Where would we be without light ?
The word “photography” comes from the Greek "photo" or "phos" meaning light – and "graphos" meaning writing or painting. In other words, photography is light painting.
Not only does light enable us to capture the incredible sights of the world, but the adjustment of that light can alter the image you capture so much so that two images taken of the exact same thing look drastically different. Lighting is one of the most important elements of any picture, and understanding the color, direction, quantity, and quality of the light you use is one of the surest ways to improve your photos.
All light has a temperature, they range from Tungsten ( warm light, more yellow) at 3200K, daylight at 5200K, your camera flash at 5500K, to an overcast day at 9000K ( cold light, more blue). These temperatures are measurements in Kelvin (K) and each light source has a specific colour temperature. While some may strive to totally understand the science behind the theory, photographers really only need to know that light can range from reddish yellow to bluish white and that if you don't want your people to look green you need to adjust either your light source or your camera to adapt for the colour temperature of the light entering your photograph.
Not only does light enable us to capture the incredible sights of the world, but the adjustment of that light can alter the image you capture so much so that two images taken of the exact same thing look drastically different. Lighting is one of the most important elements of any picture, and understanding the color, direction, quantity, and quality of the light you use is one of the surest ways to improve your photos.
All light has a temperature, they range from Tungsten ( warm light, more yellow) at 3200K, daylight at 5200K, your camera flash at 5500K, to an overcast day at 9000K ( cold light, more blue). These temperatures are measurements in Kelvin (K) and each light source has a specific colour temperature. While some may strive to totally understand the science behind the theory, photographers really only need to know that light can range from reddish yellow to bluish white and that if you don't want your people to look green you need to adjust either your light source or your camera to adapt for the colour temperature of the light entering your photograph.
So how do we adjust ?
camera white balance symbols
- Know your light - are you using a fluorescent light, a flash on camera, the natural light of the sun, or are you in a skating rink with metal halide lights ? Not only does each of these give a different colour cast to your image but they also vary in the amount of light they produce
- Know your camera - it's time to get back to basics. There are 3 main ways to add or subtract the amount of light being captured, ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. Understanding each of these settings and how to combine them to achieve the "perfect" exposure is key. Also your camera will have a white balance setting where you can tell it that you are shooting under fluorescent lights and it will adjust for the green tone that these lights typically produce in an image.
- Computer Assistance - if you use a program such as Lightroom or Photoshop you will find a white balance adjustment. Most image enhancing programs will have this in one form or another. Using the white balance can fix an image in the same way as adjusting the white balance on your camera PRIOR to taking the photograph. If you tell the program that the area with a greenish hue should be white or neutral, the program automatically removes that green cast from the image adjusting all the colours evenly.
Tips and tricks for working with lighting...
- Use a Grey card. Purchase an 18% grey card and use it as the first shot at your location. This allows you to adjust all the following photographs in the computer based on the first one. Also a grey card can be used to determine the proper exposure for the available light prior to shooting so you can set your camera and achieve consistent exposure as long as the light does not change drastically.
- You can compensate for lack of light by increasing ISO ( from 100 to 400 or higher) or decreasing shutter speed ( taking a long exposure) but both of thee methods will introduce "noise" into the finished image. You can limit this " noise" by turning on the NR ( noise reduction) settings on DSLR camera's
- Work between F8 and F16 aperture range. These apertures are said to be the best working portion of the lens and generally give sharp images which are well exposed under normal lighting conditions.
- Use light painting to fill shadowed areas with a flash or other light source
- If you are going to use the camera's meter (TTL - through the lens) to read the light and automatically adjust the camera's settings remember: spot meter will adjust everything based on one small area while wide or multi-point metering takes a general reading from all areas. The meter can be fooled by overly bright spots (snow or cloud) or deep shadows so you need to adjust for these contrasts. Otherwise the camera will compensate and tone everything incorrectly because the meter was fooled by the extremes. When shooting in brights conditions (snow) add stops, typically 2-3, and in shadows, reduce stops, typically 1-2. ( adding stops= doubling your light = smaller F#( F11 to F8), reducing stops=halving your light=larger F# ( F5.6 to F8). Now this may seem counter intuitive but remember the larger the number the smaller the opening ! Check out our "What is Aperture" in Photography Q&A for more explanation.
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