a conversation on capturing light
In the beginning, we think it’s all about the camera.
Then we think it’s all about the lens.
Eventually, we know it’s all about the light.
The bottom line is this, we need light to make an image. Everything else is technique, it’s all in how you use the light.
We can use light to enhance your composition or we can use light as your composition.
Light has different qualities at different times of the day:
Direct and indirect light have unique qualities. Direct light, say on a sunny day, throws distinct shadows increasing dynamic range, shade or indirect light is softer, throwing muted shadows.
The golden hour begins. The silver hull of the fishing boat has taken on a golden hue.
Intense golden hour light illuminates a train near Winnipeg, 2012. The golden light is so intense that it overpowers the colours of the containers.
Evening on the Mississippi River in New Orleans, 2012. The golden hour giving way to the blue hour. Still some of the golden glow.
The blue hour. Looking to the west near Winnipeg, we can see the remnants of sunset colours in the lower part of the sky.
The creative side of photography lives here. Side light brings out texture, direct side light gives deeper, longer shadows, indirect side light softens and flatters in portraits.
Side light can be the most dramatic light, but we need to be careful how we use the tool as it can emphasize flaws.
Father Cam, 1968. Shot on Ilford HP4 film with one flash in front of the subject.
Side light at Yosemite Valley emphasizes the rugged landscape.
Diffuse side light flatters the subject with soft shadows.
Back light is popular for creating drama and makes for good silhouettes. Indirect backlight can add depth and dimension to an image. Drama lives here, but we need to be careful with exposure to avoid overexposing the light source, a blown out sun never looks good, meter carefully to expose for the highlights.
Like any other light source, backlight can be direct, indirect, or diffuse.
Evening in Bagan, Myanmar, 2016. Diffuse backlight.
Sunset sailing in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, 2017. Strong direct backlight overwhelms foreground objects throwing them into black. Good silhouette potential in these conditions.
Silhouette tree at Kin Beach Park near Comox, 2017. Indirect backlight illuminating distant clouds and airborne smoke from forest fires.
Monk contemplating many things, Myanmar 2016. Direct backlight illuminates the monk without causing silhouetting.
Natural light comes from the sun, even if it comes from the moon. Mid-day light has a colour temperature of somewhere around 5600 Kelvin, what our eyes and brain interprets as white. Our digital cameras work best in the “white” range even though Auto White Balance is turned on.
We need to pay attention to white balance because our brains have the ability to correct for white under many different lighting conditions but our cameras don’t share that ability. Auto White Balance comes close, but can fail spectacularly under some circumstances.
Electronic flash guns pump out clean white light, but it’s not “natural” light because parts of the spectrum are missing.
Clean mid-day white light in Queenstown, New Zealand, 2008.
A little bit of trivia – daylight colour temperature varies with latitude. At the equator mid-day light is slightly “warm” as we approach the poles, north or south, the light becomes progressively “cooler.” In the film days colour film was calibrated for the needs of the main market for a particular film type. Agfa colour film was balanced for northern latitudes to warm up the cool light.
Shooting under artificial light brings a few concerns for composition. Artificial light may look white to the eye but not to the sensors in our cameras, colour film suffered from the same issues. Setting white balance to the lighting is important if we want to maintain a natural or neutral balance. Different light sources have different “white” values.
If you are shooting JPG, make sure you dial in the white balance for the light you are working with. If you shoot RAW, you can fix white balance in post – most of the time.
If a flash is used, the white balance is best at daylight setting.
Indoor scene with good white balance, colours look natural, whites are white.
Effect of shooting under tungsten, or “warm,” lighting with daylight white balance.
Effect of shooting under fluorescent white lighting with daylight white balance.
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