Lighting Techniques

Why is lightening so important to the photography industry?

In photography the use of the light is very important. Photographers spend time on tone, exposure of the image and also getting the right balance of white and the contrast of the photo. The main reason being as they want to capture the best possible light that can reflect the back off of the main subject.

Popular techniques included in photography:

Hard and Soft lightening- This technique is very important for the basic concept in lightening. Hard and soft light are completely the opposite to each other and results with two very different images which is why most photographers spend a great deal of time on the quality of the chosen light. 

Soft light- This lightening creates shadows behind the subject or infront as a transition from light to dark is made, this means that the lightening is subtle and soft which means that there are no hard shadow lines. The creation of soft light is made where the lightening is indirect or where it passes through the main subject or clouds which scatters the light particles. To create diffused light it has to bounce off one or more surfaces before it hits the subject. 

Hard light- This lightening is the opposite is creates shadows with a sharp edge. Is is created by strongly focussed light that travels from a small or relatively small singular light source (for example a undiffused light bulb) and focusses the beam of light on the main subject of the image. Hard light is created by having it direct and not bouncing or scattered by other objects, a perfect example of this is a flash on a camera as its a hard light source and also if the sun isn't undiffused by clouds it is also a great hard light source. 

Three Point Lightening- Set up

The three point lightening technique is a standard method that is used for media such as video, still photography,film and also computer edited photographs. It is what forms the basis of most lightening. There are three main lights that make up the technique called the key light, fill light and back light. However, the principles of the set are still able to be made by using one of two lights. It is called the key if you have one light but if you have two lights as one of them is the key and the other is either the backlight or the fill. 

Heres an example of a standard three point lightening set up. 

Silhouette - shooting into the sun 

In photography a silhouette is created by pointing the lens at an object or person or animal or scene that creates a sold shape of colour (usually being black) that creates a bold outline of the subject. The silhouette is normally a solid black figure and is typically on a light or usually white/light background. The outline can differ the edge of the object in a linear form, as the silhouette appears as a solid form. The brighter of the background (sun for example) can vary the thickness of the silhouette and make a better looking outline also. 

 Here are two perfect examples of silhouettes. I like both examples as they represent love and also look like they have very strong edge lines. 

Light direction 

In the photography industry the main important thing is light. Everybody knows no matter what image they want to create it needs light to be able to make a good quality photograph. With great lightening also comes the direction that you need to make sure you position your camera to make sure you the best possible lightening. The three simplest light directions are: frontal, side and also backlighting. Due to the different positioning of the camera the different effects on how the subject appears to be are how different the shadows are cast. 

Here is an image that represents the use of different light positions and how it changes how the final image turns out. 




White balance - colour of light 
The use of white balance in photography is the process of removing colour out of the main objects in the image so that they appear white or rendered white in the image. Most modern cameras take into account the 'colour temperature of the light source used with may refer to the warmth or the coolness of the white light. Although some cameras are good at picking up colours digital cameras often have difficulty with auto white balance which can create blue, orange tones and even green. For many photographers understanding digital white balance can help them avoid the overshadow of these colours which can lead to them improving the look and feel of their photos under a wide rand of lightening. 




Here is an example of the use of non white balance. 

COLOUR MEANING

When you think of colours different things spring to mind which are called colour connotations. For example: red or pink would represent love and passion. blue and green would represent calm, soothing and natural and also yellow and orange would represent warmth and health.