Lighting Woes

Something I can't stand is when people try to shoot in bad light. Why? Because lighting can make or break a photo.

You know those iPhone pictures that come out blurry and low-quality? That's normally due to bad light when taking the photo.

When setting up any shot, you want to think about light. Where is it coming from, how can I use it to light my subject, what kind of effect does different lighting have? All of these questions need to be answered before you should take a photo. If they aren't, you might end up getting something that looks pretty bad.

I'm going to talk about the basic kinds of light in this post.

The first is front lighting. That's when your subject is facing the sun, but your back is toward it. They are completely lit up and it normally creates a nice flat, consistent look throughout the photo. Most of the professional headshots of people are taken in front lighting.

Back lighting is the exact opposite. This is lighting behind the subject and the photographer is facing it. It gives a really nice glow around the subject, but does cast shadows all over them. It's very artistic, but also isn't good if you want to see who or what you are photographing.

One of my favorite types of lighting is diffused lighting. It makes everything look soft and delicate, which is great for close-ups. This type of lighting is very pleasing to the eye and works to highlight the subject in a flattering way.

Then there is always artificial light, which is any sort of man-made light. Lots of photographers use artificial lights for photoshoots or use artificial light in a creative way with any of the lighting techniques above.

Usually, photographers will use a combination of light in order to create the perfect photo because it is so fundamental to getting that shot.

If you still want to read a bit more about lighting or learn a few more types of light, this article by Kelly Hudak is a short, but informative read.