Photo Tip Friday: Lighting - Part 1

by Mary Denman

Welcome back to Photo Tip Friday.

This week, I'm beginning a series on lighting in photography. 

Why? Because lighting is so important and is very dynamic. Especially sunlight. 

If you don't understand how lighting changes the mood of your photography, you may be missing out on some powerful shots. 

So this week is dedicated to helping you understand sunlight. 

Here's the big tip that you need to remember. 

The very best natural lighting is before 9:00 am and after 3:00 pm.
The light from 9:00 to 3:00 is known as devil lighting. 

Why? Because in the middle of the day, the strong sunlight creates stark shadows. You can use this in your photography, but it takes more work. And people don't photograph as well in the middle of the day unless they are completely in the shadows. But more on people photography in another post!

Mary Denman Photography

Let's get started.

In order to show you the effect of sunlight throughout the day, I took a picture of the same flower, from the same place, four different times during the day.  

This first picture was taken at 8:25 a.m.  

Notice how the iris almost looks like it's glowing? The long rays of the morning light illuminate the iris from behind since I was facing east for all of these shots. 

Mary Denman Photography

Then, I went back at noon. 

Notice that the shadows are much more stark? The stem has almost disappeared in the shadow from the iris. 

Mary Denman Photography

Then, I took a picture at 3:30 pm, once the sun was heading back down in the sky. By this point, the sun was behind me and so it illuminates the front of the iris.

Compare it to the noon shot. 

Mary Denman Photography

Finally, I took a photo at 7:00 pm when the sun had already set. There was no direct sunlight at all. This creates what is called a flat picture. 

Can you see the dramatic difference? You see almost no shadows, and it's harder to see the definition of the petals. 

The flower stands out from the background because it's white. But see how depth perception is flattened? 


To sum up: 

You can't always take pictures at the best time of day, but if you're aware of the effect light has on your photos, you can start trying to use the best lighting to improve your shots. 

And, the more you're aware of how lighting changes, the more you can learn to work with it. 


For bloggers: How could this flower inspire a blog post?

For cell phone users: Whether you're using a DSLR camera or a cell phone, you need to be aware of lighting. The newer a phone you have, the better quality optics you have and that means you'll be able to mimic a DSLR camera more closely. If your cell phone is older, you'll have to be more aware of lighting.

Cell phones read the lighting primarily where you focus. They aren't able to read the overall lighting as well as a camera. So, by knowing this, you can help your cell phone read the lighting where you want by telling it where to focus. In this case, it would be on the iris.




So, how has lighting been a challenge for you or when has it created a great shot? 

Which of these pictures do you like the best and why?

Hope this tips helps.

Keep on clicking. 

Mary



Tweetable: 

Photo Tip Friday: The Dynamics of Lighting in Photography (click to tweet)