Drawing on over 40 years of practical experience, best-selling author and photographer Michael Freeman examines the most fundamental building-blocks of photography - light and shadow - bringing this key element of the picture-making process into the 21st century.

In this book, Freeman takes a new and different view of photography’s prime commodity, arguing that for the photographer, the rich and evocative world of shadows is the full equal of the actual light that casts them and bathes scenes. He defines the varied qualities of both light and shadows (of which there are at least ten distinct types), and shows how they have particular meaning and purpose. He also argues for integrating exposure and processing with an appreciation of light and shadow quality so as to have full and subtle control. Armed with this understanding and these techniques, the creative photographer can work with light and shadow to add depth and quality to imagery.

• All new content from the master of photography guides

• Concise and easy-to-follow format clearly explains the fundamentals of light and shadow

• For the first time ever, both light and shadow are given equal weight in the discussion of photographic image-making

• Real-life examples, clearly illustrated, cut through the jargon and show the theory of light and shadow in practice