![Capturing Mood etc Capturing Mood, Ambience & Dramatic Effects [Book Review]](http://digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Capturing-Mood-etc.jpg "Capturing Mood, Ambience & Dramatic Effects [Book Review]")
There are plenty of occasions when we’ve taken a photo that is unique, personal and very expressive of a moment, a person, a place, an event. Technical quality in these situations frequently goes out the window.
Author of Capturing Mood, Ambience & Dramatic Effects, Joseph Meehan, calls these images “keepers” or “just great photographs.” Beginning at the end of the process he unpicks the subject and explains how you can shoot that great picture yet still give it some degree of polish and a technical edge. The first point he makes is “to interpret rather than just record a subject …” But t’ain’t easy!
A useful chapter deals with the qualities of light: how to deal with colour casts; the effect of varying colour balance throughout the day … and how to deal with the wide variations of artificial light sources: fluoros, tungsten, sodium lamps etc.
Other topics: contrast; the role of High Dynamic Range; the direction and intensity of light; ISO speeds; aperture and shutter settings. Following on the latter topic, a useful table indicates the optimum shutter speed to capture subjects with some degree of blurr: 1/15 to 1/4 second for walkers; 1/30 to 1/60 second for fast movement like cars. Note: these are suggested shutter speeds to capture the subject with an indication of motion … not the ideal speed to capture the action with sharpness.
And this is the key to the book: it’s all about rules and how to bend them in the quest for expression.
A mountain of useful info. Great book for the ‘mood makers.’
Author: J Meehan.
Publisher: Lark Books.
Distributor: Capricorn Link. 190 pages.
ISBN 13 978 1 60059 577 6.
Price: Currently Available at Amazon for $29.95 (27% off)
Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.
![dpsbook Capturing Mood, Ambience & Dramatic Effects [Book Review]](http://digital-photography-school.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/dpsbook.png "Capturing Mood, Ambience & Dramatic Effects [Book Review]")
Capturing Mood, Ambience & Dramatic Effects [Book Review]
View full post on Digital Photography School
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Ambience
- Shahi Maharani – The Royal Ambience
- Related Blogs on Book
- Related Blogs on Capturing
![services sprite Capturing Mood, Ambience & Dramatic Effects [Book Review]](http://www.cameras-photography.com/wp-content/plugins/sociable/images/services-sprite.gif "Print"){kind=icon}
Joseph is certainly pumping out the books lately! I read one of his books from last year over a weekend, it was an easy read, definitely good for beginners.
His work is interesting and I do enjoy the ‘feel’ in his photos, this one (although I have not read it) is probably closer to defining how he shoots than any other title he has written. But to note- it is a reprint from 2007. Of which, there are a few used copies available for $4 through amazon if anyone is fast enough to pick them up.
I like the book’s cover art and layout….judging on that it looks to be good!