You’ve heard me talk about how imperative lighting in photography is, but do you really know why? You may know that getting sufficient light is crucial, but there is a lot more to the story. Light comes in a couple of ways. The first is straight light from a light source, such as the sunlight. The second way is reflected, such as light reflections from a river or another surface.
In order for your pictures to look high-quality you need the correct light. You don’t just need sufficient light, but you must have the right light to help create the narrative for your image. The warmth (colour) of light, the brightness of light and whether it’s soft or hard play a crucial part in your photography.
Let’s look at the four major things to take into deliberation when investigating your light:
1. Intensity (brightness)
2. Direction (where the light is coming from)
3. Hard or soft (how much differences between light and dark this light produces)
4. Warmth or Cool (what colour the light appears).
Digital photography lighting techniques
I can tell you how to light something in a certain way but it doesn’t genuinely show you anything about how to progress your own sense of light observation|inspection|examination|study}. I was compelled to compose this article when someone emailed me last week. She inquired “I have to photograph my grandchildren and I need to know what settings to use, can you help?” I was sad to read this because she had not understood what photography is all about. Photography is not wholly about settings. Let me repeat that; photography is not totally about settings.
As photographers we use lighting to convey emotion. When we want a photo to convey a feeling of romance and an engaging mood we use warm light. If we want to convey a photo that tells of a hard, tough and challenging story, then we could use close, strong light with deep shadows. This creates strong contrast. It’s all in the way you utilize light that creates mood.
Light has a powerful influence on how we emotionally understand what’s occurring in the photo. There are particular things you can carry out to enrich your story such as using the flash, not shooting with the flash and using window light instead and making use of different temperatures of daylight.
Lets look at what certain types of light express.
Low light photography without direct flash
Many photos that have low light (dim and soft light with no intense shadow) have been used in lots of stories that embody sadness, bereavement, secrets and even intimacy. Light such as this can reflect introversion of some type; whether it is positive or unconstructive.
Artificial light photography
Artificial light comes in the form of uninterrupted light, like lights in a photography studio. This lighting is often reminiscent of daylight conditions. Bright, white light can signify confidence, pleasure, sociability and energy. Flash is also artificial light. Depending on the way you utilise this light (i.e. direction and angle you shoot it from) you can recreate these emotions.
Morning light photography
Morning light is typically soft and does not contain as much brightness as the daylight we see at midday. Remember the time of year play a crucial function in the intensity of light too. On a sunny day in the summer time the daylight is very intense and very white. This will mean that that there possibly will be a lot of contrast in your scenes, such as bright areas and deep shadows. This might work well if you want to include shadows to tell your story. It does not work for quiet, romantic portraits.
Dramatic lighting photography
Dramatic lighting usually relies upon strong lighting and strong shadow areas. This is a high contrast situation where the lighting creates and impacts the mood. It is also very dependent on the number of lighting sources and at what direction the light is coming from. If you point one light source next to a persons face you can create a lot of hard shadows across their face. This will produce a very different feeling from a softly lit portrait photo taken at sundown.
Hard light photography
Using hard light can create many bright areas and deep shadowed areas that can be selected to express a story, just as dim light can. You can use this type of lighting to enhance quietness, secrets, desolation and other feelings similar to this. Alternatively you may want to photograph a black and white portrait with close, strong shadows in the background and keep your subject well lit. This method will mean that that there may be a secret aspect to the persons life or situation.
Light is not just about exposure- it’s about mood and sentiment. As you recognize lighting you can then move forward and photograph many different styles of emotions for your photos. When you take photos of the same thing with different light, that object takes on a completely different feeling. The way you think about it alters, and that’s the strength of photography.
This is why photography is not just about settings. It’s about generating powerful, emotive photos. You certainly use settings like f-stop and shutter speed to be in command of the light. You direct the light to direct the emotion and narrative.
Begin investigating light today. Examine the light you see today and ask yourself those four things. This will support you so much.
These photos are exactly the same. I took the colour photo then made a black and white copy. See how differently you feel about them and why.
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