Capturing Light

In almost all photography it’s the quality of light that makes or breaks the shot. For professional photographers, chasing the light, waiting for it, sometimes helping it, and finally capturing it is a constant preoccupation — and for some an obsession. Drawing on four decades of doing just this, Michael Freeman takes a simple but practical approach to reacting to, and capturing photography’s most important commodity. There are just three sections titled Waiting, Chasing, and Helping: Waiting explains the kinds of lighting that photographers can anticipate and plan for, while Chasing explores the transient, serendipitous light that photographers have to work quickly to exploit. Helping, the final and most technical section, focuses on the skills and techniques for enhancing, reducing, or otherwise controlling light, covering everything from in-the-field shooting choices to technical transformations to post-production.

Capturing the Light starts with a tiny scrap of purple-tinged paper, 176 years old and about the size of a postage stamp. On it you can just make out a tiny, ghostly image of a gothic window, an image so small and perfect that it 'might be supposed to be the work of some Lilliputian artist': the world's first photographic negative. This captivating book traces the lives of two very different men in the 1830s, both racing to be the first to solve one of the world's oldest problems: how to capture an image and keep it for ever. On the one hand there is Henry Fox Talbot: a quiet, solitary gentleman-amateur tinkering away on his farm in the English countryside. On the other Louis Daguerre, a flamboyant, charismatic French showman in search of fame and fortune. Only one question remains: who will get there first?

Paint along with Marilyn Simandle as she inspires us to explore the full potential of light and shadow watercolor techniques in this informative step by step guide. In collaboration with Lew Lehrman, this book provides demonstrations in design, white space, and dynamics of color. A must for any artist wishing to create works alive with intensity.

Legendary artist Paul Strisik was not the kind of artist you'd find cooped up inside a studio. As one of the great plein air painters of his generation, Paul preferred to be outdoors using the sun to light his subjects. His years of experience in capturing that natural light are offered here in Capturing Light in Oils.

Transform your paintings from ordinary to extraordinary - with light! Want to paint light-filled watercolors that reach out and draw viewers in? In this book, award-winning watercolorist and teacher Susan Bourdet shows you how. Through simple concepts and detailed step-by-step demonstrations, Susan demystifies the process of successfully depicting light in watercolor. You'll learn how to: • Create convincing light effects and rich shadows • Depict different light angles and times of day • Render light on a variety of subjects, from feathers and fur to flowers, water and textures • Take reference photos with exciting light and combine them into a believable composition that speaks to your viewers It's all the information you'll need to capture the magic of light in your watercolors! Includes 23 step-by-step demonstrations!

Showcases a collection of the author's photographs, capturing the light to perfection. This book is suitable for various photographers or photography enthusiast's libraries.

Because nature is so expansive and complex, so varied in its range of light, landscape painters often have to look further and more deeply to find form and structure, value patterns, and an organized arrangement of shapes. In Landscape Painting, Mitchell Albala shares his concepts and practices for translating nature's grandeur, complexity, and color dynamics into convincing representations of space and light. Concise, practical, and inspirational, Landscape Painting focuses on the greatest challenges for the landscape artist, such as: • Simplification and Massing: Learn to reduce nature's complexity by looking beneath the surface of a subject to discover the form's basic masses and shapes.• Color and Light: Explore color theory as it specifically applies to the landscape, and learn the various strategies painters use to capture the illusion of natural light.• Selection and Composition: Learn to select wisely from nature's vast panorama. Albala shows you the essential cues to look for and how to find the most promising subject from a world of possibilities. The lessons in Landscape Painting—based on observation rather than imitation and applicable to both plein air and studio practice—are accompanied by painting examples, demonstrations, photographs, and diagrams. Illustrations draw from the work of more than 40 contemporary artists and such masters of landscape painting as John Constable, Sanford Gifford, and Claude Monet. Based on Albala's 25 years of experience and the proven methods taught at his successful plein air workshops, this in-depth guide to all aspects of landscape painting is a must-have for anyone getting started in the genre, as well as more experienced practitioners who want to hone their skills or learn new perspectives.

Although aimed at keen amateur photographers who wish to break into the professional market, the superb images and technical expertise offer something for all levels of skill and will also inspire those just becoming interested in photography and more established photographers who need to re-focus their photographic motivation. The book's primary goal is to draw the attention of readers to the absolute importance of light and how to make the best use of it, with an emphasis on being in the right place at the right time, anticipating fine light and ensuring that for the short duration that those qualities are present, they are successfully recorded to film or pixel. However, composition and technical expertise are also vitally important and Ian outlines the best field techniques for choosing the correct exposure, discusses depth of field, hyper-focal focusing, exposure bracketing and the use of appropriate filters.