2*3 Photos

Photography is all about light. Exposing a sensor or strip of film to light is how an image is made. So one can only imagine the number of books written covering this very subject. Add one more to the pile with O’Reilly’s Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers (Practical Artistry) by Harold Davis.

This book is specifically geared toward the digital photographer, but almost all the ideas can be used for old school film photogs as well.

The book covers a lot of topics including evaluation of light, aperture and shutter speed and an explanation of ISO. There are also chapters on using a digital darkroom and some post processing tips.

Overall the book does a fine job of explaining the basic techniques of lighting and exposure, but it really does try to cover a bit too much. The book does not go in too much detail on any one aspect which left me wanting a lot more.

Understandably the book is a light read with some amazing images (and each image has a brief explanation of settings used to achieve the image) and a good refresher for someone who already has a grasp of lighting and exposure, but if you are looking for a good starting point on lighting and exposure, this may not be the book for you.