Photography: Dancing with Light

Sunset shot off the Manila Bay

Photography is all about light. No matter what color your subject has or fantastic textures that you see around you that you want to take a picture of, without light all you’d get is black.  Light can either make your or break you. Sure, focus and composition is important but without light, your fancy lens that lets you focus to our hearts desire won’t be much worth of a darn.  Even the best composed, sharply focused image won’t make a pretty photo without light.

Lots of people who go into this hobby for the first time always focus themselves on camera settings or on buying gear. Sure, a budding photographer should know his settings and if money is not an object, get the best gear in the market but a guy who just has a P&S but understands light can “out shoot” a gear head who’s got settings memorized and has the best gear but doesn’t understand and use light.

Images that are correctly lit goes way beyond ordinary snapshots.  Light is a powerful tool to use to evoke emotions from the viewer, to create moods and to give a seemingly ordinary photo a dimension that goes way beyond a snapshot.  Correctly lit photos contain details and tones that can only be achieved by knowing how the scene would be lit and how to use angles so that light can be used for best results.

Intensity & Quality

One of the most important things to consider about light is its intensity. Whether manmade light or natural light, the photographer has to consider how intense the light source is and the amount of brightness the source creates. Mind you, intensity and brightness of light is different from quality of light. In shooting situations where good, bright light present itself, one can use fast shutter speeds, slower ISO settings and smaller apertures to create a wonderfully tack-sharp and clear picture.  However, once one sets his camera to match the brightness of scene, the quality of the light takes over as the most important factor in creating an excellent photo. For example, the quality of light just as the sun is rising or just as the sun reaches about 50 degrees ion the horizon is much better than what one could get when the sun is at its apex.

Scenes that are dimly lit require slower shutter speeds, faster film and larger apertures. Usually, this will create grainy images that aren’t as detailed if one shoots the same scene in bright light. Low contrast scenes usually appear flat or washed out if the available light is flat.

Directional and Non-directional Light

Regardless if the light source is bright or not, scenes are either lighted directionally or non-directionally. If
the light source comes from the sun, a flash unit or a studio lamp, then it’s directional light. Directional light is naturally full of contrast. With directional light, the direction where you place your subject against the light or the light against the subject determines where highlights and shadows would be placed- and how much highlight and shadow will appear on your finished product. One can use directional light to generate a strong impact from the intended viewer, drawing the viewer into the strong mood of the picture but since directional light is naturally too full of contrast, it can be difficult to work with in capturing overall details for the scene.

When using directional light, one should remember that directional light can be placed in front, at the back, at the side, at the bottom or at the top of the subject. Each has a different effect.  For instance, lighting from the front doesn’t create much shadow and with nary a shadow, the resulting photo may look flat. When people have their pictures taken with the light source directly in front of them, they will squint and look uncomfortable. Why? Simple: the light is in their eyes. How’d you feel if a flashlight is shone directly at your face? I think you get the idea.

Front lighting is the common form all of us use because we are most familiar with it. In the old days, front
lighting is the way to go because the lenses were slow and it took a great amount of tweaking to correctly expose images. With the advancements that we have today in photography, front lighting all the time is not necessary anymore – even with digital P&S. Well, for the simplest film P&S maybe but the thing is one doesn’t have to be bound by lighting directly in front all the time. But guess what? You’d still use front lighting lots of times. Why? It’s because this is the form of lighting that you’re most familiar with and can do even in your sleep. It’s in your muscle memory already.

Backlighting a scene can make the resulting image pretty darn dramatic and quite beautiful. Sure, we were all told to “not shoot against the sun” but that was then – this is now. Backlit images can be pretty amazing but they’re quite difficult to expose correctly. If one incorrectly meters the light behind the subject, the resulting image will be underexposed and the subject will appear as a silhouette. If a silhouette of a subject is the intende effect, then it’s good but if it’s not, metering should be balanced between the subject and the light so that the subject would be properly exposed.

If one wants dramatic effects on his or her photographs, try side lighting. Side lighting is simply placing the light source on either side of the subject. Since the light source is only on one side, the results can be dramatic. Also, side lighting can emphasize texture, size and form of the subject.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, directional light can be placed at the bottom of the subject (up-lighting). Although it can create dramatic images if used properly, up-lighting is less flattering for portrait photography as it will usually cast bad shadows on the faces of your subject and make the subject look older than he/she actually is.

However, if the source of the light is, say, a reflection of the sun bouncing up from a water source or a wet pavement, one can use this to his advantage for portrait photography. The trick: make the subject look down at the light source and have him or her do a wispy smile to create a nice mood for the scene.

Down-lighting is the reverse of up-lighting. Its also not usually recommended for portrait photography as the results will be unflattering but if the scene that presents itself is landscape photography with a nice scenery, one might experiment on going out on a distance and capture the image of the scene with the light source coming from above, say for example, shooting the Grand Canyon while the sun is about 50-60 degrees form the horizon.

Non-directional light is created when light comes from all over the place and casts no shadow.  This can be created artificially by using reflectors or with a sheet of white board bouncing light to cover the entire subject so that no obvious source of light is evident or it can be achieved naturally during overcast days by low clouds, for example.

If the light source comes from a window or from light reflecting of a white wall, that is diffused light. Diffused light is very good if soft textures and contours are desired for the image as diffused light create shadows that have soft edges and highlight. Diffused light is not on-directional light. Even if the light comes from a window but is used to illuminate subjects from the side, it can become directional light and could cast deep, dark shadows on the image. However, if diffused light is placed in front of the subject, it will dull highlights and will minimize texture – great for portrait shots of people who don’t want wrinkles or blemishes subdued on the resulting image. However, care needs to be used in using diffused, non-directional light as it can produce images that will lack detail therefore look dull. For example, taking pictures from an extremely overcast day will remove all shadows from the scene and will case the image to look very flat. Ideally, a bit of a shadow here and there is desired for it brings depth to the image.

Metering

Now that we’ve covered a bit on light, I think it’s time we talk about metering. Metering simply means measuring the amount of light i.e. brightness that is hitting your subject or scene.  Most modern day digital P&S – even modern day film P&S – and D/SLRs have built-in light meter that will automatically gauge the intensity of light that is hitting the subject/scene then adjust the aperture and shutter to match it. If the selected aperture and shutter is not enough to match the light’s intensity, the built-in flash will come in to play or the flash gun mounted on top of the camera will be fired.

You may have seen a device that professional photographers uses to check light. It’s called a light meter. Normally rectangular with a ping-pong ball-like appendage attached to it, it measures the intensity of light hitting the scene much like your camera’s internal light meter does. Only, the result is more accurate and you can meter around the surrounding images if you wish.

The light that is hitting a subject directly is generally called an incident light. Any light for that matter that falls naturally on a subject can be classified as incident light. If you happen to have a light meter, place the ping-pong ball like appendage exactly where you’d point your lens. The amount of light is registered by the meter through the “ball” and the light meter will give you the correct aperture and f/stop. If the subject is dark i.e. a black dog or a groom in a black tux, open your aperture a stop or two from what the meter tells. If the subject is very light, say a nun in a habit or a white cat, stop down 1x – 2x from what your meter tells you and take the shot.

If you’re shooting under the sun and the sun is hitting your subject directly, get a reflector to “spread out” the light or cast a shadow on the scene then get the meter reading. This is the generally accepted way to accurately meter and set your camera as you’re measuring the light as the reading will be a combination of the amount of light that’s hitting the subject, the amount of light that bounces back from the subject to the meter and how much of the scene that your subject occupies. Even for studio shots with a single, intense source of light, this method can garner pretty accurate results.

There would be times wherein meter readings would not be accurate, for example a subject that is backlit. For backlit subjects, open up your aperture 1x – 2x stops from the meter reading. If you can spot meter, go for it. For subjects that directly reflects light e.g. windows from a high-rise, try to get closer if you can and get an incident reading of the same light intensity that is hitting your subject. If not possible, change location i.e. look for a spot where there’s no direct reflection then meter. If your subject is just a small part of a scene e.g. your child in a spotlight while playing a recital, spot meter.  If the subject(s) is/are garbed by mostly dark clothing e.g. during an evening wedding shoot wherein all the men that will form part of the image are wearing black tux, meter as if the clothing is the subject. For scenes wherein the clothes are very light, try to take a reflected reading on the dress the open up a stop or two.

If you place the light source at the back of the subject, then your picture won’t be about highlights anymore. Rather, it would be about the quality of light. As I’ve mentioned earlier, backlit scenes can produce dramatic photos. However, metering backlit scenes can be tricky and result in inaccurate meter readings. Even if your camera has TTL, you still might an underexposed picture. Try to take a test shot of the scene using your TTL reading and check the resulting image. If it’s underexposed, stop up 1x – 2x. If the scene you want to take a picture of is dominated by a body of water, the sun can produce spectacular reflections which may cause flare, thus resulting in an overexposed picture.  To correct, meter the shiniest part of the scene and stop down 1x – 2x.

There are times when you want to balance out or soften directional light. To do so, use a flash gun or have reflectors bounce off the light from the sun to your subject/scene. Humans don’t generally like it when light is bounced on silvery surface as they will tend to look squinty and irritated on the resulting image. Try to use a piece of white board to bounce the light. In instances where you’re just shooting 10 feet or less on the subject, fill flash to cast light into shadows.

Filtration

One way to play with light is to attach filters to your lenses. If you want to reduce light, slap on a neutral density filter on your lens. Contrary to what some may think, ND filters don’t change the color of the light: ND filters just darkens the light. Depending on the type of ND filter use, you can darken light from 1 to 3 stops. There’s even an ND filter that goes from dark to light and vice-versa. This filter is useful in controlling contrasty scenes as it will tone down the difference between light and dark areas.

One of the very 1st filters that a lot of newbie DSLR owners buy is a polarizing filter. A polarizing filter is different from an ND filter. What the polarizing filer does is that it reduces and eliminates glare and reflections. It also makes blue skies bluer. Polarizing filters are great for shooting scenes where the sky and/or water dominate the scenes.

There are two types of polarizing filters: linear and circular. Linear polarizing filters are used only in 100% manual SLRs. A circular polarizing (the most common kind available today) are for use in automatic SLRs as it works with the focusing and metering systems of an automatic SLR.  While CPLs can be used on 100% fully manual SLRs, the same can’t be said for LPLs. If you have a LPL and want to use it with your automatic SLR, you need to manually set the exposure and focus to compensate based on the instructions that came with the filter. If you want to use LPL with autofocus, get your autofocus reading first, hold it, attach the LPL then take the picture. Color balancing filters are used to tone down colors when shooting outdoors. Color balancing filters are great if you want to more control over the colors while you shoot, lessening color correction during post processing.

Yellow, red, blue and other color filters are largely used for B&W film. These types of filers don’t allow certain colors to hit the lens while allowing other colors to pass through.

If you want to add sparkle to light reflecting off water or add that starry look while shooting street lights,  slap on a star filter.

If you’re in to portrait photography, you can use soft focus filters enhance the complexion of the subject or to smooth skin wrinkles. Soft focus filters are largely used by wedding and portrait photograph.

So there you have it. I hope you learned something from this article as much I have learned from the masters who graciously gave me their time to impart information like these to little, old me and to the books that line up my modest collection of photography books at home.  Thanks for taking time to read the my blabber and next time, I’ll try to break out of my calendar some more to write things than could be useful in improving our craft. If you want to read a superb article on how to maximize your flash unit, check out my friend’s blog. I guarantee, you won’t be disappointed. Oh, check out his nifty article on metering as well.

Cheers!