IheartjandA
04-17-2006, 07:59 AM
OK - following on from Jenn's challenge to use shadows, I thought this week we could try lighting(/exposure). For me, aside from composition, lighting is the key to a great photograph, and you can achieve many interesting looks from various lighting techniques or exposures, depending on what 'mood' you want your photo to convey.
The only rule for this week is to turn the flash off! Use whatever light is available.
Geoff Lawrence (dot com) offers this tip for shooting outdoors with natural light:
Direction of Lighting
Photography is all about light, the direction of the light falling on your subject is most important, you must look at your subject carefully and see how the shadows fall.
If you are able to choose the time of day to shoot your pictures, try to pick a time when the sun is low in the sky, either shoot in the early morning or late afternoon. Shooting pictures of people with the sun too high in the sky, tends to mean the subject's eyes will be in shadow and/or your subject will be squinting in the strong light, both of which tend to look horrible. A nice side effect of shooting in the early morning or late afternoon is that the colour of the light is 'warmer', reds and yellows are stronger which generally gives a more pleasing effect.
If you are photographing in sunlight, try to position yourself so that the sun hits your subject from the side, this will give you nice 'modelling' and help create a 3D effect in the picture.
Sunlight behind the subject can give a very pleasing 'backlight' effect but be careful that you are not getting 'flare' in the lens, which degrades the contrast of the image.
http://www.geofflawrence.com/tips.htm
he also offers some tips on exposure: http://www.geofflawrence.com/exposure.htm
Here are a few example of my own of different lighting:
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11168&cat=610
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11169&cat=610
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11172&cat=610
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11173&cat=610
Good luck!
The only rule for this week is to turn the flash off! Use whatever light is available.
Geoff Lawrence (dot com) offers this tip for shooting outdoors with natural light:
Direction of Lighting
Photography is all about light, the direction of the light falling on your subject is most important, you must look at your subject carefully and see how the shadows fall.
If you are able to choose the time of day to shoot your pictures, try to pick a time when the sun is low in the sky, either shoot in the early morning or late afternoon. Shooting pictures of people with the sun too high in the sky, tends to mean the subject's eyes will be in shadow and/or your subject will be squinting in the strong light, both of which tend to look horrible. A nice side effect of shooting in the early morning or late afternoon is that the colour of the light is 'warmer', reds and yellows are stronger which generally gives a more pleasing effect.
If you are photographing in sunlight, try to position yourself so that the sun hits your subject from the side, this will give you nice 'modelling' and help create a 3D effect in the picture.
Sunlight behind the subject can give a very pleasing 'backlight' effect but be careful that you are not getting 'flare' in the lens, which degrades the contrast of the image.
http://www.geofflawrence.com/tips.htm
he also offers some tips on exposure: http://www.geofflawrence.com/exposure.htm
Here are a few example of my own of different lighting:
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11168&cat=610
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11169&cat=610
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11172&cat=610
http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=11173&cat=610
Good luck!