essential skills: photographic lighting
Source Ambient Ambient light is existing natural or artificial light present in any environment. Ambient light can be subdivided into four major categories: ~ ~ ~ ~
Daylight Tungsten Fluorescent Firelight.
Daylight Daylight is a mixture of sunlight and skylight. Sunlight is the dominant or main light. It is warm in color and creates highlights and shadows. Skylight is the secondary light. It is cool in color and fills the entire scene with soft diffused light. Without the action of skylight, shadows would be black and detail would not be visible. White balance is usually calibrated to daylight at noon (5500K). When images are recorded at this time of the day the colors and tones reproduce with neutral values, i.e. neither warm nor cool.
Tungsten A common type of electric light such as household bulbs/globes and photographic lamps. A tungsten element heats up and emits light. Tungsten light produces very warm tones when used as the primary light source. Underexposure occurs due to the lack of blue light in the spectrum emitted. Digital cameras can be set to automatically adjust the white balance to correct the color cast from light sources of different color temperatures or this can be set by the photographer by choosing either a white balance setting or creating a customized white balance setting (see Color Correction and Filtration > Color accuracy in camera).
Fluorescent Phosphors inside fluorescent tubes radiate light after first absorbing ultraviolet light from mercury vapor emission. The resulting light from most fluorescent tubes produces a strong green cast that can be difficult to correct and is not apparent to the human vision. If used as a primary light source the results are often unacceptable due to the broad flat light and the strong color cast. Daylight balanced fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs are available and these are increasingly being used as a photographic light source (see Lighting on Location > Halogen or daylight balanced fluorescent lamps on location).
Firelight Light from naked flames can be very low in intensity. With very long exposures it can be used to create atmosphere and mood with its rich red tones.
12
