Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography
Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography
- ISBN13: 9780321646873
- Condition: New
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IMAGINE THE ADVANTAGE YOU’D HAVE IF ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP WEDDING SHOOTERS SHARED HIS SECRETS WITH YOU
World-renowned wedding photographer, and one of the most widely acclaimed instructors in the industry today, David Ziser brings his no
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(out of 63 reviews)
List Price: $ 54.99
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M. Thompson 7:28 pm on October 10, 2010 Permalink
Review by M. Thompson for Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography
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I’ve scoured Amazon.com for wedding photography books that encompass the perfect blend of inspiration, technique and overall workflow. And finally, this book arrives. The layout is excellent, with logical chapter breaks, informative call-out boxes, and full sections devoted to natural light, on camera ETTL flash, off camera flash, ceremony workflow, reception workflow, and a few more. Also, some books are pretty dated as far as equipment, but the author refreshingly describes using his Canon 5D Mark II AND 7D. That might not seem like a big deal at first, but in many places he talks about leveraging the amazing high-ISO capabilities of cameras like this with your other settings. For example, in the off camera flash sections, he talks about the use of these high ISO settings to cut flash power by half, thus conserving battery life. There’s not a lot in here about pricing/contracts, but that’s not what I was looking for. If you know what you want to charge, but want to take your wedding photography to the next level, this is the book. Buy it.
MaJPix 8:03 pm on October 10, 2010 Permalink
Review by MaJPix for Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography
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I have been a professional photographer specializing in weddings for over 30 years and have NEVER read any book with such intense information! Check for yourself: search the other “instructional” books listed on Amazon, Borders or any bookstore and you’ll come to the same conclusion as me- there is nothing that even comes close to Mr. Ziser’s “how to” approach. We as photographers, enjoy delving into a beautiful image and explore the impact and composition, but rarely are provided the insight in order to obtain those outstanding results. David’s approach comes across to the reader as if he is in front of the class giving a seminar. The book is written in a very easy to understand and conversational language that any aspiring photographer to the most advanced can comprehend.
So often, many books written by photographers illustrate specific points, but rarely do the accompanied images reflect such depth and dimension as Mr. Ziser’s. The quality of the photographs almost “jump off the page” and the cool thing is, he explains the technique to achieve it! There are many “starving” photographers out there, wondering why they can’t make a good living at their craft. By its very nature, once the photography improves, they can raise their prices with confidence. What David teaches in his book will make one’s images stand out! He opens the door to unbelievable lighting techniques that include everything from nature’s light to creativity with a simple “flashlight.”
After just reading a few pages, the reader will start to view wedding photography as truly an art. The information revealed in “Captured By the Light”, along with the beautiful photographs will never be out of date. The lessons in this book are timeless; because the most basic areas of photography that are discussed explore the simple rules of photography as an art. Some of these topics include: exposure, lighting, composition, choice of equipment and camera lens, etc. and they are covered in rich detail. I think this book will soon become the “bible” in photography from the advanced amateur to the seasoned professional photographer. I also would like to commend publishers on the outstanding quality of the book.
This publication is surely: “The essential guide to creating EXTRAORDINARY wedding photography!” The cost of this book is very reasonable, but what one takes from it- education, is priceless!
Brent A. Thale 8:33 pm on October 10, 2010 Permalink
Review by Brent A. Thale for Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography
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I don’t normally buy wedding photography books, but after flipping through this one I couldn’t resist getting it. The author, a former engineer, gives very specific advice on how to get certain looks, defines his terms, and shows example pictures both using and not using his techniques, very helpful.
I liked the simple description of “loop” lighting and why it is desirable for this type of photography. The composition chapters, which very specifically list things to look for to set up a good shot, are also excellent. The author’s advice on how to work with assistants to dynamically position off-camera lights to add depth and separation is also great, although unfortunately this technique requires at least one full-time assistant, so don’t expect to duplicate the author’s work going solo.
Some minor nitpicks: I thought the advice for making a snoot out of a rolled-up magazine was silly, it looks unprofessional and there are many inexpensive, sleek-looking snoots on the market that don’t risk damaging the flash unit or present a fire hazard. Also, the author repeatedly uses the word “perspective” when I believe he means “cropping” or “framing” as on page 25 when he says he stays in one place while zooming to change perspective. Additionally, I thought his equipment recommendations were strange since they involve low-end zooms that change aperture based on zoom settings, I would think this would interfere with the manual flash control the author uses.
The book doesn’t focus on gear but be warned the author uses Canon equipment so don’t expect any Nikon CLS tips or anything but passing references to other brands. Surprisingly the author uses relatively inexpensive gear and recommends even cheaper gear to save money, which is fine I guess but considering that the author routinely shoots all-day events with two assistants, I would think the assistants’ salaries are going to dwarf any equipment expense and this topic is not really touched on.
Curiously missing from this book is any specific information of how the photos are post-processed in programs like Photoshop. Clearly some of the shots are retouched and the author occasionally refers to Photoshop, but there is no chapter on what his post-processing workflow is.
Anyway, this is an excellent book filled with beautiful photos and real-world advice from someone who has done the work. Highly recommended.
HP 8:58 pm on October 10, 2010 Permalink
Review by HP for Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography
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This book covers systematically all topics in wedding/portrait photography. This book is an inspiration source, a repetition of techniques, or truly an essential guide. You may need to be an intermediate photographer to get the most out of the book – know your gear and lightning/photography theories. However, it isn’t just simple to buy this book and become a wedding photographer. Most off-camera-flash setups in the book are based on an assistant that can move the light source around. Light stand can help, but can not replace the flexibility of a person, especially when time is limited during a wedding. This book constantly remains me about “situation awareness”: looking for backgrounds, compositions, geometry, lens choice, lightning/ambient, planning ahead – do it right first time and save lots of time in post-processing. Overall I am very happy to have this book. Highly recommended. Thank you David Ziser.
Dennis R. Baker 9:10 pm on October 10, 2010 Permalink
Review by Dennis R. Baker for Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography
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Would you like to learn how to create more beautifull and dramatic photographs of people? “Captured by the Light” will teach you! David Ziser has done a marvelous job of sharing his extensive knowledge and experience. The book is clearly written and logically organized. Photographs clearly illustrate the effect of each technique.
This book is not just for wedding photographers; it is for anyone who photographs people. As David explains, the book is about photographing people; his subjects happen to be brides.
As a summary for wedding photographers, David walks you through a typical wedding, explaining how he shoots each segment–from preparations, the ceremony, formal photos, and the reception. You may not have a lighting assistant to help you position your main light, but David’s technique will help you decide how to best light your subject.
If you recently attended one of David Ziser’s “Digital Wakeup Call” seminars, you may assume that the book is simply a review of his on-stage presentation. That would be a mistake. This book is vastly more useful than the seminar presentation.
“Captured By the Light” is sure to help you create more beautifull and dramatic photographs of people.
Dennis Baker
Freelance Photographer
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