Painting With Light

Painting With Light

Painting With Light was the first book on cinematography written by a major Hollywood cameraman. Published in 1949 and now put back into print, it is one of the best and most unusual books in the field. Written with good humor and full of helpful diagrams and photographs, it is certainly the most entertaining. Its technological discussions are dated, but Painting With Light remains relevant because its primary focus is on light itself and the many complex ways the camera crew can manipulate it. This new edition contains a biographical introduction by Todd McCarthy, who describes how the man who shot the strikingly colorful ballet sequence in An American in Paris also helped define the stark, haunting style of the film noir.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Classic historical instruction, a must for cinephiles
Not your average “how to” manual, this is more of a collectors item than practical advice for working cinematographers. I bought it to study the history of film lighting, and for that it was perfect and an ideal short read that isn’t terribly technical. Some of the advice is still useful today, but lacks much of the practical working knowledge that most DP’s take for granted. Still - I recommend it to all photographers and lighters as a solid foundation book to build from.

4 Stars Learn To Walk
This book is really great. Written in the fifties it still seems very relevant to me today.

It explains very basic items like cookies, gobos etc. and basic concepts like how to let objects appear to be three dimensional.

I looked at the book from the eyes of a still photographer. Some content was only relevant to cinematography. Personally, I even liked those parts as they gave me an behind the scenes look into movie lighting, which output I see every day.

A revised version would be very much appreciated.

4 Stars The Lighting Bible
This is the “Lighting Bible”. The book has a lot of out dated facts but, is great for setting up shots on a black & white shoot. John Alton was a master of his craft and it really shows in this book. I gave the book a 4 out of 5 stars because it doesn’t apply to most film making today but, if you ever need to make a period piece, black & white feature, or “noir” style film; this is a recommend reading.

5 Stars My husband is the filmmaker and enjoyed this book.
I bought it for him as a gift, he turns to it from time to time even after his first read through.

1 Star book written in the 40’s
If you are looking for Hollywood history this is the right book.. it was written in the 40’s!!

but I wasn’t interested in history, I would like to learn something about lighting, the book is about cinema lights.. of the 40’s… you can always learn something but… I’d rather prefer something more near to me…

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