Book review: Photography at Night

Here is one more book that I picked up from the library, and it was something that I didn't expect really, being me who is one in the era of digital SLRs, while this book was mostly discussing on analog SLRs and analog films, or what is also called roll films.

Nonetheless, there is immense information that you can find here. Why is that so? My friend and I would usually go on a discussion, and while there is a ton of preset or auto settings in today's DSLRs, what would set you apart later on is how good you make use of the latest DSLR units set to manual mode, or program mode, at times.

And when we 'look back' and think, how good were these guys who would be able to come up with sophisticated or simply outstanding photographs - which was then using all manual and all analog SLRs - we can only say that they are the best of their times.

As has been said, this book deals mainly on analog SLRs and roll films, and how things are done in the dark room when printing form the negatives, and how certain manipulations are done to alter or enhance prints.

And one topic it has which is quite a challenge in itself, even with digital SLRs of nowadays: Photography at Night.

Again, the full title of the book is Photography at Night, Getting the most from low-light conditions by Richard Newman

I'm copying the back cover text of the book. Here it is:

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Photographing at night is an exciting challenge. All the normal rules of daylight photography are borkena dn the extreme contrasts in light levels allow you to create dramatic and evocative images. Photography at Night is a comprehensive guide to night photography, covering all the aisthetic and technical aspects of using conventional and digital cameras.

• Includes advice on choosing equipment and finding your own style
• Features inspirational portfolios from professional photographers, illustrating the range of effects that can be achieved
• Specific assignments send the phtographer out into the night to improve his or her skills and technique
• Packed with advice on how to get the best results from each assignment, and how to use the knowledge gained to improve future work
• Covers shootign with conventional black-and-white and color film, as well as digital photographic techniques

In one of the pages, I find it quite useful to know that using ISO 1600 compared to using ISO 400 then pushed to ISO 1600 during print processing yields a completely different (and better) result.

Then, in another part, Newman says this:

Stage

"Photographing artists on stage is an exciting and rewarding field of night and low-light photography -- but be aware that this is the artist's stage, not the photographer's, so the image-maker must remain out of the way and out of sight."

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What's your say on this book?

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