Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography

Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography

Admittedly I was pretty excited when I got this book in the mail.  My initial background was in portrait and wedding photography so I do have a special love for lighting techniques.  In the studio we used professional strobes with large softboxes and at weddings it was natural light,on camera flash, some off camera flash, and utilizing bounce when available.

I actually needed a refresher and some new ideas involving off camera flash techniques.

About the Author

Kirk Tuck attended the University of Texas and held a position as a specialist lecturer teaching photography in the University of Texas College of Fine Arts. Working as an advertising photographer and creative director for Avanti Advertising and Design he won awards for radio, television, and print campaigns. As a freelancer his clientele list has included IBM, Trivoli Systems, Dell, Motorola, AMD, Freescale Semiconductor, Elle Magazine, Private Clubs Magazine, Time Warner, Pharmaco, PPD, JSR, The Arts Council of Texas, Southwest Water Company, Adventure Tours, and more.

The Book

The first few chapters in Minimalist Lighting run through equipment. The history of flash photography and the progression of studio strobes to the more accessible off camera strobes used in this book. A great refresher for me and a good starting place for any aspiring photographer.

I learned all that I know about lighting through formal training, experimentation, and of course trial and error. While it may be fun to learn in that fashion, it isn’t at all the fastest. A book like this would have shaved off so much of the learning curve and would have proved a wonderful reference to have in my studio.

The real meat of the book comes in chapter 5 where the actual “techniques” part of the title comes into play. Where to set your lights for the examples in the accompanying pages. This is how you learn the concepts of lighting a subject. Well, that and actually getting out there and doing it.

Overview

The book is easy to read and understand. It’s full of information and concise. There are a slew of references to help in furthering your abilities and purchasing equipment. This photography book really makes a great reference for any photographer wanting to add some flash power to their arsenal.

I recommend this book to:

• Aspiring professional photographers
• New digital photographers
• Stock photographers
• Wedding photographers
• Portrait photographers

Bonus

The images throughout the book are absolutely wonderful. Kirk uses techniques designed to light the subject in a way the you don’t even realize that lights are being used. There’s a certain magic in the way those images come out. Simple. Elegant. Masterful.

In this current day and age we have essentially two different styles of off camera lighting. The lighting that is often found over at the Strobist.com website where the lights can be much more hard and pronounced and this type of lighting that is more soft and flattering.

I suggest you learn both. You never know when you’ll need those tools.

Get your copy of Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography at Amazon today!

Next month’s book will be announced at the beginning of next week.  That means you still have the weekend to vote on the poll in the sidebar!