Book - Reflections

The problem with most books on Cinematography, is that they're written for film, not video. Haven't read this book, but I would bet a $million, it's the same.

Now a lot of the core principals of lighting and composition are the same, but video is different, particularly when consider the contrast range of video and exposure settings. In video we use Zebra settings and a waveform monitor for accurate exposure settings, not light meters (although you can) but most books on cinematography don't give any insight into how to do this.

I have a huge library collected over more than 15 years. If you want a practical book that moves from novice to advanced video production, that won't waste your time on film emulsions and light meter settings, I recommend "Lighting for Video & Television" by John Jackman. Tons of info on equipment, setups and technique. Masters of Lght & Depth by Ross Lowell is very good, but overall, not as useful as this one.

If you want to expand from there to cinematic technique "Cinematography" by Blain Brown for concepts, and the "Set Lighting Technicians Handbook" by Harry Box for practical techniques, and equipment.

For interviews with cinematography legends including Nestor Almendros, Gordon Willis, Laszlo Kovacs, Conrad Hall and many more - don't go past "Masters of Light" by Dennis Schaefer and Larry Salvato - a great read.

Enjoy,

Phil Brown
 
Appreciate your input Phil and agree with you 100% so some of the tech info may not be relevant.

Though from what I understand from the preview of the above book, its basically 21 cinematoghraphers talking about particular circumstances they faced, what look they needed to acheive and how they did it with supporting lighting diagrams. Much the same as you get in some articles of AC mag. Sort of like a reference for circumstance.
 
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