Paper Heart Camera: light

Showing posts with label light. Show all posts

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Studying Light

You've heard it before. Lighting is King in photography. One of the fastest ways to improve the quality of your photos is to learn to see and use light to create mood, texture and dimension in your images. Light (or lack there of) can make a photo or render it trash-worthy.

So how does one go about learning to see light? Well, one of my first steps toward learning about light and exposure, and how to use my camera in general, was to read Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. As a beginner, it helped me sort through all of those photography terms floating through my consciousness and make sense of the exposure triangle. I loved the detailed examples, with camera settings, as well as the suggestions for practice. It's a great book for beginners and I highly recommend it to anyone starting to come out of auto mode.

But, once you've gotten comfortable with how to achieve proper exposure manually, what's the next step toward seeing and using light? That's what I'd like to discuss here with a simple little exercise which demonstrates how light, and your camera's and your subject's relationship to it, can effect your image.
So, one of the most important things we can learn about light is what direction it’s coming from. The position of your light source in relation to your subject will have a great deal to do with how your pictures turn out. The direction of light controls which parts of your subject are lit and which are in shadow.

It is important to note the shadows because photos are two dimensional and shadows provide depth and contour to objects. They can reveal texture, which can create interest, or possibly be unflattering. To create shadows, the light needs to be at an angle to both the camera and your subject. So using some degree of side lighting will accentuate form.

The range of differing angles of light are generally simplified into three main types: front lighting, back lighting and side lighting. The way that shadows fall throughout your image can give you information about a picture that flat, front lighting can't reveal. Shooting with the light to the side of or behind your subject can create an image where shadows become part of the picture. Side light and back light usually produce high-contrast images with very bright areas, and very dark ones.

In each of the images below I kept my camera settings exactly the same and they were all taken within a matter of moments. The only thing I changed was my position in relation to my subject and the light.

You can see from the pull back that I had some window light from one direction, an open door from another, and a flashlight aimed at the subject.

You can see how the texture, shape, and color change from image to image and how that effects the mood of each photo. These images show how dramatically different your image can be by simply changing the angle and direction from which you shoot. (All images are SOOC except for resizing for the web).

This simple exercise can help you learn more about light. Give it a try like I did by simply walking around your subject and shooting from different angles. It will help you become more aware of how light effects your subject. By learning to use light to convey depth, form, texture and mood your images will become stronger.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Understanding how to use light.

Hey! It's Mandy from A Sorta Fairytale & Mandy Chiappini Photography. It's been WAY too long since I've posted here at Paper Heart Camera. So... here I am... discussing one of the very most important topics when it comes to photography!

I have been a professional photographer for 3 years now. To me, it seems like forever... but honestly I'm still a newbie. However, in my 3 years of experience, I have learned SO much. And I want to share with you one of the most important lessons I have learned over the years.

One of those lessons is achieving a great shot, straight out of camera (SOOC). You might know what all the little gadgets on your DSLR mean, and you might be a genius at Photoshop. But getting a properly exposed shot SOOC is so important.

And how do we do this? LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING! And of course, understanding the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed & ISO). But seriously, a lot of people e-mail me and ask me how I always have such bright vibrant photos. It isn't the editing that I do, it's the lighting that I used when I took the photo in camera. Not only will understanding lighting enhance your pictures, it will cut down on your editing time profusely! Time is valuable.

When it comes to light, the general rule of thumb is to always have your light source in FRONT of your subject. If the light source is behind them, you will have trouble capturing any light in their eyes. *light bulb moment* - if you want to get those gorgeous catch lights in your subjects eyes, make sure their face is WELL LIT. You'll also have trouble focusing and capturing detail if the light source isn't in the right place.

One thing to note: do not ever put your subject in the direct sunlight. Squinty eyes and harsh shadows are never desirable. There are a specific few techniques in which you might use the direct sunlight (i.e. sunflare). But for the most part, make sure that you have a significant amount of light (preferably shade if outside) on the person's face. (right by a window if you're inside).

Here is an example of what not to do with lighting:

Could I try to save this photo with lots and lots of fill light and selective dodging & burning? Sure. But would it be worth it? Not at all. This picture should be thrown out.

Here are some examples of properly exposed photos SOOC:

So why was this properly exposed? Well my camera was on manual mode so I had complete control over my settings and the exposure triangle, I used my meter and my histogram. But first and foremost, this picture turned out properly exposed SOOC because of where the light was in relation to my subject. This was taken in the middle of the day so there was light everywhere and we were in an open abandoned building. What you can't see, is behind me, there is a BIG open wall that was allowing lots of light to flood onto her face. If she was facing the other way, could I have achieved this shot? No. It would have been {possibly} salvageable, because there was definitely light coming in from all directions, but the darkest part of the building was behind her. And that is where I want it.

Make sense?

Editing time: Less than 5 minutes! All I had to do was a little sharpening and quick color popping and that's it! Oh, and for fun I converted it to B&W. :)

Here are a couple of other examples of a properly exposed photo SOOC:

I had her in the doorway so that she wouldn't be washed out with TOO much light, but I still had her facing outward toward the light source.

This was taken out in the open, but in the shade. There was buildings completely surrounding us. So the sun was blocked out... perfect!

So to reiterate, the MOST important thing to understand as a photographer - is lighting. Using the light properly will save 90% of your photos. You will find you are spending so much less time in Photoshop trying to correct your exposure if you can just capture that great SOOC shot!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Touch Up Tuesday: Adjusting the light.

SOOC:

After:

Edit: Basically I just did a really simple edit... brightness/contrast... etc... But, whenever I take photos of my friends: Courtney and Jamen... Jamen is usually very dark and Courtney is very light. I started using my levels layer in PS to adjust either my friend Courtney so she's not too light or my friend Jamen so he's not too dark. For this photo I used the levels layer to show Jamen's features better and erased Courtney from that layer. I hope that makes sense! :D

Photography love...