Understanding Light In Photography
Light Awareness In Photography
The Reflection Of Light In Photography
Everything that reflects light, and everything that a human can see within their eyes, adds an almost infinite range of possibilities when combined with photographic technology and art. A photographer can walk down the street in their own neighborhoods and find scenes worthy of creating an image from. Some photographers, me included, rarely leave the house without a camera, just in case the opportunity to create a beautiful image arises.
The lighting in this image shows a vibrant sunrise, reflecting into small pools of water along some lava rock.
Light is the single most important ingredient in revealing the world around us. It bathes the world in its warm glow, surrounds us with shadows, and blinds us with its bright glare. So, understanding light in photography, and being aware of light in photography are extremely important to the photographer.
Our cameras are capable of picking up more light than our eyes can, and allow us to catalog these images and create art. Working with and mastering light is a must for creating compelling images that beg to be hung on a wall.
Photographers often strictly follow rules of thumb as if they would be imprisoned for failing to adhere to them. Only shoot at sunrise and sunset, never shoot midday, only have the sun behind the photographer to light the subject, and never-ever shoot on bright sunny days.
Typically this can be good advice, but it also limits the photographer from seeing a scene outside of the strict rules. It suggests that illumination can only be used in a single way, but light has a host of variables and values that can and should be used more creatively. Serious photographers must train themselves to be aware of the nuances of light, including its patterns, highlights and shadows. They must then use them to add personality, mood and feelings to their images.
Artificial Light
Artificial light for indoor photography brings its own problems to a photo shoot, and if used poorly, often leaves an inauthentic quality to the image. Its personality tends to have an “artificial” quality. Outdoor photography tends to have fewer such problems, but without the control of an indoor environment, the photographer is frequently at the mercy of the elements. Clouds keep moving, and the sun continues to move across the horizon. Sadly, clouds don’t stand still on command, and the sun takes it’s sweet time in moving to a more advantageous position in the sky.
We are sometimes stuck with what we call “ambient” light, which can often times actually be good. The measure of a photographer’s skill is in part, how he or she uses the light that’s available at any given moment in time. In a sense, there are truly few unacceptable light conditions throughout the day, there are simply challenges for the more versatile photographer. This is especially where understanding light in photography is purely a benefit to the photographer.
One of my favorite times to shoot is mid-day, but with good cloud cover. This can be a little challenging with its own dreariness, but it also smooths out the shadows that are present with the bright sun.
Light Quality In Photography
One of photography's most important values, the quality of light, is a constantly moving target. Each time of the day comes with ever changing light, as does each season of the year, and each change in the weather. This is yet another instance where understanding light in photography is essential for capturing images in a variety of light situations.
Hard Light
Hard, or harsh lighting comes from a singular source such as the sun, a spotlight, a flash, or a light bulb. The harsh light creates very high contrast scenes and is often used to create an unvarnished mood in images. Bright sunlight, especially during midday, produces sharp edged shadows and lots of contrast. While sunlit areas show colors brightly, shaded areas have dull colors and even close to black. Although the extreme light and dark can make for strong compositions, both shaded and highlighted areas can lose detail. Camera sensors simply cannot hold enough detail in both brightly lit and shadowy areas at the same time. However, colors can still be vibrant and intense, so long as the light is not so bright that is washes parts of the image out with glare.
Hard light like in this image cause the image to have a lot of contrast, along with sharp shadows and bright areas. This shot was taken at midday.
Soft Lighting
Soft light is more non-directional and wraps around subjects. Soft light doesn’t cast dark shadows nor bright highlights, and the subject only casts just a faint shadow, if any. Since glare is not an issue in soft light, subtle tones and rich hues are well reproduced. Although portraits can often benefit from soft lighting, photographs made in soft lighting rarely hold much drama.
Although this image was made during the day, the light has been diffused by the clouds and creates a pleasant scene. No harsh shadows and no blown out highlights.
The Direction Of Light In Photography
Understanding light in photography will help a photographer know exactly when to get the best images, which includes the direction the light is coming from. As mentioned earlier, weather and light don’t always cooperate, so understanding how to make the best of the light you have will make you a happier photographer.
In this photo of the Tortuga Mountain Range in New Mexico, the sun was coming from behind and to the left. It was also getting close to golden hour. I could have waited until the sun was down further, and the light would have only reflected from the mountain tops. Next time, I guess.
The direction of outdoor light is connected to the rotation of earth, and can be one of the photographer’s most powerful tools. Each direction of light source - top light, front light, sidelight and back-light - can be identified with specific emotions. Cheerfulness deserves bright light, and blue light can imply a more serious and somber mood. Deep shadows create a mysterious mood, and back-lighting can create halos around the heads of models. A sunset at 45 degrees behind a face is wonderful for portraits. It produces a naturally sculpted appearance with rich colors, good form and detail.
The Magic Hours Of Photography
Although great photography can occur any time of the day or night, there are certain times of the day that can produce the best images for photography. Understanding how to use light photographing during these magic hours will help you produce vibrant, moody and even emotional images.
This blue hour photo in Maui, HI had such brilliant colors, I had to de-saturate and lower the vibrancy. Gotta love the colors out of Fujifilm cameras.
Night shooting aside, we have the “magic hours” of:
Blue Hour - Blue hour is the time between twilight and sunrise/sunset. This is a wonderful time for photography that casts a beautiful blue hue throughout the image. Be careful when planning for blue hour shoots, however, because it never lasts an actual hour. Sometimes it can last only as long add 15 minutes!
Golden Hour - Golden Hour is the time just before the sunrise, or just after the sunset. The lighting you get with golden hour is basically an indirect glow in your scene that has a “golden” hue that is typically cast throughout the image. This is one of the most favorite times to photograph for most landscape photographers.
Sunrise/sunset - Sunrise and sunset are rather clear, and are the times from when the sun first breaches the horizon until it is completely below the horizon for sunsets, and the opposite for sunrises. This is also a favorite time of many photographers looking for the perfect landscape or cityscape lighting. This is also the perfect time to catch “alpine glow” in the peaks of mountains.
Using Phone Apps In Photography
I use several apps as tools to help in my photography, and most of the more helpful functions are those that provide a better understanding of light, and how to incorporate it into your photography. Most are free, but some have cost a little money. However, the money for these apps was absolutely well spent. The image below is a screenshot of the Photopills App, which is hands down the most valuable photography tool on my phone. I won’t turn this in to review, but it allows you to schedule all of your photo shoots by giving the exact times for your location that the sun is at its best location and angle.
As you can see in this image, each of the magic “hours” only lasted from 10-13 minutes. That means you MUST be set up on location well before nautical twilight ends in the morning, or well before sunset is set to start. If not, you will be scrambling to find your composition.
There are certainly many more factors to understanding lighting with your photography that I will cover in additional posts. Hopefully this post was helpful, and please leave comments below.
What is your favorite light to shoot under? Leave your comments below.