Just Available Light—Techniques for Digital Photographers

Emphasizing the usefulness of ambient lighting, this guidebook gives unlimited access to the methods used by professionals. Starting with a discussion of the advantages and challenges of working with natural light, the text then explores the positive impact it can have on a photographer’s creativity and how to deal with the compromises that using available light sometimes require. Examples from this preliminary section emphasize learning through experimentation. Next, the book explores camera settings including white balance, contrast, and saturation. The authors demonstrate that thoughtful adjustment to these settings can yield images that more closely reflect the mood of the scene and minimize postproduction editing. Several chapters deal with modifying available light through the delicate use of reflectors to bounce light, polarizers to cut glare, and the proper procedure for adding neutral density filters to control brightness. With the techniques presented, photographers will learn to use available light to its fullest advantage.

Rod Deutschmann is a photographer and a photography instructor in the San Diego public school system. He is an award-winning marine-combat correspondent and the managing editor for the Camp Pendelton Scout, the award-winning Marine Corps newspaper. Robin Deutschmann is a professional photographer. They are the cofounders of the San Diego In Focus Learning Center, a photography training center, and the coauthors of several books, including Just One Flash, Multiple Flash Photography, Off-Camera Flash, and Painting with a Lens. They live in San Diego.