Books on cinematogrphy

I can't tell you what is "good", but I did read a LOT of the Amazon reviews and ended up purchasing a handful:

The Five C's Of Cinematography -mascelli *Haven't started reading yet, but apparently a classic still worth reading according to all the reviews.

New Cinematographers -ballinger *this one is a fun read so far!

Lighting for Film and Digital Cinematography -viera, dave & maria *So far this is turning out to be a good instructional type read, useful info, and perhaps from a perspective that is not totally mainstream

Matters of Light & Depth -lowell *Useful, lots of info

Placing Shadows -gloman, letourneau *so far so good, perhaps some of these are redundant, I probably could have done fine with three!

Film Lighting -malkiewicz **This one is good too, LOTS of comments from a lot of cinematographers about various scenarios.

The visual story -bruce block **haven't started yet, not really about equipment and which lights to use, appears to be more about concepts of the visual elements in telling a story.
 
I have also bought "The Five C's of Cinematography" and it is a great book. Very dense, tons of information, and all of the "basics". Basically this book is a great starting point for the rules to follow and break!

It is taking me a while to get through it, but the info is awesome.

J.D.
 
Malkiewicz also has a book called Cinematography that's more how to than his Film Lighting book (which I have and like). It goes into a few things you probably don't need to know if you are shooting video, (like film speeds, etc) but it's a great primer. He breaks down the gear, the basic shooting methods and set ups. I'd recommend it.
 
I'm a novice and am reading "The Five C's" as well. It's very good, although a little bit wordy -- I think the concepts could have been condensed a lot more. Still, it has great information and really teaches you to think like a cinematographer about setting up your shots. I also like the fact that it's not just targeted to dramatic productions -- the author makes a real effort to provide examples and show how the same concepts are essential to documentary, technical/scientific, and news type filming as well.

For lighting techniques, I'm also getting a lot out of John Jackman's "Lighting for Digital Video and Television." Well written, focussed on the underlying concepts of effective lighting, but also with real world practical examples.
 
Two of my favorites are "Painting with light" by John Alton. He was the master of film Noir lighting and this book really gives a good look at how he went about getting the look. Kinda dated as far as equipment, but still a fascinationg book.

My other favorite is "Masters of Light" by Dennis Schaefer and Larry Salvato. This contains interviews with outstanding DPs and while it does not give alot of technique, it give great insight into how these DPs work. I highly recomend it.

Here is the link:

http://www.theasc.com/cgibin/store/...=Bookstore;The DPs Bookshelf;Cinematographers

Good luck
 
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