Light is the most fundamental and important elements of making a photograph. After spending the last few days on shutter speed and aperture and ISO and all of the other basic camera parts and functions, I'm hoping you can focus on those technical elements and less on the subject matter. In terms of subject matter, take photographs of people, places, or things you're comfortable with, but try to make photographs with extraordinary lighting.
Ask yourself questions such as:
Can light lead my eye to something important?
Can light emphasize my main subject matter?
Can light add texture or softness to an object that makes it stand out in a more significant way?
Can light be diagonal? Can it be dynamic?
Can light lead my eyes to an unexpected place within the frame?
Complete the Schoology assessment called Light Lists.
If you struggle to expand your definition of extraordinary lighting, continue to return to the light lists we made with nearly 100 examples of light, reflections, diffusions, etc. And if you're still struggling, take a look online or on social media of interesting ways other photographers use lighting. You won't necessarily copy their ideas, but it might jog your mind and stir up some great ideas of your own!
Kimberly Witham makes beautiful still life photographs with the simplest techniques. See how she does it in this video.
Another of my favorite artists who works closely with light is Olafur Eliasson. See his work here or watch the Netflix special of Abstract that features him and his work.
We'll also take a look at several other artists who use various lighting techniques during class such as Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, Nathan Elson, and others.
Some lighting techniques that may be useful to spend time thinking about before you take your own photographs:
Side Lighting / As you might expect side lighting is when the lighting is coming from the side. This usually provides a great deal of contrast, can create long shadows and adds depth to the image. This type of lighting can add a dramatic flare to architectural and portraiture photography.
Back Lighting / Back lighting is when light is behind your subject and is directed at you and your camera. This type of lighting creates silhouettes quiet easily. Combined with certain atmospheric conditions such as fog or airborne dust you can get dramatic lighting effects.
Ambient Light / Ambient light is non-direct soft lighting that often is bounced from one surface to another. As a result of the non-direct lighting, brightness of your subject is lower than with other types of lighting. In fact this type of lighting often tricks people the most as we seldom think about it consciously. Most photographers might just ignore it looking for other types of lighting. Ambient light works well for a variety of photographic genres particularly landscape photography.
Soft or Diffuse Light / Soft light is diffuse providing lighting that is even. This type of lighting reduces contrast and minimizes shadows. Soft light is excellent for portraiture, macro, and nature photography.
Hard Light / Hard light is quite direct and can often be intense in brightness. This type of lighting creates strong shadows and high contrast. Highlights can be quite intense under hard lighting conditions so special care should be made with ones exposure. Hard light can be stylistically applied to most any photographic genre, but for many eyes it can be less appealing than other types of lighting.
Spotlight / Very simply, spot light is when a focused amount of light highlights a particular section of your subject or scene. This type of lighting can create strong shadows and contrast. Spot light can add dramatic impact to all genres of photography.
Artificial Lighting / The most obvious type of lighting is artificial lighting. This can be generated from a variety of studio lights, and built in or external flash units. There are few genres of photography that artificial lighting cannot be used successfully. Artificial lighting provides a lot of flexibility and creative opportunities.
Various Combinations of Lighting / Lastly there is the combination of any or all of these types of lighting. There is no rule that states you have to live with just one form of lighting. Creatively lighting your subject is an integral part of the photographic process.
To complete the project successfully you'll need to:
1. Bulk roll two rolls of film with 25-36 exposures per roll. Remember to select the ISO you prefer and set that on your camera.
2. Take at least 50 images that use extraordinary lighting. Be sure that light is the main focus of each image. If you can't literally see light and if it doesn't feel like the main character, take more photographs to make up for that. You'll need 50 shots of light.
3. Bring those two rolls of film into class on the due date. You'll get 20 points for simply taking the photographs and bringing them with you to class to process.
4. Process the film.
5. Make at least two contact sheets with your 50 best examples of interesting lighting.
6. Make three prints of your best of the best examples from those 50. These prints should have excellent exposure--meaning they are not lacking detail in the darkest shadows or the brightest highlights.
7. Hand the two contact sheets, three prints, and grading rubric into the INBOX on the due date. You project grade will be determined by how central light is to your image, how well you've made an exposure, and how well you've printed the final three images.
Credits:
Created with images by Simon John-McHaffie - "untitled image" • Paola Galimberti - "untitled image" • Toa Heftiba - "I had the most beautiful evening hang out at Pop Brixton, amazing food and atmosphere." • Matti Johnson - "Golden Hour | Romoland California" • Blake Carpenter - "untitled image"