Understanding and controlling light is an essential skill in photography. Yet, many photographers view it as a painful, tedious process they have to get through.
If you’re stuck in this mindset, you need to get out of it. ‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’ is an ebook that promises to help you do that. Let’s check what it offers and see if you should get a copy.
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[ExpertPhotography is supported by readers. Product links on ExpertPhotography are referral links. If you use one of these and buy something, we make a little bit of money. Need more info? See how it all works here.]
What You’ll Find in the eBook
‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’ comes as a PDF file. It’s optimised for medium-sized screens, like tablets, larger ebooks, and notebooks.
Contents
The ebook is made up of seven sections, which are:
- What is Light?
- The Behavior of Light
- Tones & Dynamic Range
- Characteristics of Light
- Controlling Light
- Reading the Light
- Real-World Light
Here’s the full table of contents:
This ebook is 125 pages, and roughly 25000 words long.
About the Authors
The creators of this course are the team of Photography Concentrate, primarily Lauren and Rob Lim. They are photographers from Edmonton, Canada.
I have already reviewed two of their products, ‘Extremely Essential Camera Skills’ (review here) and ‘Incredibly Important Camera Skills’ (review here).
Pricing
‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’ currently sells for $97. I find this slightly overpriced. So, let’s see if it’s worth it.
If you buy it and change your mind for any reason, you can claim your money back within 60 days.
What I Really Liked
Design
Like all the other ebooks from these guys, ‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’ excels with its beautiful graphics. It’s been designed with a clear vision in mind.
Throughout the course, vivid colors help you feel inspired and make you enjoy reading even more. Every element has its own signature look. So, you’ll understand the structuring at a glance.
The infographics are illustrative and they support the text perfectly. Often, complex things can be better explained with a smart infographic than pages of text.
Navigation
The ebook has interactive buttons. You can jump to the table of contents anytime, then press ‘back’ to go the previous page. I find this very practical.
The table of contents is fully clickable, too.
Images
The images used across the book are very illustrative. They are visually pleasing, too. Together with the graphic design, they make for a beautiful and practical ebook.
Most of them are shot by the authors; this is also a nice plus.
Coverage
In my review of ‘Extremely Essential Camera Skills’, I’ve noted that it would benefit from having more information.
This has improved in ‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’. It covers everything that is really fundamental.
It will bring you to a level where you can comfortably and instinctively deal with light. You’ll be able to play with it, modify it, and understand sophisticated lighting situations. This opens up your possibilities to go advanced and start experimenting with your own complex ideas.
Questions and ‘Try This’ Sections
‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’ follows an interactive approach.
There are ‘Questions to Ask’ sections, which tell you the key questions you need to examine when you’re out in the field. These are very practical, and if you learn and exercise them, you’ll be more conscious and cautious.
My favourite is this one below.
The section continues on the next pages, detailing each of the points.
The ‘Try this’ parts are lighting tips that you can practice and experiment with at home.
Areas to Improve
I couldn’t find any significant problems with ‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’.
One thing I would mention here is the price. Even though the ebook is put together well, $97 for a 125-page ebook is quite a lot.
It’s useful to have a cohesive summary of the key aspects of light and lighting. But, the knowledge here is neither exclusive or very advanced.
Alternatives
I couldn’t find direct alternatives, but there are a couple that you might still choose instead. It’s hard to separate light from other aspects of photography. Because of this, many products include sections on light, but don’t focus on it.
If you’re aiming for an advanced option, ‘Lighting 101’ from SLRLounge is a video course on flash lighting. It includes much of the content of ‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’. It also teaches you the fundamentals of controlling light and gives you a ton of practical advice. It’s much more extensive, at 9+ hours of densely edited, well-produced video content. It’s available here, currently for $99, and its standard price is $149.
If you’re interested in learning how light works in landscape scenarios, try ‘Understanding Light’ from Bruce Percy. It’s limited to landscapes, but in that field, it’s more detailed and much cheaper. It’s available for £11.99.
Conclusion
Overall, I really like ‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’, it’s a well-made ebook. But, I’m not sure if I can recommend it because of its high price.
The fundamentals of light is a topic that relates to everything. It’s presented in almost any photography course.
If you’d like to perfect a specific field, you might prefer to invest in a good course in that area, which also covers light.
Check out ‘Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills’ here.
Scores
To standardise and compare our product reviews, we’ve decided to use a scored-based ranking system. To learn more about interpreting these numbers and how other courses measure, please visit our review roundup page here.
| Value for Money (20) | 8 |
| Coverage (20) | {{column-name-2}}: 18 |
| Accuracy (20) | {{column-name-2}}: 18 |
| Ease of Learning (15) | {{column-name-2}}: 15 |
| Production Value (15) | {{column-name-2}}: 13 |
| Uniqueness (5) | {{column-name-2}}: 2 |
| Community and Learning Support (5) | {{column-name-2}}: 0 |
| Total (100) | {{column-name-2}}: 74 |
