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Capturing Light: The Heart of Photography
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256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
80 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Michael Freeman
308 books127 followersLibrarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Michael Freeman is a professional photographer and author. He wrote more than 100 book titles. He was born in England in 1945, took a Masters in geography at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and then worked in advertising in London for six years. He made the break from there in 1971 to travel up the Amazon with two secondhand cameras, and when Time-Life used many of the pictures extensively in the Amazon volume of their World's Wild Places series, including the cover, they encouraged him to begin a full-time photographic career.
Since then, working for editorial clients that include all the world's major magazines, and notably the Smithsonian Magazine (with which he has had a 30-year association, shooting more than 40 stories), Freeman's reputation has resulted in more than 100 books published. Of these, he is author as well as photographer, and they include more than 40 books on the practice of photography - for this photographic educational work he was awarded the Prix Louis Philippe Clerc by the French Ministry of Culture. He is also responsible for the distance-learning courses on photography at the UK's Open College of the Arts.
Michael Freeman is a professional photographer and author. He wrote more than 100 book titles. He was born in England in 1945, took a Masters in geography at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and then worked in advertising in London for six years. He made the break from there in 1971 to travel up the Amazon with two secondhand cameras, and when Time-Life used many of the pictures extensively in the Amazon volume of their World's Wild Places series, including the cover, they encouraged him to begin a full-time photographic career.
Since then, working for editorial clients that include all the world's major magazines, and notably the Smithsonian Magazine (with which he has had a 30-year association, shooting more than 40 stories), Freeman's reputation has resulted in more than 100 books published. Of these, he is author as well as photographer, and they include more than 40 books on the practice of photography - for this photographic educational work he was awarded the Prix Louis Philippe Clerc by the French Ministry of Culture. He is also responsible for the distance-learning courses on photography at the UK's Open College of the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 27, 2016
The two most important things I gained from this: explaining everything doesn't necessarily make for a better photograph, and a general appreciation for how varied light is. (Also, a gentle reminder that we all have a bit of a hard on for golden hour.)
I was really impressed with his observations on the surprisingly numerous qualities of light, but I wish this was a bit more practically instructional, as opposed to theoretical. I found it at it's best when it met a middle ground of the concept behind distinctive light, and tutorials (often behind the scene process shots) that show the subtle techniques to get the most of out of the scene.
Part of what I love about photography is how it has enhanced my observational skills, and in contrast, books like this remind me just how little I've really learned to see.
I was really impressed with his observations on the surprisingly numerous qualities of light, but I wish this was a bit more practically instructional, as opposed to theoretical. I found it at it's best when it met a middle ground of the concept behind distinctive light, and tutorials (often behind the scene process shots) that show the subtle techniques to get the most of out of the scene.
Part of what I love about photography is how it has enhanced my observational skills, and in contrast, books like this remind me just how little I've really learned to see.
December 22, 2016
Anyone starting Michael Freeman’s amazing series of photography books would start with “The Photographer’s Eye” followed by “The Photographer’s Mind”. But being a self taught photographer and knowing very little about light and struggling with it, I decided to start with Capturing the Light: The heart of photography, which surely isn’t one for beginners.
The book is divided into three sections: waiting, chasing and helping the light. All three sections are about natural light, some with more variants than others. As soon as you reach the table of contents you'll be amazed at the authors observation and the numerous light situations discussed. Before reading this book I only knew two types of light, good and bad. The good light was of course golden hour, which is 30 minutes before and after sunrise & sunset, and the bad light was rest of the day especially mid noon when the sun is high and the tonal range is way beyond cameras reach. After reading this book I can tell the quality and direction of light and how to react to given light condition. Axial (front) light for example is flat and shadowless, backlight is good for silhouettes and translucent objects while bas relief and embossed surfaces would benefit most from raking (side) light. Gray light is not only contemplative but has as many shades than I could ever observe on my own and shade light is blue, this is why camera adds a yellow tint in “shade” white balance. Some moody light conditions like “blue hour” with small yellow lamp or candlelight is explained to be a happy complementary color combination. Some rare situations like patterned light, light shafts indoors and shaped spotlights coming from pockets of torn pieces of cloth in a bazaar are discussed at great length.Most of the lights are explained with wonderful lighting diagrams which is the best feature of the book and though very few in number the color abstract diagrams were very interesting too.
Besides light some very important concepts of photography are discussed. Like tonal range and HDR and how to get rid of flares resulting from shooting directly into the sun. Compositional ideas and visual depth are discussed with reference to some famous paintings like “The Milkmaid” by Johannes Vermeer. Timelapse photo is a relatively new concept for me and finally Michael Freeman’s special dodge and burn recipe which looks a lot better than mine.
Now let’s take a look at where the book fell short. This book could really do with a chapter about basics of light and the three section arrangement wasn’t very impressive either.Some lights are very poorly explained and some aren’t explained at all. Most pictures especially shooting into the sun could have been more helpful with EXIF data. Considering this is not a “how to” book and the fact that you have made it this far in photography, the author expects you to know camera basics like exposure triangle etc. But the exif could have helped nonetheless.
Over all this book is about the wide range of light conditions a new or experienced photographer would come across and will surely enhance your observation and you will start seeing opportunities you didn’t know existed and it will help build a foundation on which you can capitalize throughout your photography career.
The book is divided into three sections: waiting, chasing and helping the light. All three sections are about natural light, some with more variants than others. As soon as you reach the table of contents you'll be amazed at the authors observation and the numerous light situations discussed. Before reading this book I only knew two types of light, good and bad. The good light was of course golden hour, which is 30 minutes before and after sunrise & sunset, and the bad light was rest of the day especially mid noon when the sun is high and the tonal range is way beyond cameras reach. After reading this book I can tell the quality and direction of light and how to react to given light condition. Axial (front) light for example is flat and shadowless, backlight is good for silhouettes and translucent objects while bas relief and embossed surfaces would benefit most from raking (side) light. Gray light is not only contemplative but has as many shades than I could ever observe on my own and shade light is blue, this is why camera adds a yellow tint in “shade” white balance. Some moody light conditions like “blue hour” with small yellow lamp or candlelight is explained to be a happy complementary color combination. Some rare situations like patterned light, light shafts indoors and shaped spotlights coming from pockets of torn pieces of cloth in a bazaar are discussed at great length.Most of the lights are explained with wonderful lighting diagrams which is the best feature of the book and though very few in number the color abstract diagrams were very interesting too.
Besides light some very important concepts of photography are discussed. Like tonal range and HDR and how to get rid of flares resulting from shooting directly into the sun. Compositional ideas and visual depth are discussed with reference to some famous paintings like “The Milkmaid” by Johannes Vermeer. Timelapse photo is a relatively new concept for me and finally Michael Freeman’s special dodge and burn recipe which looks a lot better than mine.
Now let’s take a look at where the book fell short. This book could really do with a chapter about basics of light and the three section arrangement wasn’t very impressive either.Some lights are very poorly explained and some aren’t explained at all. Most pictures especially shooting into the sun could have been more helpful with EXIF data. Considering this is not a “how to” book and the fact that you have made it this far in photography, the author expects you to know camera basics like exposure triangle etc. But the exif could have helped nonetheless.
Over all this book is about the wide range of light conditions a new or experienced photographer would come across and will surely enhance your observation and you will start seeing opportunities you didn’t know existed and it will help build a foundation on which you can capitalize throughout your photography career.
August 31, 2020
If you are looking for a how-to book, this is not for you. This book encourages photographers to take a look at all different kinds of light and effectively use it in your photography. Michael Freeman included many examples of different light and what practices might work best for capturing them. Because I don't work extensively in Photoshop or Lightroom (gasp!), that section I glossed over but there is much to be gleened here.
December 7, 2022
Stunning, evocative, and highly practical for all that. Michael Freeman and the practice of contemplative photography set the stage for one of my core meditative/self-care practices of many years now, but he also provides excellent technical guidance on how to improve one's photography from conceptualization of the shot to the execution of it. Beautifully done.
November 28, 2023
An interesting take on some less then common light situations. You will get some specific cases for each of the chapters: waiting, chasing and helping the light. Similar in style with The Photographer's eye/soul/mind there are diagrams and images to explain the setups.
September 4, 2020
Dry but very interesting take on how to deal with different natural lighting scenarios. Would be particularly useful where the photographer has the luxury of visiting a site multiple times.
December 25, 2016
I love this book for one thing, and that is how he has painstakingly explored and broken down lighting situations that are so critical to photography. What I also like, are the illustrations that accompany each chapter, clearly showing how the light moves in each situation.
What I would have liked off more, is the sections on HDR, but as he says - HDR is itself a book.
Very well written and illustrated, this is a gem of a book, for beginners and people who sometimes take light for granted
What I would have liked off more, is the sections on HDR, but as he says - HDR is itself a book.
Very well written and illustrated, this is a gem of a book, for beginners and people who sometimes take light for granted
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews