Daylight and Available Light-Part Two

Daylight and Available Light-Part Two

In my last blog post regarding daylight and available light, I mentioned the quality of light and the direction of daylight. You need to recognize these two very important elements with outdoor and some indoor photo shoots. Here are some daylight lighting situations:

Side Light. Early in the day or late in the afternoon, this type of light is really beautiful. It can be the first choice for landscape, cityscape's or wide scenic views. For buildings, side light at different times of the day and year can be very important in the quality of light and how it reflects off the building. Sidelight can be a gorgeous portrait light which can showcase facial planes and lines.

Back Light. Generally, very low morning or evening sunlight is most effective. Coming from behind a person, scene, tree or building, this light can be blinding to the photographer. When used correctly, this can be the most interesting light. Long shadows come towards you, the head will be haloed with sunshine. Leaves and flowers will be translucent. This type of light takes some practice to get your subject perfectly exposed while having the back light effect present. Light flare caused by the sun's  direct rays hitting the lens and bouncing around can cause small blips on the image. Ywww.lisaramsayphotography.comou can always use your camera's preview button to see if you are getting these blips or any other lens flare. Sometimes flare can add excitement to a photograph. You have to move around your subject, to try and capture the light flare or halo effects. I had an engagement photo shoot on the Brooklyn Bridge. They were not very enthusiastic about photographs with light flare behind their heads. When they viewed the images, those back lite images were some of their favorites from the photo shoot.

Flat Light. Very low sunlight from behind you that hits your subject directly in front of you is flat light. This type of light is typically warm and yellow. You can use this light early in the evening in most of the country. when using a telephoto lens, flat light can be dramatic for landscapes, water scenes and storm clouds that are forming. It is dramatic light for city scenes, traffic, markets and other textural scenes. When light is flat, you can under expose scenic views for deep blue skies.

Soft Light. Low light before sunrise and after sunset at dusk, diffused clouds or misty weather conditions, soft light is wonderful light for portraits, people studies, landscapes and mood photographs. Soft light may require a tripod for the lower light quality.

Top Light. This type of light comes from overhead. It is usually strongest during the summer months or in warmer regions of the globe. It is generally the rule of thumb to avoid this type of light. Deep shadows under people's nose, eyes, mouth and chin make unflattering portraits. The division between shadows and light areas of a scene can be very drastic. I would recommend a fill flash or a reflector for portraits. I would try to avoid photographing with this type of light but if you have to, be prepared
with your flash or move your subject to another area with softer light or shadows.

Contrasty Light. This is when a scene is brightly lite with deep shadows. Street scenes with half the street in shadow and half in light is very hard to expose correctly. If you expose for the shadows, your bright areas of the scene will be very under exposed. You will have to decide to avoid photographing at times and places where the light is broken up in this lighting extreme.  You can always come back at another time of day or night or angle to capture the scene correctly.

Window Light Indoors. This is very beautiful light for portraits. You can diffuse the light with a curtain or if it's lightly cloudy, the light will be especially beautiful. A tripod may be needed or a fill flash. Interiors will need to be on tripod for longer exposures or lower camera settings.

Available Light. This is light that is available to you where ever you are. Lamps, over head lights,
car lights, electronic signs and many other types of light sources can be really fun to use for your main light source. You will have to be observant to the color of your light source. You can change the color of your light with your camera lighting setting or by the color temperature setting. With digital cameras today, you may not need a tripod. If you want to use a low ISO setting, a tripod would be necessary.