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With this weeks subject just on lighting, I hope I can convey in these blogs the importance of understanding lighting. Yesterday’s blog about the different types of lighting was a great article. To carry on with this subject I found another great article from the website: PictureCorrect.com and it’s titled: Photography Lighting Techniques and authored by: Zoe Shaw. So check this out:

Photography Lighting Techniques

Photography is about light, and in fact, it can be defined as recording the light. Lighting is also one of the hardest things to get right in a photograph. To shoot images that stand out from the crowd, understanding the light source is critical.

Photography lighting plays a major role in capturing colors as well as in revealing form and texture in an image. Examining daylight is a great way to understand certain characteristics of light: the hardness or the softness of the source, direction of light, and visible colors.

Hardness or softness of the light: Hard light (direct light) produces vivid colors that stand out, and it creates harsh shadows. Soft light (diffused light) produces more pastel tones and softens details.

Direction of light: Moving the light source around a subject or object either adds or takes away detail.

Color: Photographs tend to lead most viewers toward certain feelings. For example, softer colors often create a calmer mood. The strength and the angle of the light source determines if you will have vivid or softer colors.

Below are five tips that explore the light source and its characteristics.

1. Understand color temperature

Color temperature is the actual colors that the human eye can see. Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light. It is measured in degrees Kelvin (K). Yellow to red are called warm colors and have lower temperatures (i.e., 2,700-3,000 K). Cool colors like blue and white have higher temperatures.

2. Examine natural light

The sun is the source of all daylight. Outdoor lighting offers all kinds of light, coming from various directions. Shooting during different times of the day will allow you to capture different tones, colors, and light effects.

• Don’t miss the early morning hours. That’s the best time of the day to capture great tones.
• The sun brings out blue hues in the morning hours and creates a crisp effect.
• On a cloudy day you will find softer colors and diffused light (soft light). When light is distributed evenly you get more natural colors. Neutral colors can take away some of the definition or harsh details.

• Noon creates harsh light (hard light) and produces images with shadows.
• Afternoon offers warmer tones with reds and yellows.
• Around sunrise or sunset, you will often get flattering light.
• Sunsets put out oranges or pink tones.

3. Be aware of the hardness or softness of the light source

The brightest time of the day produces a hard light source. For example, images taken around noon have strong colors that stand out. This type of light is used for contrast, as it creates more shadow.

An overcast day reflects less light and produces diffused soft light. It will spread the light evenly and does not cast strong shadows.

4. Be aware of the direction of the light

When you shoot the same subject from different angles, you either add or remove shadows on both the subject and the object. This is also true if you move your light source around your subject. Of course, it is easier to move the light source in a studio environment, but keep in mind that if you shoot at different times of the day, you will get the same effect.

5. Use flash to create interesting effects

Flash can be a great addition in any kind of light when you need to fill in shadows.

Using flash outdoors is an effective way of recording actual colors and more of the detail in a scene. For example, if you have a moving subject in front of a colorful sunset, you can set your flash mode to slow sync and get all the details.

Photography is an art that requires good technique and practice. Lighting is a major part of photography, and when you use the natural light to your advantage you definitely add to your photography.

About the Author:

Article written by Zoe Shaw from digitalphotoworks. She is a computer programmer and graphic designer.

Here are some more great photos, using light creatively:

If you have been following these blogs for the last few weeks, you will notice that I pick a theme and run with ideas of that theme for the whole week. For example, last week I did a whole week of understanding what you need for “travel Photography”. This week, I am going to do a whole series based on “THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING LIGHT IN PHOTOGRAPHY”. Now you may be thinking that maybe that is not so important, and you would be wrong. Most people DON’T understand the basic principles of light in photography, and that is why some of their photos don’t turn out very good. Once you understand light, you can make your photos improve tremendously. It’s this one concept that could be the key to making good photos or making GREAT photos. It’s that important. I have learned from reading blog or instructions from professional photographers, that once I understand the principles of light in photography, I have been able to improve my own photos. It’s as important of a subject as composition is.

So, with that, I have found an article on light that I would like to share. Let me introduce you to today’s “learning experience”.

How Lighting Plays a Crucial Role in Your Photography:

This article by Amy Renfry is one of the best articles I have seen and goes through the details of all the different types of lighting. This is so important to learn. Check out this article:

You’ve heard me deliberate about how significant lighting in photography is, but do you really know the reason why? You may know that gaining enough light is essential, but there is a lot more to the story.

First we have direct light. This is from the sun or a strong, bright source. Then we have reflected light. This is from a surface where the light bounces from one place to another. Both look entirely different.

In order to get high-quality pictures, you need the right lighting. You don’t just need sufficient lighting, but you need the right light to help capture the narrative for your image. The temperature, the intensity, and whether it’s soft or hard light play a crucial role in your photography.

Let’s look at the four primary aspects to consider when examining your light:

1. Intensity (intensity usually comes from how strong it is)
2. Angle (what angle it is coming from)
3. Hard or Soft (how much difference between bright and shadow)
4. Warmth or Coolness (colour)

Digital Photography Lighting Techniques

I can tell you how to increase the lighting on something in a certain way, but that doesn’t genuinely show you anything about how to really master your own sense of observation. I was compelled to write this tutorial when someone emailed me last week. She inquired, “I have to photograph my grandchildren, and I want to know what settings to use, can you help out?” I was sad to read this, as she had missed what photography is all about.

Photography is not completely about settings. Let me repeat that. Photography is not totally about settings. We need the settings, sure, but the story goes deeper than that.

As photographers, we use lighting to express emotion. If we want a photo to convey a feeling of romance and an engaging mood, we might use a yellowy-orange light. If we want to convey a problematic, tough, and challenging story, then we might use hard light with deep shadows. This creates intense contrast. It’s the way you utilize light that matters.

Light has an intense impact on how we emotionally understand what’s going on in the photo. There are certain things you can achieve to enrich your story such as using the flash, not shooting with the flash, or using window light instead and making use of different temperatures of daylight.

Let’s look at what particular types of light tell us.

Low Light Photography Without Flash

Many photos that have low light (dim and soft light with no strong shadows) have been used in stories that represent sadness, bereavement, secrets, or even intimacy. Lighting like this can reflect introversion of some sort.

Artificial Light Photography

Artificial light may come in the form of uninterrupted light, like lights in a photography studio. This light is often used to reproduce daylight conditions. Brilliant, white light can stand for optimism, pleasure, sociability, and energy. Flash is also artificial light. Depending on how you utilise this light (i.e. the direction and angle you fire it from) you can recreate these feelings.

Morning Light Photography

Morning light is generally soft and doesn’t have as much brightness as the light we see at high noon. It appears warmer in photographs. Keep in mind that the seasons play a crucial function in the intensity of light as well. On a bright day in the summer season the light is very intense and very white. This means that there may well be a lot of contrast in your scenes, such as vivid areas and deep shadows. This might be suitable if you want to include shadowed areas to tell your story.

Dramatic Lighting Photography

Dramatic lighting usually relies upon intense light and deep shadow. This is a high contrast situation where the light creates and impacts the mood. It is also very dependent on the number of light sources and at what position the light is coming from. If you place one light source next to a person’s face, you can produce a lot of hard shadows across the face. This will generate a very different feeling from a softly lit portrait at sunset.

Hard Light Photography

Using hard light can capture many intense areas and dark shadowed areas that can be employed to tell us a story, just as dim light can. You can use this kind of light to enhance quietness, secrets, and desolation. Alternatively, you may want to photograph a black and white portrait with strong shadowed areas in the background and keep your subject well lit. This style will mean that that there might be another facet to the subject’s life or situation.

Lighting is not just about better exposure; it’s about mood and feeling. As you understand light you can then move forward and capture many different types of moods for your shots. When you take pictures of a similar thing with changed light, that thing takes on an entirely different emotion. The way you feel about it alters, and that’s the strength of photography.

This is why photography is not just about settings. It’s about creating powerful, emotive pictures. You use settings like aperture and shutter speed to have power over the light. You control the light to direct the emotion and story.

Start examining lighting today. Look at the lighting you see right now and ask yourself about its qualities. Awareness of lighting will change your photography for the better.

About the Author:

Amy Renfrey writes for DigitalPhotographySuccess. She’s photographed many things from famous musicians (Drummers for Prince and Anastasia) to weddings and portraits of babies. Amy also teaches photography online to her students.

A special thanks to Picture /Correct for providing this article, with Amy Renfry as author.

Here is some more great photos from photographers, using light creatively: