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Using Light
Have you thought of joining one of our photographic workshops? The whole basis of photography is the use of light. In fact the word photography means painting, or drawing, with light and the better you use light the better your pictures will look. If the light is terrible – high in the sky, harsh, cold, flat, dull - then your pictures will look just like the light. As a matter of interest I am writing this in MalaMala Game Reserve where we are working on a book project. It's now 12:30 in the afternoon and the reason that we're not out in the field shooting pictures is that the light is so awful. As I look out of the window towards the Sand River , the light, in spite of the fact that it is in the middle of winter (well almost) and there are some fairly long shadows, is not particularly attractive. The light at this time of year will only start to look good at about 3:30 or 4:00 and so we will head out at about 3:00, perhaps going to have a look at what those lions that we had seen early this morning are doing.  But what is it that makes light good or bad. Firstly, it's about colour. For the most part, landscape or wildlife pictures tend to look good with the long shadows and warm light found just after sunrise and just before sunset. This is not always the case of course but often when looking at a great picture in a magazine, calendar or book you will see that it will have been taken during the first or last few hours of sunlight. Secondly, it's about film and digital sensor limitations. These come nowhere near the eye in terms of being able to resolve tonal detail as well as contrast range. They can't handle very contrasty lighting, which is what we find in the middle of the day and it very quickly takes on colour casts. The blue of the sky can go a long way to adding a cool colour cast to photographs. It's not only about time of day though. The direction the light is falling is also very important and can greatly influence the mood of the picture. I remember, soon after I got my first camera, my great aunt or someone saying “Make sure that you position the sun behind your left shoulder, my boy, you'll get great pictures every time”. This may be the case but what you will also get are some of the most boring pictures that you will ever take. Position the light source (the sun) wherever you want it in order to achieve the effect you're after. If it's texture that you would like to capture than make sure that the light crosses the subject at a low angle. Romantic scenes (watch the adverts on TV for shampoo, life insurance policies and the like) are best captured using backlight (the light source behind the subject) and if its detail that you are looking for the perhaps choose “the sun over the shoulder” bit. But what happens if there is no sun? What happens if it is overcast? Well then what you have is the world's largest soft box (a light modifier that gives a soft even light - usually attached to studio lights). Overcast conditions result in soft even light and while this type light is rarely good for general landscapes, especially if the sky features in the picture, there are a thousand and one other situations where these conditions can be used to good effect. It can be wonderful for really tight portraits (especially cats and dark animals like buffalo, elephant and rhino) and close up shots – flowers, fungus, abstract patterns and so on. Misty, drizzly conditions are fantastic for forest interiors. Because of the very limited contrast range of films, especially slide films, the dappled sunlight falling onto the undergrowth in a forest very seldom turns out like this in photographs. Invariably what happens is that you get a nice shot of the trees with burnt out patches of light or correctly exposed patches of light with a pitch black forest. Damp, misty weather brings out the colours of subjects and the film can generally handle the contrast range.  Other
times when there is no sun, is, of course, before sunrise and after
sunset – both great times for photography. But there is not much
time here for photography unless you want black skies . The good light
lasts only 30 minutes or so. The afterglow in the evenings is a superb,
soft, warm light that can work extremely well on static subjects or on
moving ones if a little creative blur is desired. For the most
part though, the trick is to keep the camera steady because we will be
looking at fairly long exposures – up to around 30 seconds! This
time of day is also great for photographing city lights as in the above
pic of Nelson Mandela Bridge and the Johannesburg skyline . Just set up
your camera on a tripod and hang around until the lights in the
buildings and streets start to come on, wait until the sky and the
land/buildings are at the same intensity and blaze away. It's a little
tricky trying to judge it when photographing into the light because you
usually end up with silhouettes, but shooting across or with the light
will give good results.Look at what is in front of you when shooting. Figure out what the light is doing and then make it work for you. Good luck and happy shooting! If there's something that you would like to read about in this column or questions you have , feel free to contact me on e-mail at info@africaimagery.com . I will try to get back to you but things sometimes get a little hectic around here so please forgive me if I don't. It will, though, help to give me an idea of what you want to know. |
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