not be tempted by this bad apple from the (usually good) 'Magic Lantern' barrel.
Minus Five Star!.......2001-05-02
Advice: Don't buy it! Cons: Confusing, less useful than the instruction manual
Poor Exposure of the SB-28 Speedlight.......2001-04-05
...I decided to buy this book. After all, the other Magic Lantern books were so well written and informative, I reasoned.
I reasoned wrong! The writer clearly understands the many technical details of the SB-28, but utterly fails to communicate his knowledge in any remotely understandable way.
A fine effort wasted, I'm afraid.
Average customer rating:
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Flash Photography (A Modern Photo Guide)
Manufacturer: Guild Press of Indiana
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
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Lighting
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Photo Essays
| Photography
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ASIN: 0385181507 |
Amazon.com
Doc Edgerton, who developed the electronic flash and devoted his life to helping us "see the unseen," felt his photographic work was the byproduct of scientific investigation. The fact that the world is no longer amazed at many of the images he produced is testament to the impact his experiments have had on our culture. Douglas Collins captures the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in a biographical essay as sharply as Edgerton captured a coronet of milk. This image--along with such sensational stop-motion studies as a dancer in mid-flight, a bullet slicing through a playing card, a child running and a cock fight--may be viewed on the accompanying portfolio photo CD-ROM.
Book Description
For over 60 years, the ultra high-speed photography of Harold E. "Doc" Edgerton has stopped time. His work makes visible the elusive gestures and trajectories of our world in action: from the dripping of water to a bullet's path. His experiments with stroboscopic flashes resulted in hundreds of --and not incidentally beautiful--images of a realm beyond human vision. Edgerton, a lifelong teacher and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is today celebrated as both a scientific innovator, and also as an astonishing photographer.
Seeing the Unseen is an engaging new study of Edgertons's life and science. Designed to look like one of Doc's own laboratory notebooks, the book places his work in its historical technological context, and clarifies his motivations and methods. Edgerton, with his own plain-spoken and witty brand of genius, is vividly portrayed in a biographical essay by Douglas Collins. It covers Edgerton's early years in Nebraska, his beginnings at MIT as a graduate student in electrical engineering in 1926, the decades of inspired research and teaching in"Strobe Alley" (his MIT lab), and his fruitful collaborations with everyone from Hollywood filmmakers to Jacques Cousteau, until his death in 1990. Seeing the Unseen is profusely and colorfully illustrated with photographs of and by Harold Edgerton, and well as easily-understood technical diagrams of his methods. Included in the book is a Portfolio Photo CD, produced by George Eastman House and curator James Sheldon, which contains a gallery of 150 of Edgerton's most striking images, and is compatible with any CD-ROM player.
Seeing the Unseen: Dr. Harold E. Edgerton and the Wonders of Strobe Alley is the official catalog for an exhibition of the same name currrently on display at George Eastman House in Rochester, and traveling to Winston-Salem NC, Seattle, Boston, Middlebury VT, and San Diego through 1997.
Distributed for George Eastman House
Average customer rating:
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Gjon Mili: Photographs and Recollections
Gjon Mili
Manufacturer: New York Graphic Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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General
| Biographies & Memoirs
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ASIN: 0821211161 |
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