Reddit reviews Reflections: Twenty-One Cinematographers At Work

I've been out of the game for about 6 years now, but i cannot sing enough high praises for this reference text. It helped me immensely when communication about the project's vision would start to breakdown between technical departments (DP, cam ops, gaffers, set design, etc).

Set Lighting Technician's Handbook

If you want to learn about the production side of a project I'd recommend Irving & Rea's Producing & Directing The Short Film & Video

And for a fantastic, technical breakdown on visual textures and techniques achieved by famous directors the world over pick up Bergery's REFLECTIONS. Though it it easily the priciest of the bunch and leans more toward shooting with film, it is a very good read and I personally find that learning from the masters is never a waste of time.

Edit: Added Irving&Rea and Bergery. Edit 2: added further explanation to REFLECTIONS

If you really want to see what happens behind the camera, check out the book Reflections. It has interviews with many different well known cinematographers, and has them going over their lighting setups for various scenes as well as anecdotes from the film business. Well worth a read if you are really interested in cinematography.

Ron Brinkmann's book should be required reading for compositors, pretty much (and probably is if your course has a reading list).

Also has 100+ pages of case studies.

It's kind of a weird question though. Their work is shown in the films. I assume watching Blade Runner doesn't count towards your credits? If you're researching the technical aspects (ie the "how"), sites like fxguide have interviews on how they made stuff from a vfx standpoint, and the thousands of "making of" featurettes and videos.

It sounds like you're looking to research the artistic considerations (the "why") however. Which is why it's weird because it's generally not vfx making those decisions, and certainly not one single compositor you can reference. It's directors / cinematographers, and is deeply rooted in photographic composition. Reflections is a good book for looking into that.

Reflections

It's a bit outdated, as in digital cinema hadn't taken off yet, but the same principles apply.

Also American Cinematographer is an excellent magazine.

This book has been discontinued so it’s hella expensive, but it’s the best cinematography book I’ve ever come across: https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Twenty-One-Cinematographers-At-Work/dp/0935578161

I learned from Reflections and
The Grip Book.

check your library... it's pretty rare unfortunately... reflections is pretty good too: shows insight into how some ASC members design their light while in workshops at USC: http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Twenty-One-Cinematographers-At-Work/dp/0935578161/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=10D6HZHJ27PJ16A1PHY6 -- rent it from chegg