Photographic Lighting

Since reflected light is what photographic film, or digital sensors, use to create images, lighting is clearly a key element in all kinds of photography.

Light sources are divided into two major categories,

         Natural                                                      Artificial

Sunlight                                                                                        Flash

         Moonlight                                                                                      Lamps        

         Reflected Daylight                                                                         Studio Lights

Note that natural light is not necessarily always found outdoors, nor is artificial light exclusively an indoor source. Some of the best outdoor shots use flash to "fill" harsh shadows, while an indoor scene may rely entirely on filtered window light.

Natural, filtered daylight

Photographing people–

One of the worst things a photographer does to his family or model is take their photo with the sun at his/her back. The subjects are facing an intense light source. Their eyes water, they squint, they become depressed about life but don’t quite know why. It’s because millions of candlepower light is searing their irises and they can’t do it comfortably.

Subject facing the sun. Dark shadows, pained expression. Don’t do it!

 

Subject sideways to sun. Dark shadows, less pained expression.
The photographer remains a friend.

 

Subject sideways to sun. Fill flash has softened the shadows on subject’s face.

 

Subject facing away from sun. The subject is happy to be not looking into the sun.
The subject is “backlit.” See the highlights on the hair, no harsh shadows on
the subject’s face. In appreciation, the photographer may be offered a glass of iced tea.

 

Subject with fill flash to balance the exposure of sun-washed background
and shadowed subject’s face.

 

Backlighting–

Possibly one of the most sublime of all lighting effects, backlighting (when the light source is directly in front of the camera/aimed at the lens) creates dramatic, almost ghostly halos around a subject. This dramatic result can never be achieved by direct lighting or side lighting.

A young girl captured playing with a sprinkler in late afternoon sun.
The sun is directly behind her, thus the explosion of water droplets illuminated brightly.
(This photo might be more fun, more mysterious, if the sprinkler was cropped out.)

Slow shutter flash–

A fun technique easy to create with most average digital cameras is using blur of a slow shutter speed and having the flash fire (an extremely brief burst of light of shorter than 1/5000^th of a second). This can be done with film cameras and an external strobe but that’ll be for another class.

I asked my 16-year-old daughter to rid herself of excess energy by performing
“jumping jacks” for the slow shutter flash. Most of her is blurred except
for the moment that the flash fired, thus her clear outline.

 

Activity:

Shoot a roll of film with bright sun behind you, bright sun at 90-degree angles, bright sun facing you (backlighting), and watch what happens to the color saturation, the shadows, and the depth of the image. We’ll share the successes and frustrations tomorrow. Also, practice photographing in indirect light, such as when it’s cloudy, indoors with filtered outdoor light, or after the sun has set.