One for the photographers amongst you

I like taking pictures n that. I think I'm quite good at it; but I want to get better, particularly in regards to use of flash and artificial lighting. Practise and experimentation aside, can anyone recommend a book or course which they've found useful to their progression? I have a good understanding of all the basics so looking for something at an intermedite level if that's not too vague...

Ansel Adams : The Negative (and possiblt the Camera and the Printing one)

A lot of theory in there that applies not just to analogue photo taking but is equally applicable to digital.

http://www.photofusion.org/education/coursesworkshops/camerastudio.htm

based in Brixton.
nice place,

With regards to Flash and artificial lighting, I find both the www.strobist.blogspot.com blog and http://www.joemcnally.com/blog both have a wealth of information, strobist particularly has a whole catalogue of education stuff on off camera lighting. Joe Mcnallys blog I find just completely inspiring, the guy has more talent in his little finger than most people do in their entire bodies.

Joe Mcnally also has some really good books available on his website, and strobist has a DVD collection thats pretty good to.

Ansel Adams : The Negative (and possiblt the Camera and the Printing one)

A lot of theory in there that applies not just to analogue photo taking but is equally applicable to digital.

Ansel Adams was famous for his photography, and to me, especially working out the brightness of the moon for his Moonrise Over Hernandez shot.

But flash??? No, Ansel Adams was not a big user, and I'd not recommend him at all for learning about flash. Its too old school.

I manually work out flash-to-ambient coefficient, but I'm a real relic.

Ansel Adams was famous for his photography, and to me, especially working out the brightness of the moon for his Moonrise Over Hernandez shot. But flash??? No, Ansel Adams was not a big user, and I'd not recommend him at all for learning about flash.

I manually work out flash-to-ambient coefficient, but I'm a real relic.

So you actually bother with a light meter?
I've never owned a light meter, used one once, decided I didn't need it, and around 95% of my shots are heavily lit mostly with 2-4 flashes.
Only ever worth a damn when you wanna shoot film IMO.

So you actually bother with a light meter?
I've never owned a light meter, used one once, decided I didn't need it, and around 95% of my shots are heavily lit mostly with 2-4 flashes.
Only ever worth a damn when you wanna shoot film IMO.

Correct on all counts CrazyJames.

1. Yes I use a light-meter, as most of my cameras are mechanical, and some don't have meters built in.
   
2. Unless I'm mucking about with a mobile-phone camera, I only shoot film.
   
3. My photography tends to be outdoors, as I never use a studio (well, not a purpose-built one).
   

Cool, yeah for some film camera's a meter is necessary for sure, for me its just an unecessary piece of equipment that takes up valuable space when transporting shit around all the time, i'm never in the studio either, everything I do is on location apart from the occasional bit of product photography (which I do have some kind of mobile studio setup for, backgrounds etc).

Elinchrom used to have an online guide to flash. http://www.elinchrom.com/

But here's another anyway. http://www.theflashcentre.com/training-courses-c18.html

Ansel Adams was famous for his photography, and to me, especially working out the brightness of the moon for his Moonrise Over Hernandez shot.

But flash??? No, Ansel Adams was not a big user, and I'd not recommend him at all for learning about flash. Its too old school.

I manually work out flash-to-ambient coefficient, but I'm a real relic.

There is a whole chapter in the Negative on artificial lighting (including flash) which he used extensively for his indoor work.

True, but in my opinion (which could be very wrong), its outdated. I use total manual calculations, but I doubt anybody wants to learn that now.

Also he was much more famous for, and gained more recognition for his outdoor work really....from what I know anyway.

GA2G, I think taking the time to perform calculations for lighting schemes is kinda redundant with digital, when most experienced people can guess individual flash power levels needed within 2-4 shots.

I like taking pictures n that. I think I'm quite good at it; but I want to get better, particularly in regards to use of flash and artificial lighting. Practise and experimentation aside, can anyone recommend a book or course which they've found useful to their progression? I have a good understanding of all the basics so looking for something at an intermedite level if that's not too vague...

If you want to experiment with off camera flash, equipment wise the cheapest way is to get started is to pick up the following:
A sync lead
A hotshoe flash
A half decent lightstand stand (manfrotto 092B is a good bit of kit)
And an all in one umbrella. (shoot through and reflective)
Then get experimenting.

The above can be bought for very little cash compared to proper studio flashes, and you can still achieve very professional looking results, there are also a wealth of really good light modifiers (softboxes, snoots, etc) out there available for hotshoe flashes.
Many of Joe Mcnallys images for instance, were lit exclusively with hotshoe flashes.

Cheers for the info all. I have a SB-600 (long since learned that the on-camera flash is wack) - might invest in a sync cord or one of them fancy transmitters innit.

Cheers for the info all. I have a SB-600 (long since learned that the on-camera flash is wack) - might invest in a sync cord or one of them fancy transmitters innit.

Pocketwizards are about as good as it gets, however elinchrom skyports are a really good cheaper alternative.