When people ask me about professional photography the most common questions I
get asked are things like... What is the best camera
for fashion or product photography? or Which is the best lens for portrait
photography? The reality is that the most important
thing you can have isn't the top camera or lenses it's an
intricate understanding of light. My number one tip
for taking better photos is this don't think you know light, know light. In
this video I'm going to help you get started.
An understanding of light is a skill that will translate to all
areas of photography whether you're creating an advertising image for a
client, photographing a high-end fashion
campaign, or simply capturing your treasured family memories -
Light can make or break an image. If you're looking to improve your
photography it's essential that you're able to recognize light and know how to
use it to do this it's important that you
understand how light works and the fundamental principles so that
you can benefit from and use that knowledge when you're
creating your images. I'm going to run through six key
fundamentals of using light. Number 1: Size of the light. The size of
the light source is very important as this is what determines the crispness
or softness of the shadows. A small light source will result in harder shadows
with clearly defined edges. The smaller the light source the sharper
those shadows will be but remember the shadow will be sharper
where the distance between the subject and the shadow is
less and a large light source that's a long way away
is actually still a small light source. Any light source that is larger than a
point light source will result in gradually softer shadows.
Number 2: Hard or soft light. Understanding the
difference between hard and soft light and knowing how to create each is
important because as i mentioned apparent size
from the subject's perspective plays a large part in the hardness or
softness of a light and depending on whether you're using a
large light source or a small light source
you'll get very different results. Hard light for example reveals
far more texture than soft light but it can also result in harsh
specular reflections on skin or products with shiny reflective surfaces.
Soft light results in lower contrast lower texture
and flatter smoother looking images but can often look a bit
dull. It is possible to combine hard and soft light in the same
image but knowing how to control it is key.
There is also a variety of levels of light between
hard and soft light as well as paradox situations where you can have multiple
hard lights over a large area creating both a hard and soft light look
simultaneously. In this example, I demonstrate how you
can also create super, hard light shadows and soft light
in the same single shot for an ethereal lighting effect. Number
3: The position of the light. The position
and distance of your light source whether the light is in front or to the
side, behind, low down, or up above allows us to
control the direction of the shadows and will also influence the amount of
texture you reveal on your subject and the level of
contrast. The closer the light the bigger it is
and therefore the softer it will be the further away it is the smaller it is
and therefore the harder it is but keep in mind the inverse square law,
which I will come to shortly, because this will come into play
here and this can result in a further away
light source actually becoming lower in contrast when in a confined space
as demonstrated in these two images. When a light is further away
theoretically it should be harder and more contrasty
but because of the inverse square law more light will bounce around your
studio resulting in shadow fill meaning the
shadows will become lighter and the image will appear
less contrasty. Frontal light will produce less shadows and texture
whereas lower or side lighting will create more shadows and therefore
texture but the direction of light also greatly
affects the viewer's subconscious perception of mood.
In the natural world we only ever see the light from above
or from the side but not from below which is why many
horror films will create unease by lighting the subject from below.
Number 4: Inverse square law. I provide a detailed explanation of the
inverse square law and demonstrate how it works in the introductory video of my
lighting theory course but to briefly summarize the
inverse square law relates to the falloff of light
that is how quickly it loses its intensity
and it is dependent on the distance and the apparent
size of the light source from the subject. Basically, what this means is
that the further the light source is away from
the subject and the more gradual the drop in intensity of the light will be
compared to a light source that is closer to the subject where you will
have a quicker drop in light intensity over an equivalent distance. This
fundamental principle often bemuses even many pro
photographers yet it is an essential part of the
physics of light that photographers can harness
to transform their images and overcome many of the problems of working in a
small space. Number 5: The color of light.
Everyone has heard of warm light or cold light and many photographers have a good
understanding of white balance and even the kelvin scale
but there are many factors to do with the spectrum of lights
and the difference between full spectrum and low spectrum lighting
that will dramatically alter your images for better or for worse.
There is also a whole area of science revolving around
human visual perception color theory and using
subtle color on lighting that will rearrange the mood
and even the three-dimensionality of an image.
Number 6: Lighting modifiers. Lighting modifiers also obviously have an effect
on the light that is of course their purpose
softboxes for example can produce soft even light
whereas a standard reflector will produce a harder light with greater
contrast but much of the effects of lighting
modifiers rely on them being used at appropriate distances from their subject
and many photographers make the mistake of using them far too
far away. Understanding the different type of modifiers and their effects
means you'll know how to shape and modify light
to achieve particular results and create mood
and atmosphere in your photography. I use a variety of modifiers for different
types of photography to create different moods and emotion.
For certain product photography I often use softboxes and large
reflectors, for small products I often use
specialist modifiers such as Pico lights with projection attachments
and in food photography, it may be as simple as a large Octabox
or in fashion, it may be large parabolic lights
however probably the most common modifier I use
is actually a homemade scrim. I use scrims for a lot of my commercial
work and advertising photography whether it be bottles,
jewelry, cosmetics, watches, or even electronic devices.
They produce a beautiful gradated light that is ideal for
product shots, knowing which modifiers do what and why you should use them
is an essential part of being a professional photographer.
By really understanding what type of light will come out of a fresnel
or honeycomb grid or a para or a beauty dish
will transform your understanding of lighting and
creating emotion with light. These two images are a great example of how
lighting can create a particular mood or emotion.
Compositionally these two images are exactly the same
the same product in the same place on the same background
but they have a completely different feel because of the way the light has
been modified. These two shots are the same model, the
same pose, the same camera, and lens but the two shots feel completely
different based on the emotion dictated by the modifiers used. Here's
another example of the same set, the same model but by utilizing two
vastly different lighting techniques I can create two totally different
feelings and emotions to the viewer. I often get
photographers asking me what lighting setup that they
should use for a particular shot and I always find this fascinating and
bizarre at the same time. Why don't they just learn the effects of
lighting, how to control it and the emotion it can convey and then
they would never need to ask because they'd have the knowledge to
simply do it. If you want to start doing then check
out what we have to offer on Karl Taylor Education.
I hope you found this video useful, thanks for watching.
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