The Complete Guide to Night & Low Light Digital Photography.jpgThe Complete Guide to Night & Low Light Digital Photography

Subject aside, this has to be arguably the best-written, best-constructed manual on the delicate art of digital photography I have ever seen.

On the face of it, the manual sets out to be a tome of tuition on the tricky techniques required to shoot at night and in low light. And it achieves that aim.

Author Michael Freeman not only tells you how to do it, but why you do it in the manner he suggests — along with the technological reasons behind his approach. Talk about thorough!

An example: in explaining the effect of sensor blooming of highlights in city shots, Freeman points out that the artifact occurs because the photo sites on the CCD fill up the adjacent wells. To fix the problem he suggests various cures, including the use of Photoshop’s RAW converter and its Defringer function.

And more: when the light is low and a slow shutter speed is engaged, attention must be paid to the tricky balance between the subject’s distance from the lens, its speed and angle of approach plus the lens’ focal length, aperture and final image size required. Into this mix is introduced the challenges of hand-holding the camera plus techniques to minimize camera shake. Follow Freeman’s advice and you should improve your action photography.

A detailed explanation of the various camera stabilizing systems will come in handy, even before you lay down the plastic to acquire your first DSLR. The relative merits of Canon and Nikon’s lens stabilizing approach are compared to the sensor-shifting methods employed by Sony and others.

There’s much more, including a long list of custom applications that will minimize or even cure the effects of movement. Then, to round out the message, there is a no-nonsense inspection of High Dynamic Range techniques … if you haven’t immersed yourself in HDR methods you haven’t yet faced a real challenge!

As I said, one of the best ‘how-to’ books on the market and useful to experts and novices in the digital imaging businesses.

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