One of the things I’ve mentioned in my training videos, articles and in forthcoming tutorials, is the quality of lighting and how important that is. Just watching videos like those from Gkaster and Alex Roman, we can see that the quality and character of the light plays a huge role, not just in traditional photography but in motion graphics and 3D renderings as well.
I was thinking about this over the weekend and it dawned on me that I should mention a really fantastic educational resource for lighting, which will be useful to anyone who is an aspiring photographer, cinematographer or effects artist. There is a great book written on Lighting, called Light: Science & Magic, from Focal Press (one of my favorite publishers for creative books, along with Peachpit and Lark). This book does a fantastic job of explaining characteristics of light and methods for manipulating and controlling in in specific situations. It’s definitely worthwhile, especially if you’re a student and your prof’s chosen text isn’t really brimming with good information on lighting. Few texts are in my experience. :)
