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Lighting Aesthetics

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18 views19 pages

Lighting Aesthetics

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Lighting Aesthetics:

Controlling contrast through lighting


Simple ways of improving the light
• Controlling the light for large subjects such as landscapes is
impossible, but for smaller subjects such as portraits, close-ups or
details in the landscape is possible.
• There are plenty of different ways that you can alter the light,
especially when you find yourself having to shoot in harsh, direct
lighting conditions.
• To get softer light you need to make the light source appear larger to
the subject. Moving the light far from the subject will help to produce
softer light, but this isn't always convenient, or even possible.
• If shooting a small subject in sunlight, then you need to use a diffuser
between the light and the subject, to make the light source appear
much softer.
• This doesn't have to be an expensive piece of kit, it can simply be a
piece of semi-transparent white paper or cloth, or you could go for
one of the folding diffusers.
Use a reflector to fill in the shadows
• Another way to deal with contrast when shooting in bright sunshine is
to add light into the shadows by using a reflector to bounce light back
onto the subject.
• Unlike a diffuser, this doesn't soften the light, instead it reduces the
amount of contrast between the darkest and lightest areas of the
subject.
• Simply position the reflector so that it's on the opposite side to the
light source, then adjust the angle of the reflector until the light from
it fills in the shadows on the subject.
• There are plenty of commercially available reflectors, in a range of
sizes, but you can also use a piece of white card, or even make your
own by covering card in silver or gold foil.
• Using different colors and materials will affect the results you get. For
example, a white reflector will produce more subtle results than a
highly reflective surface such as silver, while a gold reflector will add a
warmer light to the shadows.
Use a burst of flash
• An alternative way to lighten the shadows in strong sunlight is to use
a burst of flash, rather than a reflector.
• For subjects close to the camera the built-in flash is perfect for this
technique, but it isn't powerful enough for subjects that are more
than two to three meters away from the camera. In this situation
you'll need to use a more powerful flashgun.
Set flash to
automatic TTL
Set flash's automatic TTL
setting is good for creating fill
light, especially if the distance
between the flash and the
subject is likely to change. If
using an external flash, make
sure that this is set to TTL.
Check the exposure
Take a test shot to make sure
that the flash is powerful
enough to light your subject,
and check the results on the
rear LCD. If the subject lighting
is still too dark then need to
move closer.
Simple ways to make the most of natural
light
How you can make the most of natural light on any given occasion
• For large subjects such as landscapes or buildings it's not feasible to
control the light.
• Choose the direction of the light by your viewpoint, and with a little
planning you have some control over the quality of light by shooting
at different times of day or in varying weather.
• The classic time to shoot scenic images is during the Golden hour.
This is the hour after sunrise and before sunset when the sun is low in
the sky, giving strong side lighting on the landscape to reveal texture
and shape.
• When the sun is low in the sky you will find that the color
temperature is lower, giving your shots a warmer look.
The Golden Hour - When Sunlight Turns Magical
• When the Sun is close to the horizon on a sunny day, its light appears
warmer and softer. This makes the golden hour, also known as the
magical hour, popular with photographers and filmmakers.
• The golden hour is a colloquial term, it refers to a state of natural
lighting that is most common around sunrise and sunset.
• The warm sunlight that is characteristic for the golden hour most
likely occurs when the Sun is between 6 degrees below and 6 degrees
above the horizon.
Golden Hour Characteristics
There are three key features of the golden hour, all of which combine to create
amazing photographic conditions

• Warm colors: sunlight is in the orange and yellow range of the color
spectrum during the golden hour, which is why it’s called that.
• Low angle of the sun: this is what defines the golden hour. A low
angle creates softer light and longer shadows.
• Diffused light: when the sun is close to the horizon, light has to travel
further than when it’s high in the sky. The atmosphere acts like a light
diffuser, which makes the light less intense and ‘softer’. It reduces
harsh contrast, which makes it easier to capture an evenly exposed
image. It also filters out blue light to give mainly warm colors.
Predicting the natural light
• These allow you to accurately predict the position of the sun for any
time or date, but you still need to keep an eye on the weather to
know whether it will be clear or cloudy.
Choosing whether to shoot into the light or with the light behind you
will make a huge difference to the results that you are able to achieve
The lovely warm colors and
strong side light of this shot
taken just after sunrise produce
far more striking results than the
much cooler light in the same
shot taken just 30 minutes later.

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