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fraserad
10-26-2008, 08:00 AM
I'm interested in learning lighting but I have a few questions about where to start? Could anyone recommend some books / tutorials / DVDs that are interesting? Also i was wondering what you guys would light when you were beginning to learn about lighting? Did you model the sets / scenes yourself or just download unlit models?

Any info would be great

thanks
mister3d
10-26-2008, 10:17 AM
You need many things. In general learning lighting takes quite some time.

I highly reccomend the Lighting challenges to practice as they are created by a lighting expert and reflect the most common different lighting "challenges". Moreover the geometry is already there, and a friendly community will help you. http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=185

You need both cg and traditional lighting books. The reason is that it's imposible to cover all important aspects of lighting in a single volume, and cg lighting has a lot of technical issues. It's not enough to read about cg lighting only. Lighting is lighting, it doesn't matter in which medium, the rules are the same. This one about cg lighting is probably the best (i've seen different cg lighting books) http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Lighting-Rendering-2nd-digital/dp/0321316312/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225012172&sr=8-1

Lighting is not only about proper form revealing and turning your quality renderer settings high, it's a poetry of your image. So this one is probably the best about the poetry of lighting and its message. The very old book but is still one of the most important for a lighter. http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Light-John-Alton/dp/0520089499/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225012406&sr=1-1

But this is simply not enough. There are such aspects as the interaction of lighting with different surfaces and proper ways to light them, like metals, glass, people, polished etc. surfaces. This one is good about this (no, really good) http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Introduction-Photographic-Lighting/dp/0240808193/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225012295&sr=1-2

If I were you, I would not miss this book about composition as it is related to lighting too. You create image, image has a message, and composition is highly related. http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Eye-Composition-Design-Digital/dp/0240809343/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225012509&sr=1-1

Also lighting is related to photography, so check this book - the best explanation about technical aspects of photography http://www.amazon.com/Langfords-Basic-Photography-Eighth-photographers/dp/0240520351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225012597&sr=1-1


Those are the best books i've seen and for me they are a must. I only pity that I bought them not too long ago. I wish I had them from the beginning of studying cg.
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