The word photography literally means light writing, with that in mind, it makes sense that light is the main ingredient in photography. Because of this, if you’re photos aren’t turning out the way you’d like them to, the first place to start looking to make changes would be the lighting. While there may not be such thing as “bad lighting”, appropriate lighting is another thing. It’s best to make sure that the lighting makes sense to portray your subject. Something to think about, the best lighting for an outdoor photo isn’t dictated by the clock, but by the lighting best suited for the subject.

There are three characteristics of lighting to consider when evaluating the appropriateness of the lighting: quality, direction, and color. Understanding these characteristics with help convey the desired emotion.

Light quality can be broken into two subcategories: specular and diffuse. Specular lighting produces harsh shadows, making it difficult to capture all the details in the scene. Mid-day sun on a clear day is a good example of specular light. Diffuse lighting, also known as soft lighting because it creates few, soft shadows. An overcast day is a good example of diffuse lighting. Specular lighting has an aggressive and energetic feel; it conveys vitality and heat. Where as diffuse lighting conveys qualities of delicacy, quietness, softness, calm and peacefulness. Selecting the dominance of one light over the other can help project the feeling you are wanting from the photo.

There are four basic lighting directions: top, front, side and back lighting. Top lighting, or as from the sun, is usually very contrasty. Front lighting comes from over the camera-holder’s shoulder. It’s typically fairly boring and has few uses. Side lighting conveys dimension, or a sense of space, low angled sun light is a good example of side lighting. And finally, the very dramatic back lighting. Back lighting creates rimming effects, silhouettes and lens flares.

As far as the color of light is concerned, there are varying degrees of three basic temperatures: sunrise, daylight, and sky light. The coolest, sunrise, is about 2900°K and produces a warm yellow, orange and pink color. The next temperature is daylight at about 5500°K, this is what we generally refer to as “white” light. Sky light, while being the hottest gives the most “cool” feeling of blue. It comes it at about 12,000°K.

Filters can be used to manipulate the given light to make it seem like another type. Warming filters (81A-81IEF) provide a warming effect, in essence they can make a daylit scene and make it feel like sunrise. Polarizing filters reduce glare and reflections by eliminating all but one angle of lighting. A Graduated ND filter can take a scene with an extremely bright top and extremely dark bottom, or vise versa, and even those tones out by making the brighter part darker.

Within the concept of visual design there are many pieces, all have different symbolism. Within lines, each conveys a different tone. Curvy lines create a feeling of meandering journey and tranquility. Straight lines convey purpose, a sense of direction. Zig-zag lines produce the feeling of tension and danger. Horizontal lines: stability and relaxed. Vertical lines call up assertiveness and power, while diagonal lines have more energy and feel like rapid movement.

Shapes are another part of visual design. From the rectangle with it’s stably and man-made feel, to triangles focused energy, to circle’s feelings of wholeness. General shapes can be used to push an idea through as well.

The idea of form in photography is also apart of design. Light, with gradually shifting tones, defines the form of the subject. Sidelight, typically does a fantastic job of displaying the form of the subject.

Pattern, as well, is a part of design. Repeated elements, either 1 element repeated over an over, or multiple patterns, give the photograph structure and a point of reference. Filling the frame with a pattern gives the impression that there’s a much larger scale than what can be seen. For instance, you can give the impression that a room is much bigger than it is by actually cropping down, sometimes.

Texture is the “feel” of what we see. Using texture correctly will give the viewer the sense that they know what the subject tactually feels like. Thinking about the lighting that produces the best impression of texture can be very helpful. Harsh lighting will produce a much more prominent texture.

Perspective is also important. How are objects relating to each other in the scene? Can you alter the relationship by changing your perspective?

Using focus, can also change the relationships in your scene. If all but one object is out of focus, the in-focus subject becomes much more important.

Paying attention to the design of a shot is important. Think about the overall composition of the shot before you take it. Ask yourself what you want to portray with this shot.

Journaled Time: 6 hour – reading, research and taking notes
Total Class Time: 32 hours

NOTE: I realize that the length of time it’s taking me to get through the lectures is increasing. I’m really not trying to pad my entries, I just realized that if I continued blowing through them as fast as I was that I’d be done with them well before the hour requirements were up. Most of this stuff I’ve learn from the school of hard knocks, but I’ve been trying to take more time, looking for other resources online, talking to photographers and my father, who is an Optometrist, about different aspects of the lectures, and generally trying to make the assignments last longer. Since I can’t really do much to slow down my photo assignments without just cheating time, I figured the lectures is a place I could make up some time. I realized it might need an explanation.