Learning to work with light is an important milestone in every photographer’s career, and the ability to craft light to fit your vision for an image is a skill that cannot be overrated. Most often, that crafting of light is spoken of in terms of the quality and quantity of...
Read More
Learning to work with light is an important milestone in every photographer’s career, and the ability to craft light to fit your vision for an image is a skill that cannot be overrated. Most often, that crafting of light is spoken of in terms of the quality and quantity of light. But there is an important, third component of light that heavily influences the final look of the image: the color of light. In Chroma: A Photographer’s Guide to Lighting with Color, photographer Nick Fancher helps you elevate your game when it comes to introducing the bold, creative, and intentional use of color into your work.
Whether you’re using a high-powered strobe or a small hotshoe flash, Chroma is for you. Nick begins with a discussion of color theory, gels, and white balance, then examines how to determine which colors complement your subject matter (whether that’s people or products). He moves on to cover topics such as:
-
- Balancing, mixing, and overpowering ambient light with artificial light
-
- Layering colors for unique color combinations
-
- Mixing hard and soft light to achieve extremely rich color
-
- Lighting detail and texture
-
- Modifier options, such as ring flash, snoots, barn doors, softboxes, and filters
-
- Gobos to control the light
-
- Post-processing for vibrant, powerful colors
-
- How (and why) to light with color, even when the end goal is a black and white image
Illustrated throughout with innovative and expressive imagery, Chroma also includes behind-the-scenes photos, lighting diagrams, and Lightroom settings so you can follow along from the initial concept through to the final edit.
Read Less
bennetmak (verified owner)
This is another good book from NICK. I did read his “Studio Anywhere 1” and then “Studio Anywhere 2”. CHROMA is further application of his lighting concept especially on the technique on applying HARD LIGHT with colour. Before this book, I was scared to use hard light and very confused with the colour management in photography. I did learn a lot from this book and give me a lot of inspiration on using hard light on other photography. Thank you NICK and Rockynook!
wepsphoto
Chroma explores the creative use of color when lighting portraits. The images in the book’s galleries well-illustrate Fancher’s manipulations of colored lighting through the use of filters and white balance.
The first several chapters are excellent summaries of color theory, post-production techniques and the basic, inexpensive gear required to pursue Fancher’s looks. The chapters that follow read like a journal of Fancher’s experimental work- written in the first person, he explains concepts and tools including shutter drag, gobos, and the use of projections. The lighting during the shoot is the primary focus of the text, though post-production techniques are also utilized to “clean up” and better control the extreme colors that are inherently hard to shoot as desired.
The “look” that Fancher pursues is something you’ll either find appealing or not- it’s nearly all portraiture, but not at all the standard portraiture that most photographers pursue. The harsh, over-saturated, and often low-key images are interesting and certainly demand patience and time-intensive experimentation to achieve.
While the look is not of interest to me, I appreciate the creativity and experimental spirit that Fancher displays in the book. The works are artsy, moody and unique- and the process of achieving them will certainly help one to develop both an eye and the technical expertise to become stronger at portrait lighting.
jefforns
I read this book because this is a type of photography, colored light, that I have not tried in my photographic career.
That said, this is a fantastic reference book on the subject of ‘light’; which is the essence of our art.
Every photographer should have this book in their library for reference as the beginning of the book is about light theory whether white or color. Mr. Fancher explain the equipment needed and the placement and effects he can achieve with this equipment in a very easy to understand manner.
As always, the text and images are a beautiful trademark of Rocky Nook Books.
I look forward to playing around with this technique of lighting.