Aug 202013
Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It: Learn Step by Step How to Go from Empty Studio to Finished Image (Voices That Matter)
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, YOU’LL LEARN ALL THREE ASPECTS OF WHAT IT TAKES TO CREATE STUNNING PORTRAITS
(HINT: IT’S NOT JUST THE LIGHTING)
Scott Kelby, the world’s #1 best-selling author of photography books, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine, and Publisher of the just-released Light It magazine, has reinvented how lighting books are written by finally revealing the entire process from start to finish. You see everything from the complete lighting
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Awesome Book! love the step by step + looks amazing on the Kindle,
When I noticed that i could buy the full kindle version now, before it’s hit stores i jumped right on this, i’ve been reading Kelby’s Blog + watching “The Grid” video podcast that he does and been looking forward to this book, i couldn’t make it to the tour he just did so the book is a nice substitute.
I’ve always enjoyed his writing style, and he answers alot of questions I’ve had as a semi-pro newbie is a way that i can understand; and i must say that on my PC Monitor it’s formatted perfectly, i can scroll from shot to shoot and see how it evolves step by step; i think i may prefer this over having a hardcopy.
I’d strongly recommend this to someone like me trying to figure out the best way to use your lights to create stunning images; also the procedure to really make them “pop” in your photoshop post production.
I like the detail about each shoot so you can really see what is going on; and the contact sheets were a great idea.
EDIT: the kindle version is slightly annoying b/c of the size of the images, you can’t really zoom in and see them in great detail , as the other reviewer pointed out this is a bit disappointing.. particularly since the kindle edition is more expensive than the book, the content it still excellent but i did find i wanted to zoom in close than I could.
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About 80% Retouch It, 15% light it, 5% shoot it,
I’ll start by saying I’m a big fan of Kelby’s books – they’re very easy to read (mostly because they’re filled with photos and minimal writing opposed to the opposite!) and you usually get some new information in a non-technical way that’s easy to understand.
Unfortunately, I’m kind of disappointed by this one — while called “Light it, Shoot it, Retouch it”, the majority of the book revolves around how to fix the images in photoshop (not too big of a surprise, since Kelby is a ‘photoshop guy’ before a ‘photographer’.
I bought the Kindle version (for use on the iPad) and it looks great – images are clear, large and easy to see. I will say that I’d only use it on a Kindle Fire or iPad (the black-and-white kindles will lose a lot from the book, since it’s so image-heavy). If you have one of the above though, this is a great way to save a little money and have a portable version “on the go” wherever you’re at.
So the premise for the book is great – they show you a final image, then the lighting setup/camera info and finally the editing to get it there. If you read the free sample chapter here you’ll only see the final image, lighting setup and camera information.. this is a bit misleading as about 80% of the content is actually in the editing of each image.
For each “look” you get a handful of views of the lighting setup, which is a great idea! An overhead shot showing the model, background, lights, camera, etc.. (plus some side-shots to see more detail and positioning). For each lighting setup/style, you get 1 image which that chapter will focus on (creating it from the lighting to camera settings to photoshop work).
The included chapters/looks are:
Clamshell Lighting, High-contrast lighting, dramatic glamour lighting, lens-flare lighting, using ring flash for fashion lighting, edgy lighting, full-length fashion lighting, soft glamour lighting, fashion side lighting, lighting for compositing, dramatic side lighting, 1940′s hollywood-style lighting.
The entire book pretty much revolves around studio shooting (the exception being the fashion side lighting setup, which is done in a house-location) – while this might seem somewhat obvious for the book, a number of shots do show what looks like an “on location” background (spoiler alert – that’s all photoshop).
The setups use between 1-4 lights each and a number of modifiers (a ringflash, diffusers, reflectors, grids, softboxes, egg-crates, strip-banks, octobox, continuous lights, strobes, beauty dishes, backdrops and more — some take it a little further with fog-machines, hair fans and additional lighting). The funny part is that the book starts with “You don’t have to spend a ton of money to get these looks” (which then goes on to say you shouldn’t cheap on flash modifiers/accessories). It’s also worth noting that a number of photoshop tools in here are specific to CS5 (the latest version), so if you’re using CS4 or previous you won’t be able to follow along with all of these.
For the lighting setups, Scott includes the power settings of each strobe – if you’re trying to recreate this look exactly, this is probably helpful.. but for anyone else, seeing “This strobe is 2.6 and this one is 3.9 and this is 4.2 power” isn’t going to help everyone. It would have been great if a ratio would have been used (“This light is half-power of this light and the rear light is double the power of the rest”). If you don’t use the same lights he does, the power levels (2.6, 3.9, 4.2) probably won’t do you too much good.
There is an “add-on” chapter for using a hotshoe flash instead of strobes, and 1 chapter showing continuous lighting, but for the most part this book only uses strobes (Elinchrom).
The “Shoot it” part is very brief on each chapter – showing you the shutter speed, lens, focal length, aperture and ISO. None of this was really helpful, especially since there was no explanation (why the 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on some shots and the 24-70mm 2.8 on others? Why 130mm, why 24mm? why that aperture?)
After this, you get a LONG section on post processing the image. I’ll admit, there are some real cool tips in here (for sharpening/contrast), but I was also very surprised by how basic some were (in a “Really? That’s the best way? I came here looking for a better way to avoid doing that!” way). There is also a LOT of morphing – model have an odd bump on their head? lets re-shape that. bald spot? we can add some hair there. With the amount of processing on each shot, this seems like a good book for the person who wants ONE final shot from a shoot, but not for the person who will be going through 100 images from a shoot and editing 40 of them. I was hoping for a way to get “that shot” out of camera, not a way to go in after the fact and fix it. Some stuff could easily be avoidable (shooting a full-body model shot on a 5-foot wide backdrop, then needing to fix it…
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He makes everything seem simple and worth trying,
This is a very well done, visual, and detailed, book. He shows and tells everything. There are photos for every aspect of the shot, from every angle, including from the ceiling looking down, so you can really envision how the set was constructed, how close the lights were to the model and each other.
He shows you the back of the camera, his exact settings including: aperture priority, ISO, f-stop, shutter speed, lens and focal length. He explains, and shows you where he focused his lights, what light modifiers he used, his power settings, and how to adapt that to your lights.
On the retouching, he takes you step-by-step through the camera raw and photo process. Each step is accompanied by a supporting photo of the screen, I would say screen grab, but it looks to be higher quality
. He includes keyboard shortcuts and explains why he is making a particular adjustment. For instance, he takes the recovery slider to the point where the model’s face is properly exposed, but doesn’t worry about the reflection on metal, or the light bulbs being blown out.
He demonstrates many different photographic/ lighting looks, and they are all very different:
* A classic high key beauty shot
* An edgy rock-n-roll shot, this one had some cool photoshop techniques I hadn’t seen, and am looking forward to trying
* A dramatic beauty shot, with lots of contrast and shadows
* Three light lens flare. I would call this one a slightly over-exposed with cool image in sunglasses shot.
* Ring light with another cool sunglasses effect
* 3-light sports setup (masculine edgy lighting)
* 1-light full-length fashion shot, to name just a few
I like the fact that he explains how you can do this without spending a fortune, and that he includes several male shots, and doesn’t limit himself to just polished female model beauty shots.
He even includes a separate chapter where he explains how to do all the exact same shots with speedlights.
He includes a gear guide that shows the exact tools he used in the book with pictures and descriptions, right up to the adapter rings and transmitters.
Kelby salts the book with his usual off the cuff humor, which I enjoy. The book, amazingly, moves very quickly, is an easy read, and will be an excellent reference book. He has the uncanny ability to make everything seem easy. And, if you follow his instructions, it probably will be.
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