Lighting plays an important role in thephototoday. It can
revitalize the photos, add cool effects, spectacular shadows and silhouettes,
but with the wrong use of the picture it will be unwanted glare and
reflections.
This guide is written for beginners get acquainted with one
of the most important aspects of photography - lighting. The manual consists of
3 parts. The first tells of the hard and the soft light, the second question is
about the artificial and natural light, and the third - the intensity of light
and depth of field.
Part 1: hard and soft light
This section discusses the fundamental question about the
difference between taking a picture with the hard and soft light.
Hard light creates a well-defined, and dark shadows are
usually derived from the same source, which typically has a small size or is
very far away. At the same time, soft light creates soft shadows, or does not
create them at all. This light has several sources, scattered or reflected from
various surfaces, falling on the subject from different angles. In terms of
natural light hard light can be observed on a cloudless day, when the sun is
high above the horizon. Photography Beginners should avoid shooting with
lighting scenes. But the clouds, fog, and even industrial air pollution create
soft lighting because sunlight is partially reflected and scattered in its
path.
It is necessary to remember that the size of the light
source is inversely proportional to its stiffness. So, the smaller the light
source, the harder it produced by lighting.
Soft light can also create your own, using lenses and
reflectors:
- Diffusers. Clouds are examples of natural diffuser. For
artificial light scattering can use any translucent material. Thus, one may use
special curtains on outbreaks or even plain white cloth between the light
source and the subject. The main thing - to choose the right level of
transparency of the material and strength of the light pulse (if the shooting
is conducted with the use of artificial light sources).
- Reflectors. Reflection of light, in fact, creates another
source of it. A photographer can control its direction and the angle of
incidence on the subject. In addition to professional reflectors for these
purposes, you can use ordinary paper. Reflect can be both natural and
artificial light.
Both types of light have their own advantages and
disadvantages. Hard light can be used to create high-contrast images in order
to emphasize the shape and texture. Also, it is good to improve the 3D effect,
the addition of the image volume and dramatic effects. However, with hard light
enough hard work and it is generally considered unsuitable for many (if not
most) situations, especially shooting people.
Soft light, on the contrary, creates an even light, which better
reflects the colors and shapes of objects. Naturally, the choice depends on the
type of light shooting genre, the subject and the desired effect, but soft
light, as a rule, and it is preferable by far the best and safest option for
beginners.
Obviously, to natural light refers to direct sunlight or
ordinary daylight, such as indoors. And in the role of artificial light sources
can serve all kinds of fluorescent lamps in a variety of consumer and
industrial devices.
Natural light
Natural light is less controllable and varies greatly
depending on a number of conditions, such as time of day, weather and
geographical location. It does not require any additional equipment, though, of
course, you can apply all the same lenses and reflectors. The choice between
the uses of natural or artificial light is clearly more relevant to the subject
of portrait or photograph. In the case of shooting a landscape or wildlife
photographer choice, as a rule, limited natural light.
Among the factors that affect the nature of the natural
light, it is worth noting the following:
- Weather. As mentioned earlier, cloudy weather is
considered to photographers more preferred in many cases because the overcast
sky creates a soft light. But Rain is not always perfectly uniform, and its
density is different, too. It is worth considering, because of this depends on
the intensity of the light. And such natural phenomena as hurricanes, storms,
or even an ordinary fog is also worth trying to use for the benefit of the
picture: the black sky will give him dramatic, and scattered in the fog lights
give the landscape a sense of depth and perspective will improve.
Time of day.
Typically, softer lighting conditions can be obtained early in the morning or
late at night. Furthermore, at this time the light warmer. Sunrise and sunset
are often considered the ideal time shooting landscapes and portraits. But
during this time of day light conditions change very rapidly both in terms of
intensity and in terms of color. On the one hand, it allows a short time to get
a series of different images, but on the other - there is a risk to miss a
truly perfect moment. During sunrise and sunset shadows change their intensity
and form. So, at sunset shadows lengthen and become less intense as the morning
all the way around.
- Geographical location. There is a pattern, according to
which the farther you are from the equator, the longer you can watch the
sunrise and sunset. Thus, mild conditions morning or evening illumination lasts
much longer than in the areas on the other hand, are much faster in the
vicinity of the equator.
- Air pollution. Like the water vapor in the fog and clouds
of particles of industrial air pollution scatter the light rays, making it less
intense and softer.
When working with artificial light photographer is faced
with the same problems as when shooting in natural light. But in this case, he
has full control over light sources, their number, location, angle, brightness
and stiffness. In addition, various artificial light sources have different
color temperatures. Thus, for example, halogen lamps produce a cooler light and
which has a blue tint, while tungsten reddish glow. All these details need to
be considered and kept under control to produce the desired result.
When it comes to control and manipulate light, there are a
variety of options, depending on how you want to deal with an artificial,
natural, soft or hard light. It all comes down to understanding how the final
image depends on lighting conditions, its selection and management, as well as
adjust the camera settings (such as white balance) and further processing
photos in graphic editors.
The final section will talk about the importance of the
intensity of light, and that newcomers should know about it.
The camera requires a certain amount of light to capture the
image on the sensor. The amount fixed by the sensor light is determined by
three parameters: ISO (sensitivity matrix), the lens aperture and shutter speed
(the speed of the camera shutter).
Shooting can be carried out under different conditions. For
example, a sunny day to take pictures of the landscape may seem the ideal conditions
for a novice, but with such a high intensity illumination enhances contrast of
light and deterioration of the level of detail. At the same time, the cloudy
weather and diffuse light, as we recall, can help neutralize these
disadvantages, improving the accuracy of color reproduction, smoothing the
gradients, shadows and softening the texture keeping items. But the intensity
of the scattered light is lower and when shooting scenery in low-light
conditions is required shutter speed and / or a higher ISO setting.
ISO
As mentioned above, the ISO - is the level of sensitivity
matrix of a digital camera. Most modern cameras it ranges 100-12800 units. The
higher the score, the more sensitive to light matrix that allows you to take
pictures in dark conditions. But the resulting image at high ISO is
characterized by increased noise, unwanted grain while reducing detail.
Lowering the ISO setting will provide better image quality, but require more
light, the shortage of which will have to compensate the increase in exposure.
Size camera matrix plays a crucial role in this respect: the
larger gauge, the less noise it generates, and consequently, received with the
help of higher-quality images are. But at the same time cost matrices such
cameras will be significantly higher.
We recommend an article on this topic: sensitivity - ISO in photos.
Excerpt
The photographic moment the shutter opens, located directly
in front of the matrix, thereby passing it the necessary amount of light. The
more time the shutter release, the lighter will be fixed matrix. When shooting
moving objects, requires a high shutter speed to "freeze" an object
in its movement. At the same time, long exposures are useful at night, when the
camera needs more light to create an image. Long exposure can be compensated
for sensitivity, keeping it within the allowable noise level. For further
stabilization of the camera in such cases a tripod handy.
You can become more familiar with the material, read the
article what is the shutter speed on the camera.
Diaphragm
Aperture - the hole in the lens through which light enters
the camera's sensor. Aperture size is governed by a special device called a diaphragm.
Naturally, the larger the diameter of the hole, the more light that enters the
matrix over time and vice versa. Iris settings are displayed as F / values.
Thus, a small value (for example, F / 1.0 to F / 3.5) parameters indicate the
maximum relative hole diameter. With this opening in the diaphragm matrix
receives the greatest amount of light. A value of F / 22 shows the closed
aperture and limited light flux passing through the lens. Aperture settings
range in different lenses may be different.
It is controlled by the depth of field diaphragm - the
distance between the proximal and the farthest points that fall in the plane of
focus. The larger the diameter of the hole, the less depth of field.
Read what the diaphragm and how it works can be in this article.
Auto mode
In fully automatic mode, the combination of aperture,
shutter speed and ISO selected by the camera, based on its perception of the
most appropriate settings for the specific moment of the shooting. In many
cases, it gives decent results, but experienced photographers make great
pictures exclusively using the camera manual settings. Nevertheless, for
beginners, this mode in many cases it will be very useful, leaving the
opportunity and time to concentrate on other aspects of the survey.
Manual control of the camera
Depending on the current requirements for the recording, you
can use different operating modes of the camera. The most common are shooting
modes Shutter priority, Aperture priority and full manual mode (for more
experienced photographers). Each ISO sensitivity can also be adjusted manually,
or left in automatic mode.
In aperture priority mode, aperture value presets the
photographer, for example, to control the depth of field and the camera
calculates the optimum exposure length. As a rule, this is the preferred option
for landscapes (with a closed diaphragm) and portraits (open).
In Shutter Priority mode, the shutter speed manually set
while the other picks up the automatic camera settings. To use this mode,
resorting, for example, when shooting sporting events (critical shutter speed
to capture the athletes in motion) or in the case of night photography (need
super-long delay for maximum light capture).
In a fully manual mode the experienced photographer who
understands the impact of various shooting parameters and their relationship
gets absolute control over the recording process.
Well, what are shooting modes of the camera can be found here.
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