05-01-2025, 09:11 PM
Direction
The angle of our light largely determines where the shadows will fall and appear. And the strength of our light, direct and both diffused and reflected will determine how the shadows reveal our subject or scene.
These two factors are essential elements that reveal form - texture, pattern, shape, colour and dimensions.
Front: With the light source coming from behind the photographer on to the subject/scene, there is often a loss in detail with the texture and form as the shadows are hidden behind the scene but the pay off is the colours become full and vivid.
Side: Often creates some of the most dramatic photographs because it casts strong visible shadows that emphasise texture and form, though colours are bright on the highlight side they will appear darker on the shadow side.
Back: With the light source coming from behind the subject, i.e. you are shooting into the light. This usually tends to weaken shadow, colour, texture and form, but can give a dramatic look to a photograph emphasising shape and can lead to great silhouettes.
Rim: Backlighting with a twist, usually creating a rim of warm glowing light either partially or all around the subject which can be very nice if captured in a portrait type photograph.
Harsh: A photograph, where the light source, be it sun light or a torch is cast directly on to the subject or scene, is usually characterised by full saturated colour and strong shadows.
Soft: In contrast, soft lighting, light that is diffused in some way, either by clouds or by purposely diffusing or reflecting the light can produce a more even illumination and less marked shadows.
Shafts: Can make beautiful photographs when this light is captured, whether the light is shining through trees, a hole in the clouds or a hole in your roof.
Flash: Having a flash, whether it is built in or a separate dedicated flash that connects to the hot-shoe connector on the camera, and can be invaluable on many occasions. Built in flash is something to use with care, as set on to auto, the camera will be popping up the flash at just about everything, trying to produce a so-called “normal” picture every time.
You will soon find as a creative photographer, this is not always the best way forward.
Flash is a very powerful but short burst of light with a colour temperature near to that of daylight which can operate so fast that it can “freeze” almost any moving subject. The benefit of a dedicated flash is that they can be more powerful, more flexible and used off-camera.
However, it can also be beneficial to use your flash on a bright sunny day where the flash is used on, perhaps, a lower power setting and used for ‘fill-in’ light, revealing form and texture within the shadow areas.
You will quickly learn that by redirecting the light from the flash, you are able to bounce it off a wall or ceiling in order to distribute the light and shadows in a different way and with a little experience you will soon be able to use the flash creatively by using diffusers, reflectors and colour filters that are universally available for all flash types.
Your flash-gun manual will guide you to correctly calculate for exposure when using flash where you will be able to calculate a guide number in association with your f-number.
Remember, when using flash you will need to adjust your ‘white balance’ accordingly. You can do this by setting the white balance to auto, setting the white balance to flash or setting up a custom white balance for a particular scene/subject although the latter is a subject in itself.
Painting with light: A fascinating term. Painting with light in its simplest form means exactly what it says; you can paint with light.
To give you an understanding, try this little exercise:
Set your camera on a tripod and have a friend stand approximately ten feet in front of the camera, facing the lens with a torch in hand.
Now set your camera up on manual with an exposure time set for 5-8 seconds. Try an aperture of say f-8 and an ISO of 100.
For this exercise you will need also to switch the lens from AF (auto focus) to MF (manual focus). This button can usually be found on the side of your lens.
Now with the lights still on, manually focus on the subject (your friend with the torch).
Now when you and your friend are set, turn the lights out to bring your room into complete darkness. As you trigger the shutter your friend should illuminate the torch, with the torch facing the camera and draw pictures as if using a marker.
You can now see your image on your LCD, a continuous stream of light in the shape of the pattern drawn should be clearly visible. (Don’t forget to switch your camera back to AF).
As you gain experience and develop your photographic skills, you will be able to experiment with all forms of painting with light; such as using a flashlight (big torch) to assist with illuminating the high ceiling of a church, lit only by candles, for example; or illuminate the lower areas of a low-light landscape to assist bringing out the features from the shadows. The possibilities are absolutely endless and I am sure whilst experimenting, you will have great fun.
Sunrise & sunset, the golden hours.
These always look good because the light quality is so marvellous and, they are different each day. Remember the sun rises and sets at a slightly different place on the horizon every day. The best natural lighting is during the first hour after sunrise when the light penetrates to a greater depth into the atmosphere. Because there is less pollution and dust in the air the sun is able to create raking light that, in turn creates long shadows which reveal texture within your landscape photography. At sunset, the sun shines at an acute angle to the earth’s surface and is usually brighter than the rising sun, the light is however usually polluted with dust and water particles which significantly weakens the intensity of the light but is also beneficial because it is an efficient light-diffusing process producing the typical colours of sunset.
The additional benefit of the sunset is that it lasts longer than a sunrise and as it disappears altogether, can leave a warm afterglow and can reveal better when there is some cloud in the sky to act as a reflector.
The angle of our light largely determines where the shadows will fall and appear. And the strength of our light, direct and both diffused and reflected will determine how the shadows reveal our subject or scene.
These two factors are essential elements that reveal form - texture, pattern, shape, colour and dimensions.
Front: With the light source coming from behind the photographer on to the subject/scene, there is often a loss in detail with the texture and form as the shadows are hidden behind the scene but the pay off is the colours become full and vivid.
Side: Often creates some of the most dramatic photographs because it casts strong visible shadows that emphasise texture and form, though colours are bright on the highlight side they will appear darker on the shadow side.
Back: With the light source coming from behind the subject, i.e. you are shooting into the light. This usually tends to weaken shadow, colour, texture and form, but can give a dramatic look to a photograph emphasising shape and can lead to great silhouettes.
Rim: Backlighting with a twist, usually creating a rim of warm glowing light either partially or all around the subject which can be very nice if captured in a portrait type photograph.
Harsh: A photograph, where the light source, be it sun light or a torch is cast directly on to the subject or scene, is usually characterised by full saturated colour and strong shadows.
Soft: In contrast, soft lighting, light that is diffused in some way, either by clouds or by purposely diffusing or reflecting the light can produce a more even illumination and less marked shadows.
Shafts: Can make beautiful photographs when this light is captured, whether the light is shining through trees, a hole in the clouds or a hole in your roof.
Flash: Having a flash, whether it is built in or a separate dedicated flash that connects to the hot-shoe connector on the camera, and can be invaluable on many occasions. Built in flash is something to use with care, as set on to auto, the camera will be popping up the flash at just about everything, trying to produce a so-called “normal” picture every time.
You will soon find as a creative photographer, this is not always the best way forward.
Flash is a very powerful but short burst of light with a colour temperature near to that of daylight which can operate so fast that it can “freeze” almost any moving subject. The benefit of a dedicated flash is that they can be more powerful, more flexible and used off-camera.
However, it can also be beneficial to use your flash on a bright sunny day where the flash is used on, perhaps, a lower power setting and used for ‘fill-in’ light, revealing form and texture within the shadow areas.
You will quickly learn that by redirecting the light from the flash, you are able to bounce it off a wall or ceiling in order to distribute the light and shadows in a different way and with a little experience you will soon be able to use the flash creatively by using diffusers, reflectors and colour filters that are universally available for all flash types.
Your flash-gun manual will guide you to correctly calculate for exposure when using flash where you will be able to calculate a guide number in association with your f-number.
Remember, when using flash you will need to adjust your ‘white balance’ accordingly. You can do this by setting the white balance to auto, setting the white balance to flash or setting up a custom white balance for a particular scene/subject although the latter is a subject in itself.
Painting with light: A fascinating term. Painting with light in its simplest form means exactly what it says; you can paint with light.
To give you an understanding, try this little exercise:
Set your camera on a tripod and have a friend stand approximately ten feet in front of the camera, facing the lens with a torch in hand.
Now set your camera up on manual with an exposure time set for 5-8 seconds. Try an aperture of say f-8 and an ISO of 100.
For this exercise you will need also to switch the lens from AF (auto focus) to MF (manual focus). This button can usually be found on the side of your lens.
Now with the lights still on, manually focus on the subject (your friend with the torch).
Now when you and your friend are set, turn the lights out to bring your room into complete darkness. As you trigger the shutter your friend should illuminate the torch, with the torch facing the camera and draw pictures as if using a marker.
You can now see your image on your LCD, a continuous stream of light in the shape of the pattern drawn should be clearly visible. (Don’t forget to switch your camera back to AF).
As you gain experience and develop your photographic skills, you will be able to experiment with all forms of painting with light; such as using a flashlight (big torch) to assist with illuminating the high ceiling of a church, lit only by candles, for example; or illuminate the lower areas of a low-light landscape to assist bringing out the features from the shadows. The possibilities are absolutely endless and I am sure whilst experimenting, you will have great fun.
Sunrise & sunset, the golden hours.
These always look good because the light quality is so marvellous and, they are different each day. Remember the sun rises and sets at a slightly different place on the horizon every day. The best natural lighting is during the first hour after sunrise when the light penetrates to a greater depth into the atmosphere. Because there is less pollution and dust in the air the sun is able to create raking light that, in turn creates long shadows which reveal texture within your landscape photography. At sunset, the sun shines at an acute angle to the earth’s surface and is usually brighter than the rising sun, the light is however usually polluted with dust and water particles which significantly weakens the intensity of the light but is also beneficial because it is an efficient light-diffusing process producing the typical colours of sunset.
The additional benefit of the sunset is that it lasts longer than a sunrise and as it disappears altogether, can leave a warm afterglow and can reveal better when there is some cloud in the sky to act as a reflector.