portrait photography and strobist books

mastertrinity

mastertrinity

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i am heading off to FOI '10 this year and i am interested in portrait photography, mainly off camera flash, location, and a bit of studio when working with toddlers.

is there any books i should be on the look out for when im there, i dont have many photography books but the ones i have are just the basic ones explaining shutter, aperture and iso.
 
"Focus on Imaging" Annual trade show at the NEC.

I think you'd be better off looking for books on Amazon or similar. Or try your local library....theyr'e free!!!

Can't recall seing any photography book stalls before, prob wasnt looking though ;)
Webby
 
I'm currently reading this. It's not about portrait photography, just the principles of lighting. Looks good to me so far and comes quite well reviewed
 
The Matt said:
I'm currently reading this. It's not about portrait photography, just the principles of lighting. Looks good to me so far and comes quite well reviewed
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Except for Light: Science & Magic linked to above (and my own tutorials) all of the books seem to be about nothing more than technique, light placement and equipment.

Light: Science & Magic is a magical book - fairly hard work in places but much more real content than any of the overpriced books or videos on technique
 
Garry Edwards said:
Except for Light: Science & Magic linked to above (and my own tutorials) all of the books seem to be about nothing more than technique, light placement and equipment.

Light: Science & Magic is a magical book - fairly hard work in places but much more real content than any of the overpriced books or videos on technique
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whats it about then gary? it's on my to read list :D
 
david1701 said:
was meant to be jokey in reference to the stobist thumbs down, will apologise if taken the other way ;)
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Actually considering as this is talk basics I aplogise anyway Joe. I hadn't meant anything by it but this is somewhere newbies might congregate so I should be less jokey :D
 
I would also highly recommend 'Hot Shoe Diaries'. It's true that all of the setups he discusses use Nikon gear but it's really all about the principles, so I don't think it matters if you're on Canon, or any other format.

It ain't an instruction Manual though, so if that's what you're after, I wouldn't recommend it. As per the title, it really is a diary of different shots and how he got them. It's written in a really nice, informal style but he isn't afraid to throw in a whole lot of heavy terminology!
 
joecobbs said:
It's just a pretentious way to say off camera flash. Your not a strobist because you use multiple flashes, your a photographer.
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No-one ever said you were a Strobist if you used multiple flashes, the term refers to off-camera flash use - the number of flashes used is immaterial ;)


Oh, and its "you're" not "your" :naughty: :exit:
 
joecobbs said:
It's just a pretentious way to say off camera flash. Your not a strobist because you use multiple flashes, your a photographer.
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and you're a pretentious camera man

this can continue ad infinitum (well till I work out something less pretentious than breathing person)
 
joecobbs said:
So if I shoot a photo using off camera flash I'm a strobist?
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nope if you think like a strobist you're a strobist

you can think like a studio guy and happen to be using flashguns and not studio heads, thats somat else entirely

I think like a strobist, i see almost everything as a potential light modifier and I like to screw around. I also like having lighting kit about just in case
 
joecobbs said:
So if I shoot a photo using off camera flash I'm a strobist?
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You can be whatever y'like Joe but you may find it a little easier by not taking it so seriously.

The word 'strobe' is a word that has been related to flash photography since the 70's afaik, maybe the term even predates turn ups and flared trousers :thinking:

Below text taken from a US dictionary:

strobe |strōb| informal
noun
1 a stroboscope.
• a stroboscopic lamp : [as adj. ] strobe lights dazzled her.
2 an electronic flash for a camera.

The word 'Strobist' was coined by it's US creator. Go figure.


It could also be argued that 'Strobist' rolls off the tongue a little better than 'off camera flashist' :|
Y'know the deal when cooking up names for stuff, it has to engage, be remembered, have a 'buzz' etc.

While were here, it's one of the largest educational online sources for learning to light off camera and it's free.
 
david1701 said:
nope if you think like a strobist you're a strobist

you can think like a studio guy and happen to be using flashguns and not studio heads, thats somat else entirely

I think like a strobist, i see almost everything as a potential light modifier and I like to screw around. I also like having lighting kit about just in case
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I don't see the difference between the two? How do you think like a strobist and not just a photographer?

p.s I don't think I'm related to POAH haha!

P.p.s I'm not taking it seriously it's just the phrase has always baffled me! It's an interesting discussion...
 
I hate the words 'strobe' and 'strobist' - the latter expecially. Strobe is just american for flash - we have our own word. What this guy who calls himself strobist is doing is nothing new - some of us have been doing that sort of thing for a long long time. The technology has changed but the theory hasn't. He's just got a band wagon going to make a few dollars. If you are a photographer then you learn how to light things - it's essential to photography - but there are many ways to do that - using 'off camera flash' is just one tool.
 
awp said:
What this guy who calls himself strobist is doing is nothing new - some of us have been doing that sort of thing for a long long time. The technology has changed but the theory hasn't. He's just got a band wagon going to make a few dollars.
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It's the name of his blog. Simple.

Yes, the technique has been around for quite some time, DH is not responsible for it's creation and neither does he claim it so but he has put a bloody good effort into it.

DH has simply made the practise extremely accessible and I for one am extremely grateful for it.

To be fair, I'm stumped with the whinging and complaints - it's free :cuckoo:
 
I saw a book called "Shooting People" while in a studio the other week. It was just lots of photos with a nice diagram of the lighting setup to each to show how it was done. I can't find it online though. :(
 
joecobbs said:
I don't see the difference between the two? How do you think like a strobist and not just a photographer?
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it's a mindset thing, v tricky to explain.

it's looking at a scene that could be shot perfectly well ambient and altering it to make it a bit better and have a different feel by adding a flash exposure to the ambient. I dunno I'm not communicating the idea in my head v well.
 
oh and I've gone miles off topic, we could set up a new thread to discuss this in talklighting and I'm sure a friendly mod would move the relevant posts....
 
awp said:
I hate the words 'strobe' and 'strobist' - the latter expecially. Strobe is just american for flash - we have our own word.
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Does that mean we should call ourselves "flashers"? :lol:
 
Ben-Whitehouse said:
:lol:

The last time I looked it was free to look at his blog
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but he does make off the ad revenue (so does tp in a lesser extent)

The fact that this resource is free and available has had a massive impact on smoothing the learning curve (as has digital) and making a lot of people better photographers than they were and raising the bar to a certain extent for some genres of photography

(I meant strobist btw, though tp has also improved a lot of peoples lives/shots)
 
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