---
product_id: 45826100
title: "Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting"
price: "Rp1301799"
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---

# Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

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## Description

Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting [Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, Paul Fuqua] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Review: A book about learning and understanding light - If you want to drastically improve your photography then I highly recommend studying light and how it interacts with your subject. Armed with this knowledge you will know how to better light your subject in a given situation and get the best image possible under the circumstances. Light - Science & Magic will teach you how light interacts with matter and how you can modify the light to produce better images. It is on it's third edition now, and not that light has changed since creation, the book has been updated to include new technology and just as important an updated modern look. Comprised of 10 chapters, Light - Science & Magic cover such topics as how to learn lighting, light: the raw material in photography, managing reflections and the family of angles, surfaces, shape and contour, metal, glass, portraiture, digital cameras, white on white and black on black, portable lighting and much more. Rather than teach lighting styles, this book teaches how the light interacts with the subject matter and lets you decide (based on what equipment you have) how and what light to modify to create the result you want. The book's examples are mostly still life examples shot with hot lights or strobes. If you shoot mostly available light outdoors, don't let this sway you from considering this book. Outdoor sunlight behaves in exactly the same way, it's just easier to control in a studio environment for the book examples. There are light modifiers, natural or man made, that you can use to control the light outdoors. Once you learn the light you can then use your own creativity to modify it to create your own style indoors or out. Light - Science & Magic is well written with clear example photographs and technical diagrams. If you have an understanding of the basic photographic terms then you will have no problem learning from this book. It teaches you using layman's terms and introduces lighting language as it progresses. By the time you are done reading the book you will know what a gobo and a grid are and what direct and diffuse mean. What's more important is even if you know what those terms are now, you will be able to manipulate them to improve your photographs. I highly recommend you experiment with the examples in the book. A couple of table lamps and a few colored backgrounds are all you need to get started. You do not need a full blown studio with high powered gear. Light is light and is very scalable. So get the book, it's money well spent and you will, bad pun intended, walk away looking at light in a different light.
Review: The most enjoyable technical book I've read! - It must be difficult to write a book on a technical subject for a heterogeneous population of readers. One can easily become boring and/or the reader can easily loose him or herself. Filling the book with valuable information does not help. The author(s) should also guarantee that the reader can get the pills. Perhaps, making the content light and easily digestable can be considered another solution. This, however will lessen the appeal of the book, to say the least, as such information will most likely be available free! The authors of this beautiful book (from concept, to writing to production) did a most astonishing job and made an easily readable book full of valuable information. The book reads as if it was written by a single author (a sign of good editorial work). The writing style is lucid & enthusiastic without being overly technical. The reader is never lost. The narrative is based on carefully chosen examples or problem situations. There are many repetitions but the reader feels happy to encounter a repetition as that helps to prove his/her progress! The figures are perfectly simple and exactly to the point (except, perhaps Fig.8.14, which does not seem right to me). The style can be summarized as "friendly advice"; the authors explicitly deny authority (if you believe them after reading the book!); they only claim experience. I have learned A LOT reading this book. I've read it (contrary to the authors' advice) from cover to cover almost as a thriller. I will keep it and consult it whenever I need to. This book will worth the price you pay for it even if you end up learning only the concept of "family of angles" by reading it. Simply great work. I do have to suggestions, however, for improvement: 1- The section on flash (strobe) photography can be given some more space (as this is probably the most widespread method of lighting for most readers). 2- The book cover should be replaced by a good one. I even think that a cover with text on blank space is better than the present one; the cover just does disservice to the book as it hides the beauty of the work presented. Do not let the cover to push you! I finish by repeating the last sentence of the book to show you what the authors say after giving you tens of perfect examples and as many sound advice: "Help yourself".

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #317,929 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #14 in Photography (Books) #36 in Photography Lighting (Books) #250 in Digital Photography (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 265 Reviews |

## Images

![Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91F6OE4RbBL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A book about learning and understanding light
*by T***A on April 11, 2009*

If you want to drastically improve your photography then I highly recommend studying light and how it interacts with your subject. Armed with this knowledge you will know how to better light your subject in a given situation and get the best image possible under the circumstances. Light - Science & Magic will teach you how light interacts with matter and how you can modify the light to produce better images. It is on it's third edition now, and not that light has changed since creation, the book has been updated to include new technology and just as important an updated modern look. Comprised of 10 chapters, Light - Science & Magic cover such topics as how to learn lighting, light: the raw material in photography, managing reflections and the family of angles, surfaces, shape and contour, metal, glass, portraiture, digital cameras, white on white and black on black, portable lighting and much more. Rather than teach lighting styles, this book teaches how the light interacts with the subject matter and lets you decide (based on what equipment you have) how and what light to modify to create the result you want. The book's examples are mostly still life examples shot with hot lights or strobes. If you shoot mostly available light outdoors, don't let this sway you from considering this book. Outdoor sunlight behaves in exactly the same way, it's just easier to control in a studio environment for the book examples. There are light modifiers, natural or man made, that you can use to control the light outdoors. Once you learn the light you can then use your own creativity to modify it to create your own style indoors or out. Light - Science & Magic is well written with clear example photographs and technical diagrams. If you have an understanding of the basic photographic terms then you will have no problem learning from this book. It teaches you using layman's terms and introduces lighting language as it progresses. By the time you are done reading the book you will know what a gobo and a grid are and what direct and diffuse mean. What's more important is even if you know what those terms are now, you will be able to manipulate them to improve your photographs. I highly recommend you experiment with the examples in the book. A couple of table lamps and a few colored backgrounds are all you need to get started. You do not need a full blown studio with high powered gear. Light is light and is very scalable. So get the book, it's money well spent and you will, bad pun intended, walk away looking at light in a different light.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The most enjoyable technical book I've read!
*by B***N on March 6, 2009*

It must be difficult to write a book on a technical subject for a heterogeneous population of readers. One can easily become boring and/or the reader can easily loose him or herself. Filling the book with valuable information does not help. The author(s) should also guarantee that the reader can get the pills. Perhaps, making the content light and easily digestable can be considered another solution. This, however will lessen the appeal of the book, to say the least, as such information will most likely be available free! The authors of this beautiful book (from concept, to writing to production) did a most astonishing job and made an easily readable book full of valuable information. The book reads as if it was written by a single author (a sign of good editorial work). The writing style is lucid & enthusiastic without being overly technical. The reader is never lost. The narrative is based on carefully chosen examples or problem situations. There are many repetitions but the reader feels happy to encounter a repetition as that helps to prove his/her progress! The figures are perfectly simple and exactly to the point (except, perhaps Fig.8.14, which does not seem right to me). The style can be summarized as "friendly advice"; the authors explicitly deny authority (if you believe them after reading the book!); they only claim experience. I have learned A LOT reading this book. I've read it (contrary to the authors' advice) from cover to cover almost as a thriller. I will keep it and consult it whenever I need to. This book will worth the price you pay for it even if you end up learning only the concept of "family of angles" by reading it. Simply great work. I do have to suggestions, however, for improvement: 1- The section on flash (strobe) photography can be given some more space (as this is probably the most widespread method of lighting for most readers). 2- The book cover should be replaced by a good one. I even think that a cover with text on blank space is better than the present one; the cover just does disservice to the book as it hides the beauty of the work presented. Do not let the cover to push you! I finish by repeating the last sentence of the book to show you what the authors say after giving you tens of perfect examples and as many sound advice: "Help yourself".

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly recommended
*by C***N on February 27, 2009*

This book is best for advanced amateur photographers who are interested in learning more about how to light. It is 300 pages long, divided into 10 chapters. The book is authoritative and fairly thorough, though more advanced photographers may find a good portion of the book to be a rehash of what they've already learned through other means. Still, this book is worth the read for the useful and technical information it provides, though it may be less meaningful for those without at least some lighting equipment (be they studio strobes or dedicated flashes). More advanced photographers might even learn a thing or three -- if they can get through all the stuff they might already know. Here's a list of what the chapters are about: 1) How to Learn Lighting (a brief introduction to the book and some topics that will be discussed in future chapters) 2) Light: the Raw Material of Photography (a description of what "light" means to a photographer, how light typically behaves) 3) The Management of Reflection and the Family of Angles (An in-depth description of light and relevant information about what to expect of light's behavior in photography) 4) Surface Appearances (a description of how light affects the appearances of various surfaces, and ways to best light particular surfaces -- glass, glossy, matte, black surfaces, etc.) 5) Revealing Shape and Contour 6) [How to Light] Metal 7) The Case of the Disappearing Glass (how to light glass objects) 8) An Arsenal of Lights (Portrait photography) 9) The Extremes (how to like white-on-white or black-on-black subjects) 10) Traveling Light (information on strobes and dedicated flashes and how to best utilize them) The book goes much more in-depth about all of these topics than I let on. It would be difficult to summarize all the information without plagiarizing. This is a great rulebook for how to use light in photography, and covers just about any topic most photographers might have, when learning about light. I highly recommend buying this book and keeping it handy as a reference when needed.

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*Last updated: 2026-05-13*