Photo Tip Friday - How Does Lighting Affect a Picture?

Welcome back! 

Today, I want to show you how much lighting affects a picture. 

Recently, I was in a hotel in downtown Indianapolis. Right across from our room was a grand old theater called the Indiana Repertory Theater. Since I was there a few days, I noticed how beautiful the front was and how much the time of day affected how the theater looked. 

So I want to show you how lighting changes the mood in a photograph and how to use it to better advantage. 

Let's get started.

Taken at 4:23 pm

As you can see, I took this shot at 4:23 pm. (Aren't digital cameras amazing at tracking information for us?) 

Notice the very angular shadow across the theater? That's a shadow from another downtown building. 

But look how flat the shadow makes the facade. 

Taken at 5:22 pm

Now, look at the sunlight across the theater just an hour later.

Notice how architecturally interesting the building is?

And the shadow of the other building is completely gone. 

Remember that the sun's movement is very dynamic. Use it to your advantage to create better shots.

Taken at 5:22 pm

This is the same shot as above, except it's portrait or vertical. I wanted to focus in on the detail a little bit more than I could on the landscape or horizontal shot above. 

Remember last week's lesson on horizontal versus vertical shots? If not, you can go to Part 1 here, or Part 2 here.

Taken at 7:00 pm

I took this photo an hour and a half later. 

What differences can you see? 

Which of these two shots do you like better and why? 

Taken at 8:08 pm

The city of Indianapolis knows what it's doing. This building is beautiful and so they have obviously thought about lighting and showing off the architecture, especially after sun down. 

Do you see the wonderful uplighting they employ? 

The building comes alive at night. It has a very different feel to it than it does during the day. 





GUIDELINE: I will let you know about sunlight between the hours of 10 am to 3 pm. It's called devil lighting. Notice I didn't even take any shots during that time? I wished I had for the sake of this post, but the building just didn't catch my eye during that time frame. 

You can take pictures during the 10 am to 3 pm time frame, but just be aware that the lighting then is very harsh. You can learn to use it to create good shots, but the more magical shots happen as the sun is rising and setting. The colors intensify and the shadows are more manageable. 

I'll post more on this in the future. 



So, what observations can you make about the use of lighting and shadows in these shots?

How will that help you? 

Hope these tips help! 

Keep on clicking! 

Mary