Digital Light

A comprehensive guide to lighting techniques in digital photography covering topics including working with artificial light and daylight.

Two Earthlings find themselves at the mercy of a stringent religious sect on a far-off planet when they rescue a young woman who mated with a mysterious creature.

Light symbolises the highest good, it enables all visual art, and today it lies at the heart of billion-dollar industries. The control of light forms the foundation of contemporary vision. Digital Light brings together artists, curators, technologists and media archaeologists to study the historical evolution of digital light-based technologies. Digital Light provides a critical account of the capacities and limitations of contemporary digital light-based technologies and techniques by tracing their genealogies and comparing them with their predecessor media. As digital light remediates multiple historical forms (photography, print, film, video, projection, paint), the collection draws from all of these histories, connecting them to the digital present and placing them in dialogue with one another. Light is at once universal and deeply historical. The invention of mechanical media (including photography and cinematography) allied with changing print technologies (half-tone, lithography) helped structure the emerging electronic media of television and video, which in turn shaped the bitmap processing and raster display of digital visual media. Digital light is, as Stephen Jones points out in his contribution, an oxymoron: light is photons, particulate and discrete, and therefore always digital. But photons are also waveforms, subject to manipulation in myriad ways. From Fourier transforms to chip design, colour management to the translation of vector graphics into arithmetic displays, light is constantly disciplined to human purposes. In the form of fibre optics, light is now the infrastructure of all our media; in urban plazas and handheld devices, screens have become ubiquitous, and also standardised. This collection addresses how this occurred, what it means, and how artists, curators and engineers confront and challenge the constraints of increasingly normalised digital visual media. While various art pieces and other content are considered throughout the collection, the focus is specifically on what such pieces suggest about the intersection of technique and technology. Including accounts by prominent artists and professionals, the collection emphasises the centrality of use and experimentation in the shaping of technological platforms. Indeed, a recurring theme is how techniques of previous media become technologies, inscribed in both digital software and hardware. Contributions include considerations of image-oriented software and file formats; screen technologies; projection and urban screen surfaces; histories of computer graphics, 2D and 3D image editing software, photography and cinematic art; and transformations of light-based art resulting from the distributed architectures of the internet and the logic of the database. Digital Light brings together high profile figures in diverse but increasingly convergent fields, from academy award-winner and co-founder of Pixar, Alvy Ray Smith to feminist philosopher Cathryn Vasseleu. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

This classic book on available light photography is back, thoroughly updated for digital photography and, for the first time, is packed with stunning, full color images throughout. Creating great images under less-than-ideal lighting conditions is one of the most difficult, yet rewarding, experiences in photography. Challenge yourself, and with this book by your side you won't be disappointed. Photography expert Joe Farace and Pulitzer Prize winner Barry Staver use real-world examples of their own images to give you invaluable advice on how to get the shot right the first time. From practical tips, such as how to deal with inclement weather while shooting outdoors, to detailed information about getting great shots at your cousin's or your client's wedding, to brand new chapters on noise and white balance, you'll find everything that you need to turn your ordinary night and low-light shots into masterful works of art.

This guide teaches all the digital skills the amateur or student photographer will need when photographing on location, written in a practical no nonsense and entertaining style.

A guide to lighting and exposure with digital photography covers such topics as with with aperture and depth of field, selecting shutter speed, shooting in available and artificial light, and using ISO and noise.

Focusing exclusively on light modifiers and making the most of the least equipment, this in-depth handbook is ideal for use by the beginner and advanced amateurs who wish to take their photography to the next level. Including diagrams and lighting set scenes to facilitate learning and adapting technique, step-by-step critiques of several portrait sessions, and an extensive review of a variety of light modifying toolsÑfrom barn doors and snoots to gels, umbrellas, and strip boxesÑthis invaluable textbook style book reveals the precise steps for obtaining dimension and depth for indoor and outdoor portrait sessions. This resource is a must-have for beginner photographers looking to discover a treasure trove of fresh, creative lighting inspiration, that will surely help add diversity and creative style to your photography

Detailing all the skills photographers need to successfully create natural-light family portraits, this handbook covers all aspects of the process, from attracting clients and planning the session to posing small families or large groups. Techniques for working outdoors, at the familyÕs home, or in a natural-light studio setting are included along with detailed information on post-production, album design, and marketing techniques for attracting clients. Advanced amateur and professional photographers will learn how to create a picture-perfect rendering by manipulating ever-changing and difficult-to-predict outdoor lighting and cultivating a cohesive look through harmonious poses, expressions, and clothing. This unique handbook is essential for family photographers looking to engage the family and bring out their subjectsÕ interpersonal relationships and individual personalities.