Lighting

The magic of photography lies in the light.  Light can do more than make an image on film; it can emphasize, subdue or alter moods. It can help you say many things about your subject.  The first property of light to deal with is intensity or brightness.  The light meter measures this and converts it into f-stops and shutter speeds. The only key to intensity is making sure that there is enough to make an image on the film. The light that enters our camera lens is either direct light from  a light source such as the sun or light bulb OR it is reflected light that  has come from light that has bounced off of people or things.   This reflected light is called ambient light.

The light meter measures the light that it sees and must convert it into a proper exposure.  Most cameras use an averge of all of the light that falls on the frame of the camera.  This quantity of light is converted into aperture and shutter speeds based on the ASA of the film and the amount of light needed to convert that light into a neutral gray on the film.  Neutral  gray represents a shade of gray that is half way between white and black.  It is a shade of gray  that is the same on a negative as it is in real life and is sometimes referred to as 18% grey  since it reflects back 18% of the light that hits it.       

    Sometimes the average type light meter makes a mistake if it is aimed at a scene that has a bright spot in the frame that throws the average higher or a dark spot that throws the  average lower.  A snow scene or a night shot or concert shot will fool a light meter.  To cure this some photographers use a spot meter which mesures only a small portion of a scene or frame.

 Light Quality - Direction - Contrast

      Light Quality is the most important characteristic of light for the photographer for it sets the mood of a shot.  Quality of light breaks down into two types -- hard or soft light.  Hard light throws distinct shadows. It comes from a point light source such as the sun or an electronic flash.  It is a harsh light and often can cause the subject if it is a person to squint or need to put on sun glasses.  Soft light is the opposite and comes from  a reflected source or a broad source.  It is often indirect light and is frequently found in the shade as light that reflects into the shade from the surroundings.  Light quality is effected mostly by change in  subject or camera position or the use of reflectors or fill flash. 

Hard light can give a dramatic effect -- strong, bold or angry.  A soft light is used for more subtle effects .  Hard light can further be broken down according to its direction where it might come from the front, side, back or top of the subject.  The direction of light will determine where shadows will be.  By looking at the shadows in a picture, you can determine where the light comes from.  This direction, more than any other light feature will affect the LOOK of a picture.  Directions of light are given from the subjects point of view, thus back light points into the camera lens.  There are no rules about which direction to use, the main reason for study of them is to control their effect on our subject. 

Front light is used to show detail. Few good outdoor shots use this type of light because it eliminates texture.  This type of light is what comes out of a flash attachment and evenly lights our subject.  It is the worst of the hard light types and would be better as soft light if a choice is possible.  Side light emphasizes texture and shape.  A strong side light from a  window or a sunset causes long shadows and a dark side and light side relationship on a subject.  To meter such a light the photographer may want to average a close up meter reading of both the bright side and the dark side.  Backlight softens the quality of the light as the subject gets mostly reflected light on its surface.  If the light is placed directly behind the subject a rim light can be the result.  This is the most dramatic type of light.  This type of light does a good job of separating the subject from the background but requires careful metering.  IF the meter sees mostly the bright light in the background the exposure will be adjusted lower to compensate which will result in an underexposed subject which has less light falling on it from the reflected light reaching it from the front.

      The last chracteristic of light which is of a concern to the technology conscious photographer is the brightness range or contrast. This is how much difference there is between the brightest part of a scene and the darkest part.  On most black and white and color films the brightness range that the film can record an image on is about 5 f-stops difference beween the light and dark.  On a bright day it is possible for the actual brightness to be 8 or 9 stops difference.  On an overcast day the contrast is lowered to perhaps only one f-stop difference between the bright and dark part of a scene.  This results in prints that are low in contrast.  In the video and film industry  additional lights are brought in to increase the contrast or decrease the contrast so that it matches the contrast of the film. 

LIGHTING PROJECT

  We will talk about different types of light in the class period.  This assignment asks you to demonstrate you ability to understand these types of light by making two photographs...each with a different type of light.  Pick from: Hard, soft, side, back, front or flash. 

As usual, each photo must be of an interesting subject and of good composition and print quality.