Book Review: Still Life and Special Effects Photography

Still Life and Special Effects Photography
Roger Hicks, Frances Schultz
RotoVision

This book is almost the direct opposite of Light - Science and Magic (see other comment). It is a series of examples of studio photos with explanations of exactly (yes, really exactly) how each shot was set-up. It tells you nothing about theories of light, but it tells you everything about how to set up a specific shot to get a specific effect. It is actually a collection of shots from commercial photographers who explain what set-up, what lighting, what camera they used to achieve the effect on that particular picture. Many of the examples are quite amazing - both as to the effects achieved and as to the means to get there (sometimes immensely complex and sometimes astonishingly simple). A book for the one who like to look at things and try to achieve similar effects. Or for the one who sometimes wonders "how could he do that?". Very interesting and particularly useful for the dedicated studio (still life!) photographer. This is what Amazon says about it: "The lighting techniques used by top international photographers are explored here, with descriptions accompanying each feature and an illustration showing the set-up. It also looks at special effects such as montage, multi-exposure and using mirrors and props." The person who recommended it said (not very eloquently, but to the point I guess): "this is very good".