Why light is the most important thing in photography
Have you ever wondered:
Why do some photos make you pause and stare?
How do specific professionals just consistently amaze you?
How to achieve a 'wow' factor in your photos all the time?
Well, the answer to this is mastery of light.
You see, light is everything in photography. The way you need light to see anything, it's the same way you need light to capture a photo.
Light is the raw material for all photographs in this world.
If you have a shitty raw material, you'll probably have a shitty product.
If you don't understand light well, you'll have a hard time creating beautiful photos consistently.
Therefore, we simply cannot always rely on being lucky - to be at the right time at the right place.
Instead of 'capturing moments', create them.
Work around what you have, and you'll get exceptional results. That's a true artist's instinct.
Once you understand light, you start seeing the world differently.
Seeing differently is what makes you unique.
Why you need to shoot in manual mode:
This is something that I advise all of my photo tour participants; master manual mode!
In your camera, if your ISO is on Auto - your camera exposes the photo for you. It always tries its best to balance the brightness for you.
But if you want to get creative, you'd want to decide brightness yourself. (That's why I underexpose 90% of my images)
Before we talk about how we can train our eyes to see light, let's dive deep into the different types of light:
Types of Light
For outdoor photography, we have to work around natural light - and that's what makes it so special.
1. Top Light
This is light that comes from the top of your subject. In our case, it's usually midday - because that's when the day is the brightest, and the sun is at the complete top of where we are.
The harsh lighting conditions make photography difficult, because the highlights are way too bright, and shadows are too dark. Basically, the contrast is way too high.
I usually avoid taking photos at this time because the harsh light goes against my intended vision & style. However, if you can get creative around that, do it!
As you can see, the light is harsh on both the subject & the background.
2. Front Light
Also known as a spotlight or lime light - when the light falls directly on your subject from the front. This is usually right after sunrise/before sunset (when the sun is low but fully above the horizon).
As you can see, there's very soft light on the face and the shadow is barely visible.
3. Sidelight
This is one of my favorite types of lighting. It also takes place during sunrise/sunset.
The key difference here is that your subject faces you but the light comes from the side, not the front.
On one side it's bright, on the other its dark. This creates an incredible opportunity to capture the beautiful flow of light.
As you can see, it's bright on the right and dark on the left. The natural flow of light from the right to the left has been captured.
4. Backlight
This is when you photograph your subject against the light - meaning the light is behind your subject.
This can sometimes be done during midday, but most beautifully during sunrise & sunset.
From the backlight, you can get the following results:
a) Silhouettes
A silhouette is a subject's dark shape against brighter light.
If you have a clearer & brighter background than your subject, you can get a silhouette by underexposing your photo. (I'll write more in-depth about silhouettes in the near future)
As you can see, the sun (light) is behind the subject (silhouette), and the sky is clear.
b) Rim Light
This is when the light creates an outline of the subject's body. This works very well when the subject has some fur/hair.
As you can see, the fur outlines the subject's body.
How to train your eye to read light
How do you develop that artistic instinct to recognize a great photo just by reading light?
1. Everyday situations:
To form a habit, you need to make a conscious effort first.
You can start noticing light by reminding yourself to read light in everyday situations.
Look for the light on a building during sunrise, a person's face during midday, a cat during sunset, etc.
2. Look for the flow of light:
In your observations, look deeply into how lights and shadows flow from different types of lighting (the harshness and softness).
You'll understand the flow of lighting by realizing how harsh lighting can flow gradually into soft shadows, and vice versa.
3. Editing
You can observe how light works when you play around with exposure, highlights, shadows, and contrast when editing a photo.
Experiment with the brush tool by painting light onto a photo. With your newly found knowledge of lighting, watch how creative you can get with editing!
4. Experiment with a torch:
You can do this at night time.
Select any subject close to you (preferably a human).
Switch off all lights.
Switch on your phone's flashlight, and start experimenting with the light on your subject. Top light, front light, sidelight and backlight. Notice how each lighting scenario paints the subject differently.
Ending
Once you start noticing light, the world becomes magical.
“‘Just like in life & photography, read the light, and you’ll get it right.’”
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Hoping this enlightened you 😉
Till next time,
Dhir
