Digital Photography Series - Meredith Blaché
Seeing the Light
Introduction Photography comes from the Greek words - Photo meaning Light Graph meaning to draw .
Photography is all about the amount of light that enters the camera. It is important to see all the sources of light in your photo and understand the direction of the light. In this segment we will explore directions and some sources of light: Front, Back, Side, Top, Window and Reflected.
Front Light The first source of light we will explore is front light. It is one of the most flat lighting sources but if muted can be very dramatic. In Front lighting, the light source is directly behind you and the camera. Be sure not to cast a shadow on your subject. In the following example, you will see natural front lighting from an early morning sun light.
Example of Front Lighting 2
Side Lighting The next source of light we will explore is Side Lighting. This type of lighting tends to show the most depth in your photos. With side lighting the source of the light is coming from the side of the subject. This angle can vary greatly allowing you to move, or your subject to move, getting the best depth from lighting in your photo. (Window lighting is also an example of side lighting. We will discuss this shortly) Here is an example of side lighting .
Example of Side Lighting
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Back Lighting The next source we will discuss is Back Lighting. This type of light can be very dramatic. You can achieve both silhouettes of your subject or make translucent objects like (flowers) glow. In Backlighting the y ​ our subject is between you and your light source​. It will be important not to have the light shine directly into your lens or you will get what is called Lens Flare.
Example of silhouette by backlighting
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Backlighting Creating Translucent Image
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Top Lighting Top lighting sometimes cannot be avoided. Typically during the hours of 11am - 2pm top lighting is the only outdoor lighting available on a sunny day unless you can get under cover. With top lighting the light source is directly above the subject. This tends to cast harsh shadows and is not flattering for photographs of people.
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Example of Top Lighting
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Example of top lighting
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Window Lighting Window light is usually used as a form of side-light, but can also be used for backlighting. It tends to be a very soft form of lighting which gives very gentle shadowing on the subjects.
Example of window lighting
Reflected Lighting The term reflected light can refer to light either being reflected back onto the subject or a reflection of the subject. When the light is being reflected onto the subject , there is a main source of light and something else reflecting additional light on the subject usually on the opposite side from the main source of light. This helps to eliminate harsh shadows or provide enough light to take the photo.
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Reflection of the subject on the other hand, occurs when there is shiny surface allowing the light a bounce the image of the subject back into the camera. The lighting source needs to be at an angle from the camera. The reflections will be equal to the angle of the light source.
Sample of Reflection
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