best Book (or other resources) for cinematographer

[Guillaume Tisserant]

Hello,
I'm a cinematographer since five year (for some unpayed work and some payed work) and I want to progress.
I've searched video on internet but most or video are for beginner.
I read some interesting book but I don't know which to buy now.
So, do you have book or video to help me to progress as a cinematographer?

 

[Marcus Struzina]

One of my favourites from a long time ago is John Alton's Painting with Light. It's from the late 1940's so it's an interesting way to learn about some very different ways to do things.
Alton was a master at getting the most out of very little. Always a useful skill. https://archive.org/details/Painting_With_Light/page/n179

 

[Dominik Muench]

These books are older but great timeless resources:

- Cinematography: Theory & Practice by Blaine Brown
- The 5 C's of Cinematography by Jospeh Mascelli
- Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz
- Matters of Light & Depth by Ross Lowell
- Practical Cinematography by Paul Wheeler
- HD Cinematography by Paul Wheeler
- The Camera Assistants Handbook by David Elkins


I actually have all of these in english sitting on a shelf in germany if you want a good deal I can get my folks to post em to you across.


For really current up to date production tips:

- The ACS magazine, get a digital subscription. worth it.

 

[Marc Wielage]

Two I'd recommend:

Digital Cinematography
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Cinematography-Fundamentals-Techniques-Workflows/dp/0240817915

Cinematography 3rd edition
https://www.amazon.com/Cinematography-Third-Kris-Malkiewicz/dp/074326438X

 

[Matt W.]

https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-C...ocphy=9002057&hvtargid=pla-564471839673&psc=1

 

[Oron Cohen]

One of my all time favourites is "A Man With a Camera" by Nestor Almendros , such a great book to understand the work of a dop. https://www.amazon.com/Man-Camera-Nestor-Almendros/dp/0374201722

 

[Nathan Rosenquist]

There are some good recommendations in this thread.

If you haven't already, I suggest reading the "Ask David Mullen Anything" thread right here in the Red User Cinematography forum. David Mullen is a world class professional cinematographer, and has been extremely generous answering questions from forum members about all aspects of cinematography. This thread has been going on for about 10 years, and there is more than one book worth of great information in there. Seriously, start at page one and read the whole thing (over the course of a few weeks).

I also recently discovered another book called "Light, Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting". It's aimed at still photographers, but what it really is, is a 400+ page book about how light works and how to manipulate it. It certainly wouldn't be the first book you'd want to read on cinematography, but if you want a really deep dive into how to work with and manipulate light, it's very thorough.