How lighting affects Photography – Part 1: different types of light

Art is not only limited to the one made on canvas, or on a drawing book. Also, photography is an art, and not everyone knows this art well. But no one is born with these skills, and everyone needs to learn what it takes, so today we are going to learn how lighting affects your photography, and different types of light.

Here’s a quick checklist of things you need to take into consideration when you enter your shoot location:

Sources of light

As photographers, we are students of light, so as soon as you enter your shoot location, make sure to look for the types of light around you and its source.

Effects of hard and soft light

Hard light is created by small light sources and produces dark and defined shadows- examples of this would be the sun or a camera flash. Soft light produces less shadows and usually originate from diffusers (such as clouds in front of the sun) or reflectors – which can be both natural or artificial. As the name suggests reflected light is the light that’s reflected from a surface or material creating a soft light with the colour same as that of the surface that it is being bounced off from.

Contrasting light

The contrast in photography is the difference between dark and light as well as colours, tones, and textures of light.

Light direction

The direction of light controls the width of shadows, which create a shape and texture in photographs. To make a photograph more vivid, shadows are so important as they create a sense of depth and add a third dimension to the photograph to make it look vivid and real.

Colours of light

Colours in photographs have a unique story-telling element, so getting it right is very important if you want to create the right emotional response to your photograph. For example, blue light can be captured before sunrise to and after sunset to create a sense of mystery and coldness. Golden light can usually be captured around the sunrise and sunset to create a sense of warmth and happiness.

Now, I urge you to start paying attention to the light throughout the day. Try to identify the light sources, the direction of the light, and see how the color of the light changes throughout the day.

If you have any questions, contact me.