The Lighting Cookbook for Fashion and Beauty Photography: Foolproof Recipes for Perfect Portraits

by Eric Bean and Jenni Bidner

Learning to set up, use, and control lighting is the biggest challenge for photographers in the field of fashion and beauty. This book shows how to become a lighting master. Several examples are... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0817442316
• ISBN13: 9780817442316
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Amphoto Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.5" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

Awesome

Even after studying light for over a year this book helped to perfect my lighting techniques. great book for any photographer to have.

The Lighting Cookbook for Fashion and Beauty Photography

If at all possible, I always like to preview the Table of Contents of a book before purchasing it. That gives me a much better idea of whether or not the book addresses information I'm specifically interested in reading and learning about. So, I really appreciate it when I can look inside a book to see the TOC as well as read an excerpt from the book I want to possibly buy. This book is very instructive and arrived ahead of schedule and in the condition as promised by the seller. I would recommend buying this book as well as buying books from this seller.

Great book!!!

This book is awesome. Easy to follow, well set out and very professional. Great examples and photography, not the cheap, boring and outdated photography you find in a lot of the books out there. This book is filled with exiting ideas and in-depth explanations. Highly creative lighting tricks and loads more. I would highly recommend this book to any serious photographer.

Very good introduction to fashion photography

This is a very good book that accompishes it's specific topic, and does deliver simple "cookbook" recipes for portraits. I got my money's worth, as I can "read between the lines" on many of the photos and the diagrams, however there are other authors more articulate in describing what that do, and more helpful in terms of having more thorough diagrams. This is a relative critism, as a novice may wince at some lights being 2 EV more than another, and not be comfortable with the lack of precise f stops or ratios of main to fill lights. Yes, I could take off a point for there not being a "behind the scenes" photo of the actual set as some books have supplied. I also know that that such photos of actual studio sets could intimidate those with home studios from even trying to duplicate these images, lacking $10,000's of equipment that is at the beck and call of pro fashion photographers. While a few model's makeup is clearly on the garish and gaudy side (Halloweenish comes to mind), that's fine with me, as I'm just interested in learning the lighting, and not bothered by the funky models- some look as if they are outer space vampires, with others made up as if from the 1930's. One thing I've realized is the value of a good makeup artist. They really make a pleasant face into a stunning image suitable for a full page ad in Vogue, and know how to apply suitable makeup to handle the contrasty light that abounds in some magazines, making the model's face "pop out" at you, and justify the hefty advertising dollar$$ and similar model fees for the few lucky models who made it to the top. Same goes for hair stylists. It can often take 2-3 hours of work by these artists before a model is ready for the photographer. For photographers using more everyday models and friends and families, and interested in picking up a few good hints on recreating some Vogue/fashion images with "real people" subjects, this 144 page book is well worth the price. It is worth trying out the different techniques that are not in the usual bookstore publications, as you try your hand at "fashion" style images.

Easy steps that improved my photography 100%

I shoot models for a modeling agency in NYC. I was happy to see a lighting book that specifically adressed models. The lighting set-ups were easy to understand, and very specific. I learned how the authors produced a clean even "Beauty Light" that makes the skin look radiant. Now i know how they shoot those make-up ads. This lighting is also great for everyday portraits. The lighting set-up made even my family portrait look amazing.