01 Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills
01 Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills
01 Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills
Fan t a s t i c F
LIGHT SKILLS
A PHOTOGRAPHER’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING LIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHY
CONCENTRATE
Howdy!
We’re Lauren & Rob, and we’re here to take
you on your great light adventure.
Thanks for being here! We’re really excited to dig into light
with you!
Bonus: We’re going to make this fun and fast, so that you
can soak up all this awesome knowledge, and then get right
out there and start using it!
Get comfy, feel free to grab some snacks, and let’s dig in.
This is going to be a blast!
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The Legal Stuff
Copyright: All contents copyright ©2015 by RNL Media Inc. Liability: The author(s) and publisher have made every
All rights reserved worldwide. effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein.
However, the information contained in this tutorial is sold as-
License: Please read this license agreement carefully before is, without warranty, either express or implied. The author(s)
using this content. Your use of this content constitutes and/or publisher of this tutorial cannot be held responsible
your agreement to the terms and conditions set forth in for errors and omissions, or any losses or damages achieved
this License Agreement. RNL Media Inc. grants you a non- by following the information contained in this book. Always
exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable, limited license to use your head, and consider your unique situation.
use this content for your personal, non-commercial use. You
shall not copy, redistribute, repackage, reproduce, transmit, Trademarks: This tutorial identifies product names and
sell, broadcast, publicly display, rent, share, lend, modify, services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or
extract, reveal, adapt, edit, sub-license and/or otherwise service marks of their respective holders. They are assumed
transfer or misuse the content. to be the property of their respective owners, and are used
only for reference. The author(s) and publisher are not
You may transfer or copy the content to other computers associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this
that you own, and other devices (tablets, phones) that you tutorial.
own, for your personal, non-commercial use. You may also
print pages for your personal, non-commercial use.
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Contents
Setup & Navigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 HDR Photography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Trick With the Light Meter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Getting the Most Out of This Tutorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 What is Contrast? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Controlling Color With White Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Try This! Types of Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 CONTROLLING LIGHT About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
All Three Behaviors: Real World Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Connect With Us. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
The 3 Ways to Control Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
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Setup & Navigation Using an iPad?
This eBook is also designed for iPad viewing. It’s a seriously
This eBook has some navigation features designed to make enjoyable learning experience! Simply download the book
it easier for you to find the information you’re looking for. to your computer and then upload it to a PDF reader app
Take a peek along the bottom to see what’s up. You’ll also on your iPad.
find that the Table of Contents on the previous page is fully
linked, and is a great way to navigate around the book! You can use the iPad’s built in iBooks app to view the PDF,
or the free Adobe Reader app. But in order to make full use
of the built in navigation (Table of Contents/Previous/Next/
Back buttons at the bottom of each page), we recommend
the GoodReader app (probably the best PDF viewer app out
there!).
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Getting the Most Out
of This Tutorial
If you really want this information to help
transform your photos, here’s what you
gotta do.
1. This tutorial is designed to be read in chronological order,
with each concept building on the next. Don’t skip ahead!
You’ll have the best understanding if you go through each
page, step by step.
3. Get out your camera manual. You know that dusty little
book that came with your camera? It will help you find
different settings that we mention, so keep it nearby in case
you need to look them up.
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Here’s What You
Instead, we’re going to look at the fundamentals of light –
the way it behaves and the four characteristics that you can
Won’t Be Learning...
use to describe every single type of light. And we’ll cover
what factors influence those characteristics, so you know
the why behind it all. We’re going to teach you how to think
about and look at light in a way that will let you walk into
With this tutorial, what you won’t learn is any situation, and know why the light is behaving the way it
just as important as what you will learn. is, and what you can do to change it to fit what you want in
your photo.
There are two common approaches to teaching light. You
either get a very long and dense technical textbook that,
This is knowledge that will change the way you approach
let’s face it, you’ll probably never finish. Or you just get a
photography, and even change the way you look at the
huge list of possible lighting scenarios (using studio lights,
world. Sounds pretty good, hey? So let’s stop talking about
flashes, or natural light), and tips on how to handle each
it, and starting learning it! Onward!
one.
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“ Light makes photography. Embrace light.
Admire it. Love it. But above all, know
light. Know it for all you are worth, and
you will know the key to photography. ”
George Eastman, founder of Kodak
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WHAT IS
LIGHT?
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
big idea
And once you let light into your camera? A photo appears!
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
The light source we are most familiar with is, of course, the
sun. A few other examples of natural light include fire, other
stars, and even those crazy bioluminescent mushrooms!
While natural sources of light are more familiar, artificial Sunlight Fire Stars Bioluminescent
sources positively surround us. Some examples are the lights Stuff
in your home, street lights, fluorescent signs, flashlights,
phone and computer screens – there are tons of artificial
light sources just hanging around in the everyday world. ARTIFICIAL SOURCES OF LIGHT
Then there are artificial sources of light that you control
more deliberately for the purpose of taking photos.
Examples include your camera flash, or studio lights. These
are commonly known as strobes.
Light is everywhere, in all sorts of forms, and these different Flashlights Screens Lamps Camera Flashes
forms are all potential ways to illuminate your photos!
note:
For the sake of brevity this is not an exhaustive list of all the different types
of natural and artificial light. But feel free to make one yourself! Fun!
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
Gamma Rays
What Is Light? Geek S
peak!
SHORTER WAVELENGTHS
X-Rays
Light is a range of Electro Magnetic
Radiation (EMR) that is visible to the human
eye.
Ultraviolet
Did that just take you back to high school physics class? I
promise there won’t be any spit balls this time. But we need
to dig into a bit of science here to get a real understanding
of what light is, and why it acts the way it does.
Visible Light
Now EMR is energy that can travel through space, and
there are many different types of it – including some that
we can’t see, like X-rays, ultraviolet rays, infrared radiation,
microwaves, and radio waves.
Infrared Radiation
LONGER WAVELENGTHS
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
Now, when all of those different colors of light are combined we see regular white light – like the light from sun.
And when that white light goes through a prism? Boom! The wavelengths bend different amounts, separating the
different colors and you see the full spectrum of colors in order from longest to shortest.
!
fun fact
This is what happens when white light passes through a prism: the light A rainbow works just like light separating in a prism. The white light is bent
separates and we can see the different colored wavelengths. by water in the atmosphere, separating the different wavelengths, and we
get a brief, magical look at all the different colors hiding inside that white
light. Who needs a pot of gold? That’s treasure enough!
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
big idea
saying “most” here because in the real world these things
aren’t ever absolutely perfect. But you get the basic idea:
The color of things comes from what wavelengths of light We see things because of reflected light. The only way an
are being bounced off of them. Neat, right? object appears to us is if the light that is bouncing off of
that object hits our eyes. The particular wavelengths that
our eyes pick up are what helps us determine color.
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
Sensor/film
CAMERA
Lens
Lens
Retina
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
The camera, on the other hand, records the raw light data
that strikes the sensor without any interpretation. In scenes
with a very large range of brightness, it may have trouble
recording the detail in the very bright areas and the very
dark areas at the same time.
This is why you can often see all the dark and bright areas of
a scene with your eyes, but your camera can’t handle it, and
something may be either too bright, or too dark!
Your camera can’t dynamically adjust like your eyes can. In scenes with very
bright and very dark areas you get results like this: part of the image just
isn’t exposed properly, and is too dark or too bright!
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WHAT IS LIGHT?
Long exposure shots of the night sky let us see more With a long shutter speed, and a moving light source, Fast shutter speeds can let your camera capture light
light than our eyes alone can pick up. the camera can capture images that are unlike and action and freeze it. Your eyes can’t do that!
anything you could see with your eyes.
Your camera can’t see the way you do, but that doesn’t Or photos that show car lights as streaks across the frame?
mean you should give up on it. In fact, in some situations it Images that freeze a subject mid-jump?
can see things that we can’t with the naked eye.
These are all examples of things that your camera can
Have you ever seen those amazing photos of the night sky, do that your eyes simply cannot. While your camera has
that show off the galaxies and colors, but when you peer limitations, it has creative advantages as well. So don’t give
up into the black sky you don’t seen anything like it? Those up on your camera, but instead understand and appreciate
shots are created by letting light into the camera for a long what it can do!
time, and using all of that light for just one image. That’s
something your eye can’t do!
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“ What makes photography a strange
invention is that its primary raw materials
are light and time. ”
John Berger
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THE BEHAVIOR
OF LIGHT
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
The light ray strikes the surface, The light ray is absorbed by the The light ray hits the surface,
and then bounces off. surface, and converted into heat. and passes through.
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
1. Reflection
When light strikes a surface, it can bounce SPECULAR
off of it, and we call this fancy behavior REFLECTION
reflection.
Now at the core this might not seem so exciting, but in fact,
reflection is happening all around you at this very moment.
And this is essential for your photos!
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
DIFFUSE
REFLECTION
Diffuse Reflection
When a light ray strikes a microscopically
rough, irregular surface, like paper, skin or
fabric, you get diffuse reflection.
When diffuse reflection happens, the light rays hit the
surface of the object, and then bounce back in all directions.
They scatter.
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
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TRY THIS! TYPES OF REFLECTION
Let’s see how specular reflection and diffuse
reflection look!
Remember that specular reflection takes place when the
light is bouncing off a smooth surface, and reflecting at
the same angle at which it hit the surface. With diffuse
reflection, the light is hitting a rough, irregular surface, and
scattering in all directions.
Grab:
• Flashlight
• Hand mirror (or another smooth surface, like a phone screen) SPECULAR REFLECTION
• White sheet of paper When the light hits a smooth surface, you see specular reflection. The light
is bouncing right off the mirror and reflecting towards the camera. It looks
almost the same as what you’d see if you looked at the flashlight directly.
Do:
Shine your flashlight at the hand mirror to see specular
1
reflection in action.
2 Find the angle where you can see the light bouncing right at
you. At this point you’re getting a good look at the angle of
incidence being equal to the angle of reflection!
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
ABSORPTION
2. Absorption
When a light ray strikes a surface, it can be
absorbed by that surface.
The light energy that is absorbed is then converted into
another form of Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR), usually a
small amount of heat.
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
WHY PHOTOGRAPHERS
WEAR BLACK
Are they just going for the moody artist look? Nope. For photographers, wearing black
is actually very practical, and largely because of what you’ve already learned about light:
absorption and reflection.
Think about this. If you’re wearing a bright blue shirt, what’s happening there? Light is
striking the shirt, and the shirt is absorbing most wavelengths, but reflecting the blue
wavelength. That’s why it looks blue. So those blue wavelengths are now bouncing off your
shirt (in all directions). Where could they go? Right onto your subject, making it look blue!
Probably not what you want.
Black clothes, on the other hand, are going to absorb the light rays, and won’t cause this
problem. Black: It’s not just for ninjas!
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
3. Transmission TRANSMISSION
ct!
fun fa
REFRACTION
One thing that can happen during transmission is
refraction. This is when the object bends the light that is
passing through it.
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
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TRY THIS! TYPES OF TRANSMISSION
Grab:
• Flashlight
• Clear bottle TRANSMISSION
• White sheet of paper The light hits the clear bottle, and passes through it. This is transmission.
Do:
Shine your flashlight at the clear bottle, and see how the
1
light comes out the other side. That’s transmission! Move the
flashlight around, and see how the light passes through the
bottle at roughly the same angle that the flashlight is held at.
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
Here we have diffuse reflection all over the place, which is Diffuse reflection is taking place here, allowing us to see
how we see the objects. There’s some specular reflection the scene. There’s specular reflection in the water, creating
on the spoon, plate, and cup and even the espresso (notice a mirror image of the sky and trees. The different colors
the specular highlights!). In terms of absorption, the present are a result of the different objects and surfaces
different objects are absorbing different wavelengths of absorbing and reflecting different amounts and wavelengths
light, giving us the perception of different colors. Finally, of light. And finally we have diffuse transmission going on,
for transmission, light is passing through the glass of water, with the sunlight passing through the clouds and scattering.
and we can actually see the light that has passed through
showing up on the table! Neat!
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THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT
Review: Behaviors
When light strikes a surface, it can behave
in a variety of different ways, and often in
combination!
Make sure you have a good grasp of this stuff, because we’ll
be referring back to these behaviors later on in the tutorial
when we look at how to control light!
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“ Essentially what photography
is is life lit up. ”
Sam Abell
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TONES &
DYNAMIC RANGE
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TONES & DYNAMIC RANGE
note:
These tones have nothing to do with color. Tones only HIGHLIGHTS MIDTONES SHADOWS
describe the brightness and darkness values, and are
independent of color. You can have a blue highlight area,
or a yellow one – a red shadow or a green one.
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TONES & DYNAMIC RANGE
Dynamic Range
Dynamic range refers to the ratio of the brightest part of the image to the
darkest part. It has to do with how big, or small, that range is.
Simply put, we’re talking about how different the brightest areas are, compared to the darkest. An image
with very bright highlights, and very dark shadows will have a large difference between the two, and thus
has high dynamic range. A photo without bright highlights or dark shadows will have less difference, and
has low dynamic range. An image that is all dark, or all bright, can also have a low dynamic range because,
again, there isn’t much difference between the brightest and darkest points.
Range of Tones Present in the Image Above: Range of Tones Present in the Image Above:
This image has very bright areas (pure white on the glass skyscraper) This photo doesn’t have any areas that are very dark, nor does it have any
and very dark areas (pure black in the shadowed parts of the right hand areas that are very bright. It has low dynamic range.
building). The difference gives it a high dynamic range.
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TONES & DYNAMIC RANGE
HDR Photography
This type of photography attempts to
compensate for the limitations of your
camera.
As we mentioned before, what your eyes can see and what
your camera can capture are quite different, especially when
it comes to dynamic range.
Using this technique, you can mimic what your eyes are
capable of seeing, or even take the effect further to create
surreal scenes that are beyond what you’d ever see in real
life!
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TONES & DYNAMIC RANGE
What is Contrast?
OBJECT CONTRAST
It’s a word that’s thrown around all the time,
The dalmatian has
but what does it mean? And what are the black and white
different types? spots as its coloring,
which makes it full of
contrast.
Contrast refers to one thing being different than another.
When it comes to photography, there are actually a few
different types of contrast.
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big idea
Tones describe the brightness values in an image and dynamic range has to
do with the relationship between those values. A scene with a high dynamic
range of light gives an image contrast, and that can be quite eye-catching.
But what does this all have to do with light? And making better images? Well,
you’re about to see how the tones in a photo can have a massive impact on
how we interpret the image. In fact, tones are fantastically useful clues that
show you what is going on with the light in a scene. Being able to identify
them, and recognize their relationship, is the key to understanding and
analyzing light.
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CHARACTERISTICS
OF LIGHT
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
The 4
Characteristics of
Light DIRECTION
There are four characteristics of light that
affect the look of your photos.
The four characteristics are:
1) Direction
2) Quality QUALITY
3) Intensity
4) Color
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Light can come from any direction, but common terms used
to describe the direction of light include side lighting, front
lighting, overhead lighting, and back lighting.
The above examples show how the direction of light can drastically change
We are generally accustomed to light coming from above the appearance of an object. Take a quick look at how the tones (the
and from one side, since this is usually how sunlight lights a highlights, midtones and shadows) have changed in each image – both in
terms of proportion, and placement.
scene. Light in this way seems quite normal and natural!
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Side Lighting
Side lighting is when the main light source is coming from the side
of your subject.
One side of the objects in the scene will be hit with the light, and the other side will remain
in shadow. That difference between highlight and shadow creates contrast and helps to
emphasize depth and texture.
Side lighting is used to describe a fairly wide range of angles of light. The more
perpendicular the light is to the subject, the longer the shadows cast by the subject will be,
and the more the depth and texture will be emphasized.
Here’s a perfect example of how side lighting can show texture. The Side lighting can make portraits look quite dramatic. Here the sun is
ridges in the sand, and even the tracks, are emphasized here because of coming in through the window, late in the day, so it’s giving us strong
the angle of the light. The sun was setting and low in the sky, making it side lighting. Half of the boy’s face is bright, and half is in shadow, which
come very strongly from the side. If the sun had been high in the sky, you gives a really nice sense of depth and dimension.
wouldn’t have seen such great texture!
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Front Lighting
When the main light source comes from behind the camera (or
from the camera itself), and illuminates the front of the subject, it’s
known as front lighting.
When the light hits the subject from the front, the shadows are cast mainly behind the
subject, and are often not as prominent in the photo. This can produce quite flat results,
where it’s harder to get a sense of depth and dimension. It also has the effect of reducing
the appearance of texture. For this reason, front lighting is sometimes used for beauty
portraits, where you don’t want to see much texture in skin!
This photo was taken with the flash on the camera – often known as Front lighting isn’t always a bad thing. It can look nice on portraits,
‘direct flash’. It’s a perfect example of common front lighting, and why especially when it’s ‘soft’ (more on that later). It evenly illuminates the
it makes images look so flat. There are no shadows to suggest depth. face, minimizes the look of texture, and doesn’t have any unflattering
Boring! This type of lighting rarely looks good, so avoid using your on- shadows. The light in this image was coming from an open doorway
camera flash when possible. directly behind the camera.
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TRY THIS! TEXTURE & DIRECTION
Let’s see just how much the direction of light
changes the appearance of texture.
With front lighting, the appearance of texture is minimized.
There either aren’t many shadows, or the shadows fall
behind the subject, out of view of the camera, so we can’t
get a sense of depth. With side lighting, there is a mix of
highlight and shadow that helps us to get a sense of the
texture and depth in the photo.
Grab:
• Flashlight FRONT LIGHTING
• Piece of sandpaper (or other surface with a lot of texture) When the light comes from behind the camera, directly in front of the
subject, we get front lighting which doesn’t give much sense of texture.
Everything is very evenly illuminated, with no visible shadows.
Do:
Hold the sandpaper in front of you, and shine your flashlight
1
directly at it. This is front lighting, where the light comes
from the viewer’s position, and hits the subject front on.
Notice how there aren’t any shadows – the light is filling
them all in.
sandpaper! As the angle of the light changes to come from the side, it now will show
both highlights and shadows. The contrast between these tones helps us to
see the texture in the sandpaper.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Overhead Lighting
Overhead lighting is when the main light source is coming from
above the subject.
Indoors you find overhead lighting when there are lights on the ceiling. And outdoors, when
the sun is high in the sky, you’ll also get overhead lighting.
With overhead lighting, the shadows are cast downward underneath the subject. This tends
to make landscape images look flat, with little sense of depth. Overhead lighting can also be
quite unflattering on faces, as there will be dark shadows in the eye sockets, and underneath
the chin.
In this photo the sun is high in the sky in the middle of the day. You can Overhead lighting, both indoors and outdoors, doesn’t generally look
see that the shadow of the helicopter is almost directly below it. very good on faces. While there are fairly prominent shadows here,
and they can help give a sense of depth, their placement isn’t flattering.
Dark eyes and a bright nose don’t look very natural. This type of light is
generally avoided when it comes to shooting portraits.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Back Lighting
With back lighting, the light is coming from behind the subject.
This type of lighting tends to put the subject into dark shadow, with highlights on the top
edges, and a shadow cast forward toward the camera. Back lighting helps to emphasize
the shape of an object, but it tends not to give as much information about depth or texture
compared to side lighting. It can also add some drama to the shot.
With back lighting you can create silhouette shots, with your subject mainly in shadow. It
can also be used to create a bright, glowing effect if you expose the shot brighter for the
subject.
Here the sun is behind the subject, so there is back lighting. It helps to You can also choose a brighter exposure for your backlit images, so that
emphasize the shapes in the image, especially given that the exposure your subject is properly exposed instead of dark. Increasing the exposure
was set to make the subjects appear dark. The sunburst coming through will make the background quite bright, since that’s where the light is
the trees helps to add some drama to the image, and is an effect possible coming from, adding a neat glowing effect. This is an instance where
when shooting backlit. shooting in manual mode comes in handy, as it can be tough for your
camera’s automatic modes to get the exposure you want.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Review: Direction
The direction of light changes how the tones
appear on your subject.
Side
Side lighting occurs when the light is positioned to the
side of the subject. It creates a mix of both highlights and
shadows, and suggests depth and emphasizes texture.
Front
When the light comes from in front of your subject, the
shadows fall behind them. This type of lighting is often
considered “flat”, because it doesn’t show much depth.
Overhead
Overhead lighting comes from above the subject, and
occurs with indoor lights and when the sun is high in the sky.
It produces unflattering shadows on a face, and doesn’t give
much sense of depth.
Back
When the light comes from behind your subject it’s known
get
as back lighting, and it puts the front of the subject into don’t for
shadow. This can help emphasize shape. Back lighting can
Light can come from all directions. We’ve covered the four
be a bit tricky to expose for, but has potential to add drama
main directions in this section, in order to make it easier
to the shot.
to understand. But in reality light can come from any one
angle, or a practically infinite combination of angles!
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TRY THIS! DIRECTION
Grab:
OVERHEAD BACK
• Flashlight
• Egg
Do:
Shine your flashlight at the egg from the side, then
1
from the front, then from overhead, then from the Simply moving your flashlight around your egg will give you a good sense
back. Then try moving it in all directions, and see how of how much the direction of light will affect the look of your subject. Don’t
forget to try angles other than these four to see just how much variety is
there is infinite variation possible between these four
possible!
basic directions.
!
bonus tip
2 As you try each direction, take notice of the placement
of the tones, as well as the proportion of each.
Using an egg is an egg-cellent way to see how the tones
change because it’s white, has an even surface texture, and
3 Make sure to take a look at the shadow cast by the has depth. But try this out with other things as well! Grab a
egg as well – both its direction and size. toy, or a willing friend, and see how changing the direction
of the light changes the tones on other subjects!
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
2) Quality
Quality refers to whether light is hard or
soft.
With hard light, the highlights are brighter and the shadows
are darker, with sharply defined edges.
These might seem like small distinctions, but they can have a
huge impact on the look of your scene.
ct!
fun fa
The easiest way to tell if light is hard or soft is to look
at the shadows! Take a peek and ask yourself: Are the
shadows dark or light? Are the edges sharply defined or
blurry?
SOFT LIGHT
Soft light produces images with highlights that aren’t as bright, and
shadows that aren’t as dark. The shadows have blurry edges.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Now, remember when I said that the complicated answer is DISTANCE FROM SUBJECT
size? It has to do with that “in relation” part of the definition.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
With soft light, there is less contrast present. The highlight isn’t as bright as when the object is under hard light, and the
shadow isn’t as dark. The transition between the tones is also different. With hard light there’s a more abrupt transition from
highlight to shadow and the cast shadow has sharper edges. With soft light the transition from highlight to shadow is more
gradual, and the cast shadow has blurry edges. Finally, because the highlights and shadows aren’t as extreme with soft light,
you’re able to see more color and detail in those areas.
SHADOW SHADOW
Under hard light the highlight is quite bright, and the shadow is quite dark. With soft light the highlight isn’t as bright and the shadow isn’t as dark. The
The transitions between the tones are abrupt, and the cast shadow has sharp transitions between the tones are more gradual, and the cast shadow has
edges. blurry edges.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Hard Light
vs.
Soft Light:
A Brief But Totally
Helpful Review of the
Quality of Light Hard Light Soft Light
Size of Light Source Relatively small light source Relatively large light source
Color & Detail Less in the highlights and shadows Maintained in the highlights and shadows
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TRY THIS! HARD VS. SOFT LIGHT
Grab:
HARD LIGHT
• Flashlight
There is nothing between the flashlight and the egg, so we have direct, hard
• Egg light. It produces bright highlights and dark shadows with sharp edges.
• Sheet of white paper
Do:
Shine your flashlight directly at the egg from about a foot
1
away. Take a look at the shadows, and see how the hard light
affects their appearance.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
3) Intensity
Light sources can have different intensities, from dim, to very bright, and everywhere in
between.
One of the brightest, highest intensity light sources that we experience is direct sunlight – the full brightness of the sun with
nothing in the way. Then there are things like distant stars that appear very dim, and can only be seen when there isn’t any
other light to interfere with them. Light bulbs land somewhere in the middle, depending on how powerful they are.
Now this is somewhat relative, because the intensity of the light source depends on how close you are to it! If you are really
close to a light bulb, it’s going to seem much brighter than one far away. And if you took a trip to one of those distant stars, it
would be just as bright as the sun. Luckily there’s a handy law that helps us understand just how this works...
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
The Inverse
Square Law
Geek
Spea
k!
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
So, as the light source moves away, the light it casts on the
subject becomes both dimmer, and harder at the same time!
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
4) Color
Different light sources can produce different colors of light, ranging from red, to white, to
blue.
The colors of light are measured on a scale of temperature, from hotter/redder color temperatures like candle light, to cooler/
bluer temperatures like shade.
We don’t normally notice the difference in the color of light, because our brains automatically adjust so that the temperature
looks mostly neutral. Nifty, hey? But your camera doesn’t do that, and so the different colors of light will affect how your
images look.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
How Color
Temperature Affects
Your Photos
The color of light can have a dramatic effect
on the mood of your photos.
Photos taken just after sunrise, or just before sunset (known
as the golden hours), produce light that is golden yellow.
This can add a warm, happy feeling to the photo. Images
taken at midday, when the light temperature is neutral, tend
Golden yellow light can give a warm, happy feeling to your images.
not to get much mood-enhancement from the light.
ct!
fun fa
COLOR CONSTANCY
Your brain knows that the color of an object stays the
same, even when the color temperature changes. For
example, the white pages of a book still look white even
under indoor lighting (yellow) or outdoor shade (blue).
This process is known as color constancy, and helps us to
Blue light can add a moody or quiet atmosphere to a photo.
recognize familiar objects!
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CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT
Review: The 4
Characteristics
Direction
Depending on what direction light comes from, it will
change the position and proportion of the highlights,
midtones and shadows on your subject. Side lighting, front
lighting, overhead lighting and back lighting are all terms
often used to describe the direction of light.
Quality
Quality is controlled by the size of the light source in relation
to the subject. A larger light source generally produces soft
light with softer edged shadows. A smaller light source
generally produces hard light with hard edged shadows.
Intensity
Intensity refers to the brightness of light, and it can range
from very dim, to very bright. The intensity of the light on
your subject will appear to be less bright the farther you
move away from the light source.
Color note:
Light comes in different colors, known as color This is just the beginning. In the next section we are
temperatures. They range from warm/red to cool/blue, and going to be expanding on these characteristics of light
can have an impact on the look and mood of your photo. as we talk about how to actually control them! Take an
extra second to review, and then let’s go!
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“ Wherever there is light, one
can photograph.”
Alfred Stieglitz
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CONTROLLING
LIGHT
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
The 3 Ways to
Control Light
Capturing light comes with many challenges,
as well as creative opportunities.
No matter what you’re shooting, or what type of light
1
you’re using, you’ll find yourself facing limitations. Light
doesn’t just automatically do what you want it to! You, as
the photographer, have to make decisions about what you
want from the light around you. By learning how to work
2
with light, and what choices you have for controlling it, you
can solve problems, and create better images by taking
advantage of all the possibilities!
So there are three different ways that you can control the
3
light in a scene:
Let’s dig in, and talk about each one of those options.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
1) Controlling Light
With Your Camera
The most basic way to control light is by
adjusting the settings on your camera.
And before we go any further, you should know that you
will be fairly limited in your control over light if you’re only
adjusting your camera settings. But it’s a good place to
start!
There are three settings on your camera that can affect the A common way to do it is to take three shots, one
exposure of the image: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. being underexposed (darker than you want), one being
the exposure you want, and one being overexposed
Each one will also change the appearance of the photo, so (brighter than you want). When you get the photos onto
let’s take a quick peek at how these work. your computer, you can take a better look to see which
exposure will work best for your needs. Some cameras
even have a feature that automatically adjusts the
bracketing settings for you!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
re
learn mo
ISO
Controls how sensitive the sensor is to light. EXTREMELY ESSENTIAL CAMERA SKILLS
The higher the ISO, the more sensitive. Also, the Need some help with these concepts? Learning how
higher the ISO the more noise (grain) there will be to control your camera (including exposure!) is a
in the photo. whole course in itself. To learn more about the settings
on your camera, and how they affect the look of
your images, make sure to check out our Extremely
Essential Camera Skills course, which makes it fast and
100 200 400 800 1600 3200 fun to learn these fundamental skills.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Your Camera’s Light Psst! Pull out your manual for details on the
settings and features of your camera!
Meter
A light meter is a sensor inside your camera The Exposure Indicator
that measures incoming light.
CANON NIKON OTHER
After measuring the light, your light meter will suggest what
a proper exposure might be, which is pretty darn useful! It
displays this suggestion using the exposure indicator – a
scale usually found on the LCD or through the viewfinder.
If you’re shooting in automatic modes (A, P, Tv, Av) your Metering Modes
camera will automatically adjust the exposure settings
based on what the light meter is suggesting, in order to
get a proper exposure (where the exposure indicator reads
zero).
And how does the light meter figure out what a proper MULTI-ZONE CENTER-WEIGHTED SPOT
exposure should be? Well, it looks at the midtones in your
image, and then suggests an exposure that will make them
look properly like midtones (as opposed to looking like tip!
highlights or shadows).
WHICH MODE?
In order to determine where it should look for midtones, Which metering mode to use will depend on the
your camera may have different metering modes. Multi-zone situation. For most scenarios, center-weighted is a
metering looks at the entire frame, center-weighted will good all-around choice. But, in tricky lighting (like
look most closely at whatever is in the center of your frame strong back lighting), spot metering can be handy,
and spot metering will look at what is right underneath the but requires careful use to ensure the right subject is
center spot on your screen. metered for.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Exposure Value
The steps in the exposure indicator scale are MINUS TWO EV PLUS ONE EV
or or
measured by the exposure value (EV). MINUS TWO STOPS PLUS ONE STOP
You may have noticed that the exposure indicator has little
steps along the scale. These steps in the scale are commonly
known as “stops”. And what’s particularly handy is that
each stop is twice the brightness as the one before. So, for
example, at +1 stop the camera is letting in twice as much
light as when the exposure indicator is at zero. FINE TUNE
You can usually control the
exposure in 1/3 stops.
You can change your aperture, shutter speed and ISO
settings to get different exposure stops along the scale.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
PHOTO-SPEAK
To adjust for these kinds of situations you have two options.
First up, you can use exposure compensation, which is a
CHIMPING
setting or dial on your camera that will automatically make
Chimping is a term that refers to the act of looking at your
the image brighter or darker than the light meter suggests it
photos on the back of your camera (and making “ooh ahh”
should be.
noises!).
Or you can shoot in manual mode, which will let you take
In some situations, especially with tricky light, it can be hard
full control of your shutter speed, ISO, and aperture, and
to tell what a good exposure is, and this is where chimping
create the exposure that you want (regardless of what the
can help. You can check your results to see if you’re getting
exposure indicator tells you).
what you want, and adjust as necessary!
However you use it, your light meter and exposure indicator
But be careful! It’s easy to spend too much time chimping, and
are key features of your camera that will help you control
wind up missing what’s happening in front of you!
light!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Controlling Color
TWILIGHT
OPEN SHADE
You can manually set the white balance on your camera by SUNRISE + SUNSET
choosing from a set of icons that correspond to different
shooting situations.
HOUSEHOLD (TUNGSTEN)
LIGHT BULB
Another option is to use the Auto White Balance mode
(AWB), where the camera will attempt to automatically CANDLE LIGHT
set the correct white balance for you. And it usually does
a pretty good job! But, unfortunately, it doesn’t always FLUORESCENT
Doesn’t fit on the same color
make the right choices. And when the white balance temperature scale. It neutralizes the
setting is wrong for an image it can make things look pretty green cast from fluorescent light by
shifting the balance to pink.
wacky! Skin tones can look bad, the color of objects can
be inaccurate, and other such shenanigans. This is where
shooting in the raw image format can help, because you can
easily change white balance settings afterwards.
The photos on the right show how different white balance settings
change the color of an image. The same photo has had the Shade
white balance setting applied (left) and the Tungsten setting (right),
making the image look dramatically different with each option. SHADE TUNGSTEN
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Tricky White
Balance
When you have two different color
temperatures of light in your scene, getting
a proper white balance can be tough.
Imagine you’re photographing your subject in front of a
window that has cool blue shade coming in. In the room a
lamp is turned on, adding some warm yellow light. How do
you set your white balance to compensate properly for the
two colors of light illuminating your scene?
In this photo there are two different light sources present: a lamp to the
right, just out of the frame, and the cell phone on the boy’s lap. The lamp
The short answer: you can’t. has a tungsten bulb, and is providing warm/yellow light. The cell phone
screen is providing cool/blue light. No matter what white balance setting
we choose, we won’t be able to neutralize both color temperatures! The best
The long answer is that your camera’s white balance can option here would be to turn off one light source.
only compensate for one color temperature at a time. If
you’re working with multiple light sources with different
color temperatures, things get really tricky. The easiest
way to deal with this is to rework your lighting so that just tip!
one color of light hits your subject. Turn off the lamp, for
BLACK & WHITE
example, and only use the window light.
If you aren’t able to limit the light sources or modify
More complex solutions include changing the color them then you have one final option for dealing with
temperature of one of the light sources (using things like tricky white balance situations: converting the photo
colored filters), or doing some very tricky post-processing to to black and white using post-processing software. It’s
try to selectively adjust the temperature for just one section a last resort, but it could save an image that you might
of your photo. Not fun. When possible, try to have only one otherwise pass over.
color of light hitting your subject, and it will make your job
much easier!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Review: Controlling
Light With Your
Camera
You can control the appearance of light by
adjusting settings on your camera.
Using aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, you can change the
exposure of the image, making the photo look brighter or
darker.
There are some tools on your camera that can help you
determine what a good exposure might be. The light meter
is a sensor inside the camera that reads the light and
suggests on the exposure indicator what a good exposure
might be. The light meter determines this suggested
exposure based on what metering mode you have your
camera set to. Common metering modes include multi-zone,
spot and center-weighted.
There is a lot you can do with your camera, but there are
even more ways to control light, so let’s check out the next
option now!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
2) Controlling the 1
Direction of Light
When you change the direction of the light
in your image, it affects the appearance of
the tones.
There are two ways you can potentially control the direction
of light in your image:
Now note: when you move the light source, you will be
changing the actual direction that the light is coming from.
When you move the camera, you won’t be affecting the light
source itself, but the appearance of the direction of the light
will change.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
But you can almost always change the position that you’re
shooting from, so you can almost always change the look of
the light in your image!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
The light is coming from directly in front of If the light comes from the side, part of the For portraits side lighting is considered
subject, making the entire face even midtones. face will be highlights and midtones, and flattering, and there is a lot of variety possible!
There aren’t many highlights or shadows. the other part will be shadows. This results It can range from completely to the side of
This makes nearly the entire face easy to see, in a large portion of the face being harder to the subject, as seen in the previous example,
making any symmetry or asymmetry in the see (the shadow portion). This has the result all the way to nearly front lighting. This shot
features easy to recognize. The face will also of making the face appear thinner, because is about halfway in between the two, and is
look wider than with side lighting. This type you can only see a portion of it. The angle generally considered a particularly flattering
of lighting is often used for beauty portraits, above is about 90° from the camera, which angle.
especially when the light is very soft. is considered very strong side lighting, and
produces a lot of shadows.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
With back lighting, the light comes from When the light hits the face from below, If the angle of the light comes from directly
behind the face, putting a large portion it causes shadows to go upwards from the above the subject, it will cause shadows to
of it into shadow. There may be some nose, cheeks, and forehead. This gives a very fall underneath the eyes, nose, and chin. This
highlights on the back or side of the head, sinister appearance. It’s great if you want can be quite unflattering, and makes the eyes
but it’s predominantly dark. This can make to make your subject look like a villain in a very dark. You often get this result when
the person look dramatic, or anonymous, horror film, but not very flattering! photographing people under ceiling lights, or
especially when exposed darkly, as above. outside when the sun is overhead.
You can also expose this type of light for the
subject, which will make the background quite u n f a ct!
f
bright. There won’t be any shadows on the
When it comes to portraits you usually see a combination of these
face itself in that case, so it gives fairly even
lighting. different directions! In studio lighting setups, there are sometimes
multiple lights coming from overhead, the back, and the side
in order to give a lot of dimension to the subject, and highlight
different aspects of the face. The options are endless!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
3) Controlling the
Light Source
The final way to control light has to do with
changing the light source itself.
In the previous section we covered the different ways you
can control the direction of light. But if you recall from
our discussion of the characteristics of light, direction was
just one thing that affected the look of light. The other
characteristics of light are quality, intensity and color. So
let’s see what options you have for controlling those other
variables!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
So, if you have soft light, and want to make it even softer,
simply move the light closer to your subject! And if you have
soft light, and want to make it harder, you can move the light
away from the subject. As the light source moves away from
the subject, its apparent size becomes smaller, making the
light harder. Easy peasy. SOFT LIGHT HARD LIGHT
When the light source is When the light source moves away,
But the tricky part is that the converse of this isn’t always very close to the subject it it becomes apparently smaller, and
is large, and covers a wide covers a narrower angle, making it
true. You can’t always move a hard light source closer to angle, so the light is soft. into hard light.
your subject and have it produce nice soft light. If you
have direct light (light with nothing between the source and
the subject) it will generally produce hard light, because
it is usually a relatively smaller source (like a camera flash MOVING A DIRECT LIGHT CLOSER
or a flashlight). Moving it closer to the subject won’t make
enough of a difference to produce soft light because even
close up, it’s still a relatively small light source. But you do
have another option...
get
don’t for
ANGLE OF COVERAGE
The softness or hardness of light has to do with the angle
of coverage that the light has on the subject. A narrow
angle produces hard light. A wide angle produces soft
HARD LIGHT HARD LIGHT
The light source is direct and small, Even after moving the direct light
light, because the light can wrap around the subject more, so the light is hard, and the shadow closer, it’s apparent size is still
and fill in the shadows. of the ball has sharp edges. small, so it still produces hard light.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Say you have a direct light source, producing hard light, and
you want to soften it up. What to do? ADDING A DIFFUSER
PHOTO-SPEAK
SOFT BOX
A very common light modifier is known
as a soft box. It’s essentially a box of
DIRECT LIGHT DIRECT LIGHT + DIFFUSER
fabric that fits around a studio light, and
puts a white piece of fabric in front of
the light. As you know, this will diffuse
the light, and make it softer. And that
is why this nifty little thing is known as
a soft box. You can even get soft boxes
for on-camera flashes.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Bouncing Flash
This is a technique that can transform the look of the light
produced by an external camera flash.
See, a camera flash can create some pretty bad light. When
pointed straight at your subject, it is a small, direct source
that is creating hard front lighting. And by now, you know
that’s not very flattering for portraits! But what to do?
DIRECT FLASH BOUNCED FLASH
If your goal is to create softer light, you need to make your The flash is pointed directly at the The flash is pointed at the ceiling,
light source larger. To do that, we’re going to use diffuse subject, making it into a small light and through diffuse reflection
source that produces hard, front light. the light source becomes larger,
reflection. How? By pointing the flash at a wall or ceiling! This type of light is generally not very creating softer light. By angling
Pointing the flash at a wall or ceiling will cause the light flattering, creating harsh shadows and the flash the direction can also
to diffusely reflect off that surface, and turn it into a much shine on skin. So let’s change it up! be changed to produce more side
lighting. Much more flattering!
bigger source.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Intensity
Another way to control your light source is by changing the
intensity. With studio lights or flashes you can do this by
increasing or decreasing the power of the light. Easy!
But if you’re already maxed out on the power, and still need
more brightness? It’s the Inverse Square Law again! Move
the light source closer to the subject, and that will increase
the brightness of the light falling on them.
Using a studio light or flash can allow you to adjust the power of the light.
Color Moving the light closer can also increase the brightness.
Finally, you can control the color of the light source by
using something called a colored gel. This is a colored piece
of film that you can put over the light to change the color
temperature. It’s more commonly used in studio setups, but
can be quite fun to experiment with in any situation.
You can see how working with artificial lights like studio
strobes or external flashes gives you a lot of control over
the light. But very often you may find yourself shooting with
natural light, where you can’t easily move the light source, or
change the power settings. What to do then?
You can control the color of the light source using a colored gel. These allow
only certain colored wavelengths through, and so they change the color
temperature of the light.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Move Your Subject If your subject is mobile you can move them all around to get different light.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Now note: this works well when your light is coming from a
window, or a lamp. But it doesn’t work with direct sun. You
can’t ask someone to take two steps closer to the midday
sun, and expect it to become a softer light source! We are
just too far away for small changes in distance to have any
noticeable effect.
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Now, this is all assuming that it is a clear, cloudless day. habit of opening your eyes to all the potential spots to
Waiting around for the light to change on a partially cloudy shoot. Getting amazing light might be as simple as moving
day is a whole lot more dynamic. Each time the sun goes to a different location. When we shoot portrait sessions in
behind a cloud, the light changes from hard to soft. You can homes, the very first thing we do is walk through every room
have different light from minute to minute! to find the best light. Often it is in the rooms we never would
have considered – like the kitchen, or the front entranceway.
Find the Shade Consider everywhere as a potential place to shoot, and then
find the location with the best light!
And if the sun won’t go away, and you need some soft
light for your subject? If your subject is mobile, move them
into the shade, effectively changing the light source again.
When you’re standing in the shade, the sun itself is no
longer directly hitting your subject. The hard light is gone.
So what’s left to light them up? Indirect sunlight in the form
of sky light. And, as we just mentioned, the sky is a large
light source, and, thus, a soft light source. So shooting in the
shade means you can get nice, soft light, even in the middle
of the day!
tip!
Even though the light in the shade is a lot more diffuse
This portrait was taken in the front entranceway of the house, because it had
than direct sunlight, it still has direction. So make sure the best light coming in through the glass door!
you’re taking the time to figure out what direction the
light is coming from, and adjust as necessary to get the
most flattering results on your subject!
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CONTROLLING LIGHT
Review: Controlling
Light
At this point, I hope you can see that there are a lot of
ways to control light – with your camera, by changing
the direction of the light, by changing the light source
itself, or by changing any number of variables that are
related to the way the light appears in your photo. And,
once you realize just how many ways you can change the
appearance of the light in your image, you might be feeling
pretty overwhelmed! Any one adjustment can completely
change the look of your subject, and affect more than one
characteristic of the light. It’s a complicated thing.
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“ The moment you take the leap of understanding
to realize you are not photographing a subject
but are photographing light is when you have
control over the medium. ”
Daryl Benson
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READING THE
LIGHT
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READING THE LIGHT
Learning How to
Read Light
Being able to analyze the light around you
will help you make better decisions on how
to improve your photos.
In this section we’re going to cover questions you can ask
yourself about light. We’ve broken the questions down into
two categories: those you can ask yourself about the scene
you’re photographing, and questions you can ask as the
viewer of a photograph.
Being able to analyze light in this way will open your eyes
to the creative lighting decisions that you can make as a
photographer.
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READING THE LIGHT
You can see the list of questions to the right. On the 7. What mood am I trying to convey? Does
following pages we’re going to go through each one in the lighting help?
detail.
8. What are my options for controlling the
get
don’t for light?
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READING THE LIGHT
When assessing light sources, make sure to consider all possibilities. Light
is everywhere!
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READING THE LIGHT
To figure out whether light is hard or soft, take a peek at the edges of
shadows. If they’re sharp, it’s harder light. Blurry means it’s softer light!
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READING THE LIGHT
Front lighting from a window. After rotating around, we now have light coming from the side/back.
It’s simple: hold your hand out in front of you, palm facing toward you, and take note of the
light on your hand. You can determine the light’s intensity by how bright or dark your hand
looks. And you can determine the light’s direction and quality by analyzing the tones on your
hand. The proportion and placement of the highlights, midtones and shadows will tell you
direction, and the sharpness of the edges of the shadows will tell you quality!
Then, with your hand held out, rotate all the way around, and see how the light on your hand
changes. This will help you get a sense of where in your scene the light is brightest, what
direction it’s coming from and the quality of that light.
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READING THE LIGHT
This can create opportunities that you can use (like sunlight
coming through clouds, providing soft light) or challenges
that you need to work around (like light bouncing off a wall
and adding unwanted color to your subject).
6. Does the light add compositional The way light behaves when it hits different surfaces in your scene can
elements to the photo? present both opportunities and challenges.
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READING THE LIGHT
light?
You may have several options for controlling the light in
your scene: with your camera settings, by changing the
direction of the light source or your camera, by changing
the characteristics of the light source, or by changing other
factors that influence the light.
Ask yourself: How can I change the light? Can you turn the
light on or off, change the power level, change the direction,
or move the subject? Can you wait for different light? And
how will all of these changes affect the look of the photo?
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READING THE LIGHT
re
If you’re shooting a scene with a very high dynamic range of learn mo
light, it can be helpful to do some exposure bracketing, and
combine the images later using the HDR technique! SUPER PHOTO EDITING SKILLS
Post-processing is an essential skill for any digital
While you should take your time to get your images looking photographer. It will help you bring the best out of
the way you want in-camera, don’t neglect the power of your images! To learn how to use the industry leading
post-processing to help you achieve your goals. Considering post-processing software, Adobe Lightroom®, check
it while shooting will help you use it bring your vision to life! out our Super Photo Editing Skills tutorial here.
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READING THE LIGHT
Photo me?
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READING THE LIGHT
Figuring this out can help you determine what kinds of light
sources are being used – a key piece of information when it
comes to analyzing the light!
Looking at the shadows can tell you which direction the light is coming
from, and whether it’s hard or soft light.
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READING THE LIGHT
CATCHLIGHTS
Look deep into my eyes – notice those little white reflections? Those are called catchlights.
They are the reflection of a light source in an eye, and they are handy clues about light!
First off, catchlights are generally considered a positive thing in a photo. They give eyes
a sparkle and liveliness. Eyes without catchlights in them look dark, or “dead”. Whether
or not a catchlight shows up depends on the angle of the light relative to the subject and
the photographer. Remember: the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, and
catchlights are simply a reflection of the light!
Second, if you are able to find a catchlight, you can often use that to work backwards to
figure out how the photo was lit. The position of the catchlight tells you where the light (or
lights) were placed. The size of the catchlight will tell you the relative size of the light source.
And the shape can even give you a hint as to what kind of light was used. Notice a circle?
That might be a studio light. A rectangle with lines through it? Maybe a window. You might
even get a peek at the photographer in the catchlight!
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READING THE LIGHT
You can look for clues to help you try to determine what
time of day the image was taken at. What is the color
temperature of the light in the image? That could help you
figure out whether it was taken at sunset or midday.
Post-processing can dramatically change the way the light in your image
looks – adding contrast, changing color temperature, etc.
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READING THE LIGHT
Review: Questions
About Light
Becoming a light investigator is a lot of fun,
and a great way to practice your skills.
Now that you see light differently, and know how to ask
yourself about it, start analyzing the different scenes and
photos in front of you – even when you’re not holding a
camera. Ask yourself the questions we’ve outlined, study the
light, look for the clues, and then decide whether you think
the light is working well.
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“ To me, photography is an art of observation.
It’s about finding something interesting in an
ordinary place... I’ve found it has little to do
with the things you see and everything to do
with the way you see them.
”
Elliott Erwitt
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REAL WORLD
LIGHT
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
You’re now ready to step out into the big wide world, and
start seeing light all around you.
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
Indoor Light
OVERHEAD LIGHTS
When shooing inside, ceiling bulbs (often tungsten bulbs) tend to be the
most common source of light. They create overhead light that’s yellow.
TIPS: If possible, turn off the overhead lights and switch to natural light
instead (like the light from a window). Alternatively, try bouncing a
flash or adding another lamp to fill in some of the unflattering overhead
shadows. Set your white balance for tungsten, or shoot in raw and use
post-processing software to neutralize the yellow light from the bulbs.
LAMP LIGHT
Lamps are another common source of indoor lighting. These generally
have the same color temperature as overhead lighting, but produce side,
back or front lighting, depending on their placement.
TIPS: Get very close to a lamp, and you’ll get softer, brighter light. Plus
lamp shades can work as great diffusers! Try moving lamps around to
get more control over the light. And consider turning them off if you’re
using natural window light, to ensure only one color temperature is at
work in your shot.
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
FLASH
When the light indoors isn’t quite what you want, you can use your
camera’s flash to try to get better results.
CHALLENGES: Direct flash can create very hard, front lighting, which
is flat and unflattering. If the flash doesn’t create a large enough light
source, from a good angle, it won’t be very great light.
TIPS: Point your flash towards a wall or the ceiling, and bounce the light
off of it in order to create a larger light source. This will make the light
softer, reducing harsh shadows. You can also angle your flash in order
to have the bounced light coming from the side of the subject, which
will help add depth and dimension to the image. (To review our tips on
bouncing flash, click here!)
MIXED LIGHTING
When you have multiple light sources with different color temperatures
in a scene, you have mixed lighting.
TIPS: If multiple light sources are causing problems, try to simplify the
scene by turning off any that don’t suit your goals. If you can’t get rid
of some lights, try repositioning your subject so that they’re illuminated
only by light you like.
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
CHALLENGES: Window light is only present while the sun is SIDE WINDOW
LIGHTING
out, so there’s a time factor involved here. If your window
By turning the
is very small, it can be tough to get enough light for more subjects we can get
than one or two people. If the sunlight is strong, and coming side lighting. This
helps to create more
directly through the window, you’ll have hard light. And, shadow on their
while window light is versatile, you still can’t pick up a faces, adding depth
window and move it where you want. So it can sometimes and dimension to the
shot.
be tough to work with the room, the backgrounds, and the
subjects to get the light you want.
TIPS: Don’t rule out any window – sometimes the best light
is in the most unexpected places. If a window has blinds, BACK WINDOW
try using them as a diffuser, especially if the light coming LIGHTING
through is hard. You can move your subject around to get Moving around so
that the light is now
closer or further from the window to change the intensity coming from behind
and quality of light. Moving them around will also allow the subjects lets us
get more variety.
you to get different lighting directions. Moving yourself is This back lighting
another way to change the direction of the light. You really adds more drama to
want to take advantage of all the variety possible here! the shot.
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
Outdoor Light
Let’s take this outside. The light you’ll find outdoors comes in so many flavors.
DIRECT MIDDAY SUN
On a clear day, around noon, you’ll find direct midday sun, which can be
quite challenging to work with.
TIPS: If possible, move your subject (or yourself) to better light, either
in the shade or indoors. If you can’t move, you may want to wait until
the light improves, or use a light modifier to try to soften the light. This
is often done using a scrim, which is essentially a big white sheet of
material that diffuses direct sun, making it softer.
SHADE
Step out of the sun, and into the shade, and your lighting changes
completely.
TIPS: Have your subjects face out of the shade to get more light onto
their faces. Use the hand trick to find a good direction. Experiment
with different angles while in the shade to get more variety and more
flattering light. Set your white balance to shade, or shoot in raw and use
post-processing software to neutralize the blue tone of the light.
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
CLOUDY
A sky full of clouds diffuses the direct sunlight, creating a much larger
and softer light source.
CHALLENGES: This type of light can be quite flat, since there is less
direction to it. It can also change from minute to minute if you have
patchy clouds that are moving over the sun. This can result in images
that are partly in shade, and partly in full sun.
TIPS: Try to find the brightest point in the sky (using the hand trick) and
use it to determine the direction of the light. Then position your subjects
to get the angle you want. If the clouds are changing the light a lot,
shoot quickly, and use it as an opportunity to get more variety.
STORMY
Dark stormy skies can produce all kinds of light. They’re wild,
unpredictable, and can be a whole lot of fun to photograph!
TIPS: Shoot! Especially right after a storm you will find some pretty
incredible light, so get out there and shoot. Be ready for anything, and
use everything you know about light to get some pretty unique images.
Make sure to have a garbage bag or rain cover to keep your camera dry,
and use your head and don’t shoot in unsafe situations!
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
CHALLENGES: This light changes quickly, and lasts for only a brief
period of time. The direction is strongly from the side, and can still be
very hard light. It will produce dark, long shadows.
TIPS: Use this kind of light to add a lot of color and depth to any type
of shot. When shooting people you may need to be very careful with
your angles to still get flattering light on their faces without too many
shadows. When used well, this type of light can be pure magic!
TWILIGHT
Twilight occurs when the sun is just below the horizon – before sunrise
and after sunset. This is when the sun is now an indirect light source, and
you’re working with sky light.
CHALLENGES: This type of light is much dimmer than when the sun is
out, and it changes fast. It’s very soft and doesn’t have much direction so
it can be a bit flat.
TIPS: Take advantage of this time of day, because the light can be quite
special, but fleeting. Find the brightest point in the sky and face your
subjects that way for the most light. Use high ISO settings, long shutter
speeds (with a tripod), or low aperture values to get more of the light.
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
BLUE HOUR
One particular period of twilight is known as blue hour – when the sun is
low beneath the horizon, and the sky takes on a blue color.
CHALLENGES: There is very little light during this period, and it can be
tough to get enough of it to make a good exposure.
TIPS: Use a tripod and long shutter speeds to capture the blue in the sky.
This is also a good opportunity to use strobe lights outdoors to add in
your own light on your subject, while taking advantage of the color in the
sky. If you can combine the blue light with warm lights from buildings,
you can balance the two and get great atmospheric images.
NIGHT
When there is no light from the sun, and the sky is black, you have night.
CHALLENGES: There’s no color left to the sky, and it will become black
in your images. This means there isn’t any natural light left to illuminate
your subjects.
TIPS: Use other sources of light, like the lights from buildings, street
lamps, flashes, etc. Unless you have your subject very close to a light
source, you’ll probably need to use a long shutter speed and a tripod to
get enough light at night.
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REAL WORLD LIGHT
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“ In the right light, at the right time,
everything is extraordinary.”
Aaron Rose
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THE
CONCLUSION
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You’re a Light Ninja!
Can you believe just how much you’ve
learned about light?
Take a second to think about everything you’ve learned
over the past 120 pages. Holy moly, right? What may have
seemed like overly technical science turned out to be the
key to seeing light in a totally different way. And your new
understanding of light is going to have a huge impact on
your photography!
Now this stuff isn’t always easy to wrap your mind around.
Don’t get discouraged if you hit a few bumps when you start
working with light out in the real world. Sometimes you’ll
know exactly how to use light in your photos. Other times,
you may feel a bit overwhelmed.
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At the end of it all, we hope that one of the biggest
takeaways you’ve gained is the knowledge that while
light can be very dynamic and complex, there are simple
behaviors and characteristics that you can use to break it
down, and understand it in a fundamental way.
What you do with the light after that is totally up to you! Get
creative, seek out different types of light, and use them to
your advantage. You’ve got a grand light adventure ahead –
we hope you’re excited to get out there!
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“ It’s not what you look at that
matters, it’s what you see.”
Henry David Thoreau
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Let’s Keep On Learnin’!
Now that you’re a light ninja, pick another topic and keep on expanding your skills!
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About The Authors
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Connect With Us!
Send Us Your Feedback
Was this tutorial helpful for you? We sure hope so!
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