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The Lighting Cookbook for Fashion and Beauty Photography: Foolproof Recipes for Taking Perfect Portraits | 
 enlarge | Authors: Jennifer Bidner, Eric Bean
Publisher: Amphoto Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.40
You Save: $11.55 (46%)
New (34) Used (10) from $13.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 79398
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 10.4 x 8.4 x 0.5
ISBN: 0817442316
Dewey Decimal Number: 778.72
EAN: 9780817442316
ASIN: 0817442316
Publication Date: October 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
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Book Description
• Step-by-step recipes for great pictures• Demystifies lucrative fashion and beauty photography • Beautiful examples with diagrams and instructions—everything the photographer needs in the studio or on location Learning to set up, use, and control lighting is the biggest challenge for photographers in the field of fashion and beauty. Never fear! This book shows exactly how to become a lighting master. Dozens of stunning examples—some taken in a studio, others on location—are analyzed with set up details, lens choices, composition decisions, and lighting diagrams, plus step-by-step directions on re-creating the look. From an inventory of every essential piece of equipment, with a full explanation of how, when and why to use each one, to an in-depth discussion of the film versus digital formats, The Lighting Cookbook for Fashion and Beauty Photography is the complete guide to mastering this popular and lucrative genre.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
I love the lighting setup diagrams... June 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The biggest pluses for me in this book are:
1) The diagrams of how the lighting is setup and accompanying sample images.
2) Inclusion of men's lighting.
There are so many books out there about lighting and a lot of them do not explain lighting in terms of gender.
 Not Quite What It Seems May 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In the first chapter it mentions that you can substitute hot lights for many of the setups, yet it never shows the varriations. I am nearly half way through this book and I have yet to see a setup that doesn't involve a softbox or flash unit set. Maybe it's in the second half, but it would be nice to have the possible changes for different lighting.
The other drawback is that many of the images have been touched up and changed in Photo Shop. On some of the images they tell you directly, but on others (and there is a small blurb about this in the book), they claim the touch up was too minor to warrent a mention. This makes it difficult to know if the resulting picture is due to the lighting, or do to a computer photo editing program.
I worked for a photography company a while back and haven't really worked in studio since. I had hoped to gain some new techniques and ideas from this book, but I have yet to find anything very useful for my lighting setup. I find myself with many of the examples wondering, "will this really work with my setup and if so, how?" Even the lighting ratios are geared toward flash units. Not once have I seen any direction on how to create the same look with continuous lighting (hot lights). That's not the kind of direction I want from a book.
If you have invested in strobes, studio flash units or softboxes, then this book might just work for you.
 Great book!!! March 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
A good beginning book October 10, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a good starter book. It begins with basics of lighting and begins to introduce more and more complicated setups.
It helped me understand the basics of lighting equipment and how to use them and this is particularly true for some of the initial lighting arrangements in both the womens and the mens sections.
My biggest criticism of the book is that it great to learn the craft, but not the art. Do not expect that this is your last lighting book if you're going to be serious about fashion and beauty photography.
My key takeaways were basic lighting arrangements for women and men, reliance on makeup artists, and basics of equipment. It's a good way to learn by copying---"If you want a shot like this, do this". The "cookbook" phrase in the title is a very correct claim. It will not teach you how to create a new recipe, but if you know what you need, it will tell you how to make it.
There's a show-offy feel to some sections which I could do without.
Someone who reads this book will be able to then move on to more sophisticated portraiture books like Grecco's Lighting and the Art of the Dramatic Portrait. I found it far easier to understand subtleties in Grecco's book after I had thoroughly read the cookbook a few times.
Very good introduction to fashion photography July 30, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
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.
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