Books on Lighting and Cinematography

[Andrew W]

I did this page for students looking to learn lighting. There's a bibliography at the top.

All the best

Andrew

My Cinematography Books Link (http://www.andrew-whitehurst.net/graduates.html)

[boomji]

hi,
1. jeremy birn's book is awsome on the cg side of things.

2. Cinematography: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers-Blain Brown
...also excellent.

3.subscribe to american cinematographer or buy them second hand...learn the language...better still take a simple course on photography(<<< this i have to do myself :p ).

b

[Ergi]

What i have in front of me at the office right now

"Painting with Light" John Alton
"Photographic Theory for the motion picture cameraman" Russell Campbell
"La Lumiere au Cinema" Fabrice Revault D'Allones (in french, but great if you know the language)
"The Art of Color" Johannes Itten
"Light Fantastic" Max Keller
"Lighting for Location Motion Pictures" Alan J. Ritsko

I will add some more when i get home

cheers

[DominikSusmel]

I'd recommend Vittorio Storaro's Writing with light. A truly great book on subject of cinematography:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2TZ53L89TX&isbn=1931788030&itm=1

[Ergi]

Thats interesting. I didnt know Storaro had a book out.

some more :

Goethe "Theory of Colours"
amazon.com link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0262570211/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6723507-4664917#reader-page)

"Visions of Light", dvd, documentary.
If you havent seen this or own it, you really should
llink to amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/630583685X/102-6723507-4664917?v=glance#product-details)

[Andrew W]

The Storaro book is about the size of my house (and almost as expensive). Lovely images though. There's a good (and cheaper) interview with the great man in "Masters of Light - Conversations with Cinematographers". Also there was a very nice feature on Michael Chapman in last month's American CInematographer magazine.

A

[Ergi]

Yep, there was a quite a pricetag on that one. Makes for a good lighters coffeetable book, together with the "Quo Vadis" book (pictures from the movie), to which i cant seem to find a link (found a cheap used one at a local bookstore)

Two more books by Kris Malkiewicz

link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Malkiewicz%2C%20Kris/102-6723507-4664917)

I dont own them but have taken a couple of workshops with Kris, and he is good. The books I think are more of an introductory type...

[Andrew W]

The film Lighting book is good, there's some very interesting anecdotes from the likes of James Wong Howe on solving problems out in the field. Don't own the other though. There's none to compare with "Painting With Light" by John Alton though. IMO.

A

[Grgeon]

Great list, thanks for the info. There seems to be a great deal on the art of lighting which is part of the art of cinematography, but what about composition and the art of moving the camera and placing the shots, etc...? I have shot by shot, which seems to entale this, but are there others?

Thx again,
George

[jeremybirn]

Besides FIlm Directing Shot by Shot, you might look at "The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques" and also "Technique of Film Editing" (by Karel Reisz, Gavin Millar) for that - remember these are all books that have been out for a few years, so you should be able to browse through them in any larger book store or library to see which you really like.

The "Visions of Light" DVD that Ergi mentioned is great, it's a compendium that's likely to start you viewing the full DVD's of some of the films it has clips and interviews from.

In fact, DVD's with optional audio commentary from the director and cinematographer are one of the best ways to learn about film (and the most enjoyable.) You used to be lucky to hear scene-by-scene comments from just a few directors like that in four years at film school, now you can rent so many movies and watch them over again with the commentary telling you what the director was doing or trying for or dealing with.

The Criterion Collection http://www.criterionco.com/ started this whole trend, initially with laser discs, and their DVD's are still some of the ones with the best commentary. But sometimes even movies that aren't classics have commentary that teaches you alot about filmmaking.

-jeremy

[GrahamHRoss]

If you relaly want to learn how to use camera and story together, the best textbook movie there is out there is Citizen Kane. Watch it a few dozen times and you'll have it down pat.

Seriously though, I've always believed that the best way to learn about how to use the camera and lighting is to watch a lot of movies. Books can only help you so much.

[Grgeon]

Thanks Jeremy and KungFu Hamster. Very helpful info. Time to buy some more dvds :)


Reason i asked for moving and setting of cameras is because i want to get in the field of previsualization, though I also need the other books on lighting for my own indie films :)

Thanks again for the info.

George

[3dSnail]

Thanx all for your info, and all the references, its helped me out, and i hope it'll help others. Quick question b4 i go, what is the cinematography bible?
Cheers :beer:

[Andrew W]

There really isn't one "must own" book. Personally I've always liked Painting WIth Light best, but I'm sure other people will have their own favourites.

"The American Cinemtographers Handbook" which is a small volume and costs 100USD deals with real cameras and lighting (technical problems not artistic ones) and is therefore proabably not what you're looking for right now. But beware, as it is often called the "bible of cinematography". I have a copy because I used to camera assist and it has useful information on film guages etc. if you work in film visual effects and need techie film information.

Try and browse through a few in a bookstore, I'm sure there'll be one that has what you need.

A

[Grgeon]

I had a question about Painting with Light... I was thinking of getting Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz, but seeing Andrew's enthusiasm about Painting with Light, i wanna know more about it. I've flipped through Film Lighting at the bookstore and Masters of Light as well, but can't seem to find Painting with Light to be able to check it out. Is it similar to Film Lighting or Masters of Light? Like does it have interviews with cinematographers and how they went about doing shots?

Thanks for the help,
George

P.S. Also gonna get Digital Lighting and Rendering. Seems like a lot of ppl like the Painting with Light and Digital Ligthing and Rendering combo :D

[Andrew W]

Painting With Light is by John Alton, a great cinematographer of the film-noir era. The book is his guide to placing lights to create certain moods, composing the shot and so on. It's all very practical down to earth advice which I think is particularly helpful for beginners.

By way of contrast, much as I love Vittorio Storaro all the interviews with him tend to focus on the psychology of light and so on, which whilst it's interesting and important, isn't so helpful for someone who wants to know how to light something to make it look scary for example.

Painting With Light is direct, no nonsense advice which is easy to read, has good examples and no I am not on comission for the Alton estate I promise. It's not really an interview book, it's a "how to" book.

Buy it, you won't regret it...

Andrew

[Ergi]

Also the best schooling that i have head is just watching the films of the great filmakers/cinematographers

Get the criterion dvds of Tarkovsky and Bergman. That right there should be equivalent to about 2-3 years of university (or more) : )

Also check Bela Tarr (if you can find it) link (http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/11/tarr.html)

Tarkovsky (http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/tarkovsky.html)

Bergman (http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/bergman.html)

of course theres many more, these are just a couple of my favourite (with some of the criterions you have interviews or mini documentaries also)

[Grgeon]

Andrew,
Thanks for the info on the book. Sounds like just the book I'm looking for.

Thanks for the links Ergi, very helpful info.

George

[Andrew W]

Just got my copy of the remastered "Sunrise" DVD. I had forgotten how amazing that film is visually. It's a must buy (my old VHS copy is very worn and now thankfully redundant). Of special interest to the likes of us is the special audio commentary from John Bailey ASC which deals with the wonderful lighting and composition on the movie and runs right the way through! Joy.

Since I've just finished the project I've been toiling over for the last 8 months or so I treated myself to my own copy of the Storaro book, and I fear I may not have done it justice in my comments above. It's simply stunning. The text is very "eye-opening" and gives a wonderful insight into how to see, light and shadow and so on whilst the images speak for themselves. My jaw hits the table on almost every page. He really is very very special.

Slightly off-topic but one day I wonder if we will see a CG person become an ASC (BSC whatever) or win a cinematography award? I kow Dennis Muren is an ASC but I suspect that's more for his miniatures work. I would immediately nominate Sharon Calahan from Pixar, who's work is a continual inspiration and just shows what artistry can be achieved with the computer.

Well, I'm off on holiday for a month or so, so I shan't be a regular poster for a bit. I'll check in every now and again to see what I've missed, but for a few weeks it's R and R. Can't wait...

A

[boomji]

Originally posted by Andrew W


Slightly off-topic but one day I wonder if we will see a CG person become an ASC (BSC whatever) or win a cinematography award? I kow Dennis Muren is an ASC but I suspect that's more for his miniatures work. I would immediately nominate Sharon Calahan from Pixar, who's work is a continual inspiration and just shows what artistry can be achieved with the computer.



A

hi,
is this what you are referring to...
Vittorio Storaro: Writing with Light: Volume 1: The Light
because there are othes as well...???

I'm going off on a bit of a tangent so buckle up :p

i feel it's not far when the reverse will happen i.e D.P's getting savvier with CG.
Softwares are geting better and more intuitive. realistic/real time lighting/radiosity is not that far away.

the industry will come full circle after all...The same production artists who have lost out to the CG wave will be using CG without knowing it or noticing it due to apps becoming easier and user friendly.artisans,gaffers,DP's...they'll be the ones using CG soon...and rightly so.

b

[Andrew W]

Originally posted by boomji
hi,
i feel it's not far when the reverse will happen i.e D.P's getting savvier with CG.
Softwares are geting better and more intuitive. realistic/real time lighting/radiosity is not that far away.

the industry will come full circle after all...The same production artists who have lost out to the CG wave will be using CG without knowing it or noticing it due to apps becoming easier and user friendly.artisans,gaffers,DP's...they'll be the ones using CG soon...and rightly so.

b

I agree to an extent. However, most DPs and people who work on set do it because they like the buzz of being on set etc etc. They are generally not the sort of people who would want to work in a studio/office environment. I think it's unlikely that we'll see the gaffers of the world chucking away their HMIs and sitting in front of a workstation. I used to camera assist and people on set are a very different breed to those of us who work in post-production.

On the other hand, I believe we're already seeing a shift in the budget digital backlot ie Sky Captain etc etc. The technology, not only of CG but of HD video capture is beginning to enable someone with technical savvy, imagination, and plenty of time to create almost whatever they want.

Where I disagree with you is that computing power and ease of use will always lag a little behind the "state of the art" which is what most of us in visual effects are trying to do. I can assure you if I had a built-in preset that did all I wanted I'd happily not spend the time writing them from scratch, but the fact of the matter is that generally on a project there will always be things you want to do that natively the software doesn't cater for, so you make your own. There's no way a GUI is going to be all things to all people - you'll always have to be a bit geeky I'm afraid.

Andrew

[Ergi]

I am with Andrew on this one. My father is a DP and although he understands and respects what we do,....he just gets too often pissed at computers, doesnt understand why programs must crash even if you paid that much, and i dont see him or any of his crew pulling cvs all night as we do.
One funny episode to illustrate some basic differences.....working on a commercial he tells me the actor clothes are too greenish. I say its not, heres the color picker, it IS grey. Answer: well make it more grey, looks green to me.

:scream: :shrug:

[boomji]

Originally posted by Andrew W
I agree to an extent. However, most DPs and people who work on set do it because they like the buzz of being on set etc etc. They are generally not the sort of people who would want to work in a studio/office environment. I think it's unlikely that we'll see the gaffers of the world chucking away their HMIs and sitting in front of a workstation. I used to camera assist and people on set are a very different breed to those of us who work in post-production.



...I'll try to elucidate a little more.What i meant was that software/hardware will get to a point where the dp's will be able to analyze the lighting on set for a shot before it's final.Their previz so to speak...as of now i'd think this...photogrammetry (360 deg plate) + radiosity = a very good approximation of what the lighting on set is and what could be changed. it's just not fast enough yet but will get there in about 3 years i feel.How far can it be before HMI'S and all electronic equipment can be controlled digitally so your software can talk to the lighting equipment and change accordingly...i'm fantasizing yes but my gut tells me it's going to happen.


apart from that geeks will still have their bums on the seat but it's going to be even more cut throat than ever.

ergi: it's not about pulling cv's all night...he uses a cell phone does he not...thats technology taken for granted.CG based previz will get to that point where he wont look at it in the usual cumbersome way things are now.

phewww !!! :D

i'll keep my conspiracy theories to my self :wise:

again andrew were you refering to this book
"Vittorio Storaro: Writing with Light: Volume 1: The Light"

thanks all.
b

[Ergi]

"How far can it be before HMI'S and all electronic equipment can be controlled digitally so your software can talk to the lighting equipment and change accordingly"


I dont know really how long it will take for the software to be able to move the C-stands around etc etc. Dont forget thats bascially how concerts are lit, through a main switchboard. Is it useful for film..? :shrug:


"photogrammetry + radiosity= a very good approximation of what the lighting"

I think thats a pretty far fetched idea, considering also that radiosity is supposed to mimic reality, while the goal in lighting a film scene is entirely different. Reality IS already there ready to be put on film if thats what you wish to do.


"CG based previz will get to that point where...."

I think that you (as I) are so excited about cg that are trying to put it to use even where it wouldnt make a whole lot of sense.

I still think that dp's dont (and wont for a long time,...much much more then 3 years in my opinion) be able to sit comfortably in our chairs. Would a painter from 2-3 centuries ago get really excited about cg and what it offers ? maybe, maybe not. Different jobs, different lifestyles, differnet art, different altogether

But we can get a good laugh out of this discussion and bet a beer (or two) . If you win we can drink it in a couple of years, ..if i win...then it will take longer. Ill pop one for the cause right now anyway :beer:

[boomji]

Originally posted by Ergi




But we can get a good laugh out of this discussion and bet a beer (or two) . If you win we can drink it in a couple of years, ..if i win...then it will take longer. Ill pop one for the cause right now anyway :beer:


hehehe...ok ergi i dont drink so you'll have to buy me a a good meal (I love good food :drool :) ... heineken ok with u ;)

b

[Andrew W]

Yes Storaro Part 1 The Light is the magnificent magnum opus I was referring to. Absolutely stunning stuff.

A

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