Light

Light is the “language of photography.” How we depict light in our photographs is much like how we chose our words when we speak. Lighting can be planned out in you head or it can be spontaneous when you first flip on the lights. A important tip to get more visual information to work with in post production is to shoot in RAW format, even though the files will be huge in post production they can be saved in a smaller format for sharing. Finally patience may be required to capture the perfect lighting, returning to the same spot days or even weeks later may be required to capture the perfect photo.

Photography is the manipulation of light, but what is light? Simply put light is a type of energy called electromagnetic radiation. When this energy bounces off of different objects the energy travels at different wavelengths. These wavelengths make up the colors we can see with human eyes. Some of the wavelengths are absorbed when they bounce off things and are not visible to the eye. In photography the most important quality of light is brightness, if a light is not bright enough a photograph can not be taken. Another quality of light is contrast, the difference between whites and blacks in your image. Shadows are a good way to achieve contrast and occur when light is not being blocked.

A subject can transmit absorb, or reflect light. Of these three reflection is the most visible. There are three types of reflection diffuse reflection, direct reflection, and glare. Diffuse reflection is when light bounces with equal brightness from every angle. Taking a photo from any direction will have the same amount of light. Direct reflections are a mirror of the light they come from. The light is reflecting off of the subject at the same angle the light hits it. Glare is when light reflects directly into your camera, sometimes glare can be an aesthetic choice. Finding the right type of reflection for your scene is crucial for taking great photos.