Lots of great, insightful, and important lessons in Light—Science and Magic, but not every word in the book (or even every chapter) is an essential re-read. These I think are the salient bits, the things we really need to know and remember. I’ll be referring to the book’s 6th edition (published in 2021).

Chapter 1

Most of Chapter 1 can be skipped. The only important part is the initial statement of the three “principles” of light:

• The effective size of the light source is the single most important decision in lighting a photograph. It determines what types of shadows are produced and may also affect the type of refection. 
• Three types of refections are possible from any surface: direct refection, diffuse refection, and polarized direct refection. They determine why any surface looks the way it does. 
• Some of these refections occur only if light strikes the surface from within a limited family of angles. After we decide what type of refection is important, the family of angles determines where the light should or should not be. 

Chapter 2

What is light? A brief discussion about its nature and qualities throughout this chapter.

Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation (ER). The ER that is visible to human eyes is called “light.” The other types of ER include X-rays, infrared, ultraviolet, radar, radio, and so on, which are not visible to human eyes.

Three characteristics of light are of concern to photographers:

• Brightness
• Color
• Contrast. (A light source has high contrast if its rays all strike the subject from nearly the same angle. Light rays from a low-contrast source strike the subject from many different angles. Essentially, the contrast of the light source is revealed by the appearance of the shadow it produces: a crisp shadow edge indicates high contrast; a diffused shadow edge indicates low contrast.)

Lighting is ultimately a relationship between the light, the subject, and the viewer. So how does the subject itself affect light/lighting and our perception of it?

The subject can do three things when light strikes it: it can transmit, absorb, or reflect the light.

• Transmission. Light that passes through a subject is transmitted. Think glass here–bottles and windows.

Chapter 3

This chapter deals entirely with reflection, reflection management, and the family of angles. It’s pretty much the heart of the book.

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