I want to spend some time talking about light, a topic that many aspiring photographers either ignore or don’t fully appreciate. A basic understanding of light is absolutely critical to capturing a good photograph. Light comes in all shapes and sizes. We, as humans (I know I sound like a robot but hear me out!) take light for granted because our eyes are amazing tools and put cameras to shame. Do not assume that a camera sees things the same way that you do through your own eyes!
Types of Light
Before I get into the different properties of light, let’s quickly review some different kinds of light:
- ambient light. Not sure how to explain this other than to say it’s indirect everyday light. When you are walking down the street mid-day, the ambient light is probably coming from the sun. At night in your house, the ambient light comes from lamps and/or light fixtures (that are being reflected off the ceiling and walls). In the office, fluorescent ceiling fixtures are a source of ambient light. In Times Square, it’s the 30 billboards. You get the point.
- natural light. Light that comes from the sky (sun, moon, stars and…planets!).
- flash/strobe light. Light that is triggered to flash on for only an instant. This is often a piece of equipment that comes attached to the top of your camera but can be used off your camera as well (studio equipment).
- hot light. Artificial light that is continually on (vs. a strobe which flashes on for a split second). They are called HOT lights because they get hot after being on for a while whereas flashes do not.
Examples of light include incandescent light bulbs (standard GE bulbs), sunlight and fluorescent light (office lights).
Light Color
Light comes in a variety of colors (i.e. temperatures) that our eyes manual adjust for but our cameras do not. The temperature of light is dictated by the source of light and in the case of sunlight (as discussed below), the position of the sun (time of day). A few examples here, ranging from cool (blue tint) to warm (red tint):
- sunlight (mid day). this is a cool light which has a relatively blue tint to it
- flash light. this type of light is as close to pure white as you can get
- incandescent light. this is a fancy way of saying light bulb. this type of light usually comes out warm (hint of red)
- sunlight (sunrise / sunset). the color of sunlight is dramatically different at these times vs. mid-day, yielding a much warmer hue
This is where white balance comes into play. You need to tell your camera to adjust for light color (something that our own eyes do automatically). White is always white for our eyes but our cameras often see white with hints of blue or red. Lucky for you, your camera probably has an automatic white balance feature. Unlucky for you – this feature doesn’t always work perfectly. You can select a white balance preset mode (sunlight, shade, tungsten/indoor, etc) which helps. You can also take a picture of a white object and program it to know that THAT is what “white” looks like in that specific light environment. OR, you can manually adjust the white balance in post-processing (Lightroom, iPhoto, etc).
Here’s an example. I took a picture of these mugs. The picture on the left was taken using natural window light whereas the picture on the right was taken in my kitchen, later that night, and lit by the ceiling’s high hats (incandescent lighting). I did not adjust for white balance so I can drill the point of light color home. Had I used automatic white balance, there would still be a hint of red on the artificially lit picture.
The following pics show the actual rooms and lighting in which each picture was shot. You also get a sneak peek at my little studio, which I’ll discuss in greater detail in a future post (composition).
Now for the best part. The first set of pictures illustrated the difference between day light and incandescent light without adjusting for white balance. I told you there are three ways of adjusting for white balance. I played around with Lightroom and low and behold, was able to balance the colors of the two images (to match). I’ll talk about this technique in a future posts (post processing). For now, appreciate that light comes in a variety of colors and the best way to adjust for it is to shoot in RAW format.
Hard vs. Soft Light
Confused? There’s more. Light can be hard or soft. Hard light is often unevenly distributed and creates harsh shadows. A harsh shadow is defined as a high contrast shadow (one where the change from shade to sun is distinct). Soft light, on the other hand, creates more even lighting and a shadow that’s either hard to detect or subtly defined. Pay attention to shadows the next time there is a sunny day. Chances are they will be vivid and harsh. Learn to trace shadows back to their light source…you’ll learn a lot about light.
The example below shows the same composition in three different light scenarios.
- LEFT. The lighting here is exact similar to the pic above. It was shot using natural, indirect window (side) light.
- MIDDLE. Lit with my on-camera flash (aka strobe light) pointing directly at the subject. Notice the stark difference between the LEFT and MIDDLE shots. This time, it’s not temperature that’s the issue but rather the evenness of the light. The lighting on the left is an example of soft light whereas the lighting in this image is hard light. You’ll notice much more distinct edges between dark and light tones in the picture on the right.
- RIGHT. Also lit with my on-camera flash but reflected/bounced off of the ceiling. Notice the softer lighten in this picture. This is because the light source is no longer my directly pointed flash but rather my ceiling which is a much bigger object. This is a good easy alternative if you’re short on natural light (night-time photos). The exposure is a little dark, but that’s something that can be adjusted (slower shutter, higher aperture or higher ISO) or in post-processing.
Light softness or hardness is a created by the perceived size and distance of the light source relative to your subject. In the case of a sunny, cloudless day, the sun is the light source and it is very very far away. In fact, even though the sun is a very large object, it looks like a small spec in the sky and is probably smaller than anything you are photographing. This lighting scenario will yield hard light. Now picture an overcast day. Your light source is now a large sheet of clouds (sun light that is being diffused by clouds). In this case, the sky is playing the role of a “soft box” and given its large size, will produce soft light. This is why photographers always prefer to shoot on an overcast day vs a sunny one!
Avoid Using Your On-Camera Flash
A quick word on flash and why you shouldn’t use the one attached to your camera. Flash is a source of direct, uneven, harsh light. It’s often unflattering. Picture a dark bar that’s dimly lit. There is enough ambient light for your eyes to direct you where to walk. However, your camera is not as smart. As a matter of fact, your camera thinks it’s pitch dark in the bar. (rule of thumb: camera always sees things darker than your eyes do). You want to take a picture of your friends in the bar. Your flash pops up. Why? Because it’s too dark and the only way to make it light is to use flash. So you take the pic but it looks awful. You can’t even tell you are in a bar. The background is black, your friends’ eyes are red and their foreheads are shiny. In this case, your flash is smaller than the subject and is creating hard, uneven light.
Light isn’t as powerful as you think. It can only travel so far. In fact, light becomes infinitely less powerful as it travels. In this case, it reaches your friends’ faces and quickly dies before it can reach the background. Ways around this – bounce the flash. Direct it off of a ceiling or wall – an object that diffuses the light (making it indirect) and enlarges its size (these objects are much bigger than your tiny flash bulb). Now one problem – your camera’s default flash cannot swivel. That’s why it stinks (get an external one!).
Here’s another scenario – you are in Italy and stumble across the leaning tower of Pisa. Its 3am. No tourists, no lights….just you and a piece of history. There’s enough ambient moonlight for your eyes to see this amazing landscape. You bust out your camera, flash pops up and BAM…an empty dark image. Why? Your flash can’t reach the background!! It’s only powerful enough to light whatever’s directlyin your foreground (a friend, a random railing, your index finger, etc) and that’s it! This is a true story…this happened to me when backpacking through Europe in 2001. It took me almost 10 years to understand why that picture never got developed!!!
Without importing your own lighting equipment or waiting until day break, you can still properly expose this exact Italian scene I just described (ie make it visibly lit / properly exposed in a photo). Manually reduce the shutter speed enough to where your light meter reads at 0. Since it’s pitch dark out, you will need a very, very long shutter speed (one that is minutes, not seconds long). You can’t do this by hand (camera shake) so you’ll need a tripod. That’s the trick.
Sun Light
As I mentioned earlier, sunlight comes in different colors and produces various forms of contrast. When shooting outside, you want to avoid shooting in direct sunlight in the middle of the day. I’d either shoot one hour after sunrise or one hour before sunset. This two-hour period is commonly referred to as the golden hour because of the warm hues that it produces (see color temperature discussion above). It’s also ideal because the sun is much lower in the sky, producing either indirect light (blocked by buildings) or side light which is much more flattering.
If you absolutely need to shoot mid-afternoon on a sunny day, you can still pull it off by looking for shaded areas (where the sun is diffused by other objects like trees, buildings, etc). Shaded areas create nice and even (soft) lighting. That said, shaded areas also provide BORING lighting! Light is important and often helps create dramatic moods and emotion in your picture. Play around with different settings…best way to learn.
Direction of Light
This is where you can get really creative. Front and ambient (indirect/shade) lit subjects are often boring. This is the way we are used to seeing things in our day-to-day lives. Good pictures are often taken with unique and unconventional lighting which make us pause and appreciate. Think about a silhouette during a sunset? Cool, right? That’s because it’s back lit!
When shooting food, picture an imaginary clock on top of your subject with 12 at the top and 6 at the bottom (based on the perspective from which you plan on shooting from). I prefer light to come from anywhere but 6 o’clock. Experiment…you’ll be surprised.
The example below shows three different directions of light.
- LEFT. front lit (6 o’clock)…boring
- MIDDLE. side lit (3 o’clock)…exciting
- RIGHT. back lit (12 o’clock)…really exciting, somewhat mystical
ss: 1/125, A: 2.8, ISO 400 (shot with 24-70mm 2.8L @ 70mm)
Reflecting / Bouncing Light
The previous section explained how you can control light. Light is more than something that makes this ‘not dark’ – it is a compositional tool. There are times, however, when light needs to manipulated even more. For example, take a look at the backlit photo above. The front of the bowl is much darker than the side or front-lit pictures. That’s because the light is coming from behind the subject and the front of the subject is being illuminated by ambient light (unlike the other two pics where the bow is being lit by direct light from my window). To solve this problem, you can reflect or bounce the light off of a white object. Some people like to use fancy tools called reflectors, which you’ve seen in professional shoots. There is a cheaper solution, and that’s a foam board which you can buy from a craft store for only $5. Make sure it’s white…any other color and the hue of the board will reflect onto your subject. Reflecting light onto darker tone in picture is also referred to as “fill light”. You are, in effect, filling light in darker parts of the image.
Example below. Picture on the left is the back lit one from the previous example. No fill light, making the front of the subject a little dark. To some, that’s ok. To show you the impact of fill light, I placed a foam board in front of the subject to bounce some light back onto the front of the berries. Low and behold, you now have front and back light with only one light (the window). The foam board is acting like a second light. You can adjust the positing of the foam board based on the amount of fill you want.
Another way of understanding light: imagine a pinball than bounces around a pinball machine. That’s what like is like, except it slows down very quickly after being ejected. You can redirect or bounce light using tools like white foam boards or even white paper.
Real Life Food Set-Up
Enough with the theory, lets get to the point already!! Here’s my typical home light setup. I only shoot using natural light (window). I shoot so that the light is either coming from the left/right side (3 or 9 o’clock) or behind (12 o’clock). I have a few foam boards that I use to fill light with. They are positioned on the side of the object that is not receiving the light. This helps soften the shadow. Since my window faces north, I don’t get direct sunlight and as a result, don’t have to worry about diffusing the light to soften it. That might not be the case for those facing east, west or south (depending on the time of day). in this case, you may consider diffusing the direct light with a sheer curtain. I don’t use flash and definitely don’t use my apartment lights. These are the easiest ways to ruin a picture! Remember, your lights are either too harsh (high hats) or too boring (ambient light bouncing off your ceiling is bland, creates unwanted shadows and doesn’t create nice effects).
