Lighting The Way

As photographers we concern ourselves with many things while pursuing the craft. What lens to use, camera type, film or digital, do I need a tripod, etc.

But before we ask those questions we need to ask ourselves what about the light. I would dare say the most important component of any photograph is light. Sure other things are important but without the light you have no image.

I know this seems like a very basic statement, but I think you would be surprised just how many people are out there shooting with no regard to the way the light is falling on their subject, and I don't necessarily mean people new to photography.

Learning to see and use light is sort of like learning another language, the more you understand it's subtleties the better you can communicate your thoughts and ideas. The more you study the light and what it's doing the better you photography will become.

Let's say you are out shooting an environmental portrait and light is very hard. You make the decision to move your subject into a shaded area, this helps you with your subject so you take the shot. When you look at it you see that the background is really washed out because it is so much brighter. If you would have studied the scene a bit closer you would have noticed that this was a problem and you could have made a different choice as how to proceed. All this comes with experience. The more you look at the light and learn how it behaves the better you results will be.

So do yourself a favor, study your light a bit closer. You'll be glad that you did.