Seeing the Light

A photographer's guide

By Robert Winkler

Text courtesy: http://pages.cthome.net/rwinkler/light.htm

Rose Ó Edward Weston

Les Escaliers de Monmartre, Paris Ó Brassai

One of photography's overstated beliefs is that it is best to shoot either very early in the morning or very late in the afternoon. The light at those times, when the sun is low, has been called magical. Colors are warm, shadows are long, and subjects glow with piercing clarity. But the use of this light has become so pervasive, and its images are so typical, that from the hours just after dawn and just before dusk, much of the magic has gone. If photography is writing with light, why use a dictionary with so few words? Photographers on the move are hard-pressed enough to make the most of existing conditions, whatever they are—we cannot always wait for the ideal light.

A correlative assertion is that portraits in the noonday sun should be avoided because shadowy eye sockets do not flatter the subject. But in Rose, a portrait by Edward Weston taken in Mexico in 1926 (left), prominent shadows under a woman's nose and chin point to a sun directly overhead. We cannot see her eyes, not because of the direction of the light but because they are closed, and her long lashes cast shadows like tiny spokes on her upper cheeks. There is nothing unflattering about the portrait, but more important, it is unforgettable.

Dos and don'ts are of questionable value in photography, where an error of judgment will mean, at worst, a few wasted frames. At best, it will teach you what to do differently next time. Once a style becomes generally accepted, it is time to depart from the norm. When breaking the rule becomes the fashion, it is time to rediscover convention.

Light is the essence of photography, but there is no secret to understanding it. Light comes naturally to a photograph—it catches your eye, and all you have to do to possess it is trigger the camera. Although much has been said about controlling light and treating it as a tool, the way to know light is to let it happen.

Every change of light holds something for the photographer. Its intensity can be strong or weak. It can hit the subject from the front, back or side. It will bounce off surfaces differently, depending on their reflectance. It can come from a high or a low angle. It can be hard, with dark and distinct shadows, or soft and almost shadowless, or diffused, with shadows that are definite but faint.

Individual style in photography, the stamp of which is often a characteristic lighting, can still exist. But style in photography must be allowed to emerge. Its development is a process of discovery; by exploring all that light offers, you arrive at style naturally.

Watch how the light changes with each passing hour, and record distinct lighting effects on film. Shadows shift with time; the light begins warm, then gains in intensity and whiteness, and finally returns to warmth as the sun sets. Shadow pattern and light intensity have an emotional effect on the way a subject is perceived. As the light changes, so does the mood it evokes.

When a subject is of special interest, study it from various positions. If you shoot with the sun at your back, the light is with you, photographically speaking, because frontal lighting is flat (direct and even, with shadows not apparent) and bright. Exposures are relatively easy to measure, and the relative brightness of the subject means you can use a smaller aperture (for greater depth of field) and a faster shutter speed (to ensure camera steadiness and to freeze movement).

Photographing the same subject against the light, you may need to increase exposure, since the side facing the camera will be in shadow. To prevent flare in backlighting, use a lens hood. A lens hood also is advisable if the light hits the subject from the side. Exposure is trickier in side lighting because contrast is high, with light and shadow coexisting equally. As a rule, if you are using negative (print) film, which is more tolerant of overexposure, take your exposure reading from the shadows. With slide (transparency) film, which is more tolerant of underexposure, read the highlights. If you are more concerned with a small area of the picture than with the scene as a whole, abandon the rule and expose for the critical section. Lighting contrast is of least concern when the sky is overcast. Shadows are practically nonexistent; the light is soft and even.

Sometimes you will want to wait for the proper light, or you might decide to return hours later. You can also come across a good subject only to find you've missed the right light for the day. Perhaps the subject now is entirely in shadow, while earlier it would have been bathed in light. Look up as well as around you when you study the light. Note the arc drawn by the sun, and build your shooting schedule around it.

Wherever we go, it is the same sun we see in the sky, but photographers occasionally attest to a place possessing a special kind of light. Two points on the globe, widely separate at different latitudes, will receive the sun from different angles, but will a photograph reveal the difference? The sun describes a certain arc in summer, a different one in winter, but does summer and winter light show up as such on film? A place's lighting character depends less on where the sun sits in the sky than on the particular landscape—natural and architectural—from which the light reflects. Special locations, therefore, may exhibit a light all their own: the American Southwest has its fiery desert reds, the waters of the Caribbean have their translucent blue, Antarctica casts a brilliant specular whiteness.

Interiors and Exteriors

There are two great lighting divisions in photography: daylight and artificial light. Color film cannot capture with accuracy the divergent color quality of both, so professional large-format and motion-picture films are manufactured in two types, one balanced for daylight, the other tungsten-balanced for interiors. Each type of film can be used over a range of color temperature. Color temperature, measured in degrees Kelvin, indicates the color of a light source. The color temperature of sunlight varies with the time of year and time of day; color temperature indoors depends on the type of lamps in use.

Sunlight has a high component of blue light; a light bulb, a high component of red. This is why daylight film used indoors without a filter will give pictures a reddish cast, while tungsten film used unfiltered outdoors produces bluish pictures. Black-and-white film is virtually unaffected by color temperature; the same film can be used indoors and out. In the 35-mm format, tungsten film is available only for making slides. Photo-processing labs can now do a passable job of adjusting the color balance of daylight negative film that is exposed indoors, so major manufacturers have stopped producing tungsten-balanced 35-mm print film. 

Since electronic flash approximates the color temperature of daylight, it presents no problem when used with daylight film. The typically bright light and strong shadows of an undisguised electronic flash are sometimes desirable, and flash is useful in poorly lighted interiors. But flash has major drawbacks: it can destroy the existing light in a scene, it is difficult to visualize, its power and range are limited, and it is hard to control. To someone who wants to photograph unobtrusively, a flash unit draws attention and adds weight and bulk. However, color film has become so fast that no photographer need put up with the drawbacks of flash. Today, with color film rated at a speed of 800 or higher, you can shoot in deep shade or in fairly dim interiors without resorting to flash.

One of the best ways to learn about interior and exterior lighting is by studying the photographs you admire. Try to read them for hints about the direction, intensity, and hard or soft quality of the light. Then, try to duplicate the photographer's lighting techniques with your own camera. Don't forget that light can create images of great power and beauty even when it is present in the least degree. Brassai's photographs of Paris at night (left) are proof that darkness can shed light on photography, too.

The Varieties of Light

Certain qualities have been ascribed to photographic lighting that your own experience can confirm or contradict:

- Flat frontal lighting is thought to show surface features most accurately, while backlighting better describes a subject's form, and side lighting enhances its beauty.

- Direct sunlight is usually too harsh for portraits, but sometimes the supposed defects it shows can be seen as features on a facial landscape, in which is written a story of experience.

- Hard lighting is described as cruel; soft lighting is said to beautify.

- High-key lighting may be ethereal; low-key lighting may be brooding.

-A light in the eye can give a portrait more life, and hard-angled lighting best conveys the impression of sharpness. Angled lighting also is best for revealing textures.

- Long shadows may add depth and beauty, or obscure the main subject and draw our attention away from it.

- Bright colors on a dull day can look all the more vibrant, or they can only underscore the dreariness.