One Light Flash: Professional-Quality Lighting on a Budget Paperback – February 7, 2012

I purchased this with a few other books about flash and this was my least favorite. I'd been a natural light photographer for years and took the plunge into flash photography without realizing what a difference it would be, so I ordered a lot of books as learning material. This book read more as a series of essays on how he took photographs rather than actually INSTRUCTING how to go about taking photographs. I noticed lots of general statements without any meat that made this truly a beginner or armchair photographer's book. If you just want to know enough to talk in conversation with a photographer perhaps or it's your very very first book about flash photography, then this might be a fabulous book for you. But because I had SOME experience and a handful of other much more "instructional" type books, this was just frustrating to me. To top that all off, I thought some of the photographs were really bad... and I've never really thought that about photographs in an actual published book. I've always kind of accepted them, even if they weren't my style just because they were IN PRINT. But here a few struck me as just really poor which had never happened to me before.There are to me two types of "how to" photography books. There is this kind, which kind of waxes on philosophically about how one generally might go about photographing this or that with this or that tool. And there is the kind that really instructs you. This kind says something like "I used a softbox for glowing wrapping light" (Well duuhh) while a truly instructional type says "For this head and shoulders shot I chose a 20" softbox because the size is proportionately large for the small distance, I'm using it at 45 degrees and I'm feathering the light to the side to really get the light to bounce to the other side of her face." For some, the first is useful because it is the introduction to a topic that perhaps one knows noting about. And perhaps someone might say that the amount of instruction I want is too much hand holding and I should just go out and experiment myself. But I do want to know what an expert does and why. Why this angle and not this? What effect were they going for and how did this get them there? Why do you always use this particular angle? Etc.YES it's not for absolute beginners with a Point and Shoot and on camera flash.But no, it's not for serious enthusiasts who have already put lots of time into their research into the subject and are looking for hints to really stretch the one flash they scrimped and saved to be able to buy. (The title kind of had me thinking it might fit that bill!)I can see this book being excellent for a HS photography student just starting out with dad's SLR and external flash. It would probably be really good for that.

I have a flash, use it mostly on-camera in automatic mode. Very often, images taken in that way look worse than I expected: flat, boring, with ugly reflections or ill-exposed.This book "One Light Flash" provides lots of information and ideas how to improve flash photography without buying expensive lighting equipment.The main part of the book discusses various lighting situations (indoor, outdoor, in full sunlight or overcast, at night, etc.) and photographic genres (wedding, fashion, urban, action, etc.) Each of these is illustrated with great example photographs. The setup for these photographs is always explained in text, sometimes with a diagram.The book concludes with a series of case studies, more advanced situations which are explained in detail. How to bring detail to a flat sky, how to get a black background in a normally illuminated room, how to fake a shaft of sunlight to mention just a few. I found these studies often surprising and very instructive.This book is not meant for beginners. Most of the photograph setups require off-camera flash as this usually gives the best results. Furthermore, various modifiers are used, like softboxes, umbrellas etc. If you expect to use your flash only on the birthday party of your little nephew, this book will be of little value.All in all, I learned a lot from this book and am eager to work more with my flash, but in a more creative way than I used to do.

Very informative and helpful in creating great photos with a single flash.Book arrived on time and in excellent condition.Very Pleased

The book is easy to understand and truly does help with using just one light (so many want to teach you multiple lighting right away and that is not what I am looking for).Lovely photos to help show the look you will get with the described lighting.Still enjoying learning from this book

Very interesting view points and a few new ideas to ponder upon. Recommended read for newbies and armatures diving into speed light photography.

Good info like the way it is written. I liked the photographs so one can see the way the light looks.

I use it to help re-energize my little gray cells when not shooting flash in a long while....A good review book.

Love the Book it's real simple to follow and Learn the lighting set ups and it's give "BEGINNERS" a simple 101 basic lighting overview.

Good written advice accompanied with excellent illustrations.This book can act as an inspiration when one is struggling with potential problems. Reccommended.

非常に、よかった。また、購入したい。対応も非常によかった。うん