5 comments about Irish Blessings.

1. This is a Wonderful book! The pictures are very beautiful, vivid!
   And the verses are lovely...I am just thrilled to have bought a copy. Our Public Library even ordered a copy after having looked through mine. Outstanding!! Truly.



2. The dementia of this book are entirely appropriate. One minor criticism: Ms. Shannon neglected to include an excerpt from the works of the often-overlooked Irish pugilist-poet Fighty McDrunkahan. His cycle of travellers' poems -- "Jaysus, What's This in Me Shoe?" -- is a classic of vernacular Irish literature.



3. This book appears to be a normal size book in its add on the web but is infact only 2 1/2 inches wide and 3 inches long.
   Nowhere do they tell you that. I was ordering for adults not children.
   Thank You for your time.
   Sarah Matthews



4. This wonderful volume matches a gallery of photographs that truly capture the beauty of Ireland with a collection of blessings attributed to Irish saints, songwriters, poets, and Irish custom. The effect of the collection is both moving and comforting, especially to those who have been fortunate enough to experience Ireland first hand.
   
   The photography heavily favors the wild and undeveloped Western part of Ireland; visitors may recognize scenes from the Dingle Peninsula and the Killarny area, among others. The blessings are a celebration of Irish spirituality; quotes from early Irish Christians mingle with customary blessings and songs and items from popular Irish writers. They together are an invocation to remember the simple and important things in life.
   
   This book is highly recommended to the reader familar with Ireland and with its spirituality.



5. Purchased this book as a wedding gift for someone who has always wanted to go to Ireland, but never quite made it there. Many of the other Ireland-related books at Amazon were more like travel guides, etc... This particular book was the only one suitable as a wedding gift. The recipient was delighted. I recommend this book as a great gift item for all wannabe Irish travelers.

5 comments about The Best of Photographic Lighting: Techniques and Images for Digital Photographers (2nd edition).

1. As an overall guide to lighting techniques, this book gets all the basics right. However, when it comes to inspiring the reader it doesn't fare so well. Some of the photographs in "The Best of Photographic Lighting" are bordering on attrocious - many of them firmly stuck in the 80's tradition of painful soft lighting ala oldschool Playboy (maybe this shouldn't surprise me, since the cover is much lit this way). Too many tacky pictures of urban saxophone players lit "creatively".
   
   In addition, the book has some pretty nasty examples of bad photoshopping - the winner must be the portrait by Monte Zucker on page 101, complete with jarring halo and stuff missing (in the image see how the lens is detached from the body - he simply just cut that detail out!) - I am shocked that this kind of sloppy work would make it into any book.
   
   To sum up: solid basics, nifty tricks and diagrams - almost the opposite of inspiring in terms of imagery - a complete lack of punchy, modern work (as is the case in most of these books - though there should be no excuse in this case, seeing that it came out in 2005!)
   
   I'd love to hear if anyone can recommend something a little more exciting and contemporary.. the closest I've come is "Lighting for Portrait Photography" by Steve Bavister.



2. Granted, there are some nice pics in this booklet and some useful techniques which would be helpful if I had more than one strobe, but I was looking more for practical lighting tips without over-abusing a digital image with Photoshop. Almost 2/3 of the sample photos have some kind of photoshop tampering. That's not photography, that's graphic design. Other than that, I'm glad that I didn't have to pay the $34.95 that was the suggested price on the actual booklet (I paid about $15). Overall, it's good for ideas on how to approach a situation with regards to lighting.



3. Wow, who knew that lighting could be so simple, and yet so critical to the success of a shot. I've only started to put to work some of the techniques that were so clearly written and illustrated, but my shots have started taking on a whole new dimension. If you buy this book, you should also buy Bill Hurter's "Portrait Photographer's Handbook". There is some duplication of content, but each only enforces the other.
   
   The most inspiring illustrations on how andy why strict attention to detail in lighting, and how to do it for next to nothing cost wise, was the numerous photographic references to the artistry of Fuzzy and Shirley Duenkel. Many of Fuzzy's images were used in both books, and are EXACTLY the quality images I seek to provide to my growning customer base.[...].



4. After reading this book i now have a broad range of new knowledge that I can use in my everyday shooting. Chapter one helped me out alot!!! Understanding lights "behavior" I do now. If any questions about lighting in various situations, this is the book of answers!



5. The book is OK, definitely not the "best" book but not bad either. There are some very straight-forward instructions on studio and some location lighting, but not terribly in depth. The lighting diagrams are helpful, but at least one diagram contradicts the text (states that a light goes in a different direction than the diagram). Nevertheless, I found this book helpful, but still I need another text so that I can learn more basics. There were two things I found distracting. The first was some rather blatant plugging of certain photographers, whose photo examples I did not find particulary noteworthy. The second is extensive side notes under each photo example. The side notes are great, and very helpful, but they are so long they distract from the actual text of the book - making the layout very choppy. Still a decent text.

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