Freshman Hannah Perry details the new paint job in the free-expression tunnel. Perry and a group of friends decided to paint over a layer of Carolina Blue. Said Perry, “Spread the Red!”. Early morning and late afternoon can provide some of the best light imaginable. the light will almost always come from the side and appears warner. Taylor Templeton

Lighting
It's all about quantity, quality and direction

By Bradley Wilson ©2006

Photography is, roughly translated, painting with light. Light can be a photographer’s best friend, or worst enemy. The trick is knowing how to use the light.

Natural light

Natural light is the light that exists in a scene without any supplementary light provided by the photographer. Because it is “natural,” it appears the most realistic to the viewer. Even when a photographer uses artificial light to light a scene, the objective is to make that light supplement the natural light, not overtake it, so the scene still appears natural.

Obviously, the types of natural light range from almost nothing (such as a candle at a romantic getaway) to the bright sunlight at a daytime football game.

Sunlight can be both rich and colorful. Early morning and late afternoon light is some of the best light to shoot in. It comes from the side, providing texture, and has a warm, red color. Sunlight can also be harsh and distracting. Shooting mid-day, when the sun is directly overhead, generates harsh shadows, often blocking out any detail in the shadow areas.

Indoors, a scene shot using only available light still seems more natural than a scene lit with artificial light. However, indoor light can be problematic. The chief problem photographers encounter is not having enough light (quantity). That may require using a higher ISO to increase the sensitivity of the photo diodes to light or it may require supplementing the available light with a flash or other light source.

Even if there is enough light, the color of the light may cause problems.

With digital photography, the camera’s white balance can be set to render a true white even in scenes under fluorescent light (blue-green) or tungsten light (red-orange).

Flash

When the available light in a situation does not work, a photographer can use flash to increase the quantity of light or improve the color balance. When flash is properly used, flash should supplement, and not overpower, the available light.

When a flash is used on the camera, and pointed directly at a person, it has a flattening effect. All shadows will disappear from the person’s face and the background will have large ominous shadows created by the flash. To reduce this harshness, try bouncing the flash off a wall or reflective object such as a white piece of paper or the back of a white shirt. Bouncing the light diffuses it, creating a more natural look.

If it’s not possible to take the flash off the camera or there is nothing around to bounce the flash off of, diffuse the light through something by placing a softening object such as a soft box, note card or piece of tissue paper over the flash. Turn the power setting on the flash down to allow as much natural light to light the subject as possible. Use flash to fill in dark shadows that lose detail.

One other trick to shooting with a flash is to set the flash to "rear synch," allowing for the full exposure in the lighting situation, with a brief flash at the end to freeze the subject. This creates a ghosting effect where ambient light has created a motion blur and the flash will freeze the subject at the end of the motion.

Although it may seem contradictory at first, a flash may be most useful outdoors when the sunlight is harsh. In this situation, the light from the flash can be used to “fill” the shadows, providing detail.

Studio lights

When working with portraits or still-life shots, studio lights provide complete control over the amount of light, direction and tone in the photo. Using a soft box, an umbrella or bouncing the light off of the wall/ceiling will help to reduce harsh shadows.

Frontlighting		Sidelighting		Backlighting

Direction

The direction of light, front, side or back, can change the whole mood of the photograph. Sidelighting provides the most texture. Frontlighting eliminates shadows and provide detail, but loses texture and warmth. It creates a two-dimensional feeling because of its flat nature. Backlighting generally produces a silhouette and complete loss of detail.

Light from straight overhead, such as the mid-day sun or lights in a gym, can create distracting shadows on the person’s face. But we are used to seeing light from above. Lighting from below creates an ominous look, almost like holding a flashlight under a person’s face to make them appear evil.

Conclusion

The key to learning how to manipulate light is to experiment. Young photographers can learn a lot about light by playing in the studio, varying the amount and direction of light in a controlled situation and watching how the camera reacts. Take that knowledge out into the field and apply it to produce well-lit and creative photos.

Elena Everett reacts to Tate Rogers showing her what he was charged with after a confrontation with police in the brickyard. The police shut down a demonstration Tate, Elena and a few other students were having because they didn’t have a permit and told them to disperse. Mid-day light can become some of the worst light to shoot in because the light source is directly overheard and creates long shadows across faces. Rob Bradley		Colt Morton celebrates as the marathon 14- inning game comes to an end and the Pack move on to the next round after the Jan. 6, 2003 game. Harsh sunlight makes for difficult shooting. Use a flash to fill in the shadows. Try to shoot early in the day or late in the day to avoid harsh, overhead shadows. Tim Lytvinenko
Matt McLaughlin, a sophomore in business management, launches a ball during Phi Gamma Delta’s first annual dodgeball tournament at Pullen Park on Friday. McLaughlin was the last member of his team remaining in the game, and took out three of his opponents before finally being eliminated himself. Backlighting will wash all detail out of a subject, but the shadows created on the subject or the silhoutte can become very creative shots. Ray Black III		Carrie Nimmo and Laura Heaton stabilize themselves in the center of a seasaw Campus Crusade for Christ built out of scrap wood at Shack-a-Thon. Both decided to hang out on the brickyard for the fun and fellowship. When shooting with flash, it helps to balance the light from the flash with ambient light. In very low light situations, such as night time shooting, this can create a motion blur called ghosting. Rob Bradley