Improve Your Photography By Mastering The Light | Get Started!

Professional Photographer Ohio

If you are still unsure if light is important for any photograph, think again! The correct use of the lights can get better results and turn any average-looking image to a spectacular one. A higher level of lighting can add more detailing to the image, while a soft light on a dim photograph will add a different feel to the photo. 

How will you define the term ‘Exposure’?  

The exposure is defined by the amount of light reaching the camera’s sensor. You can adjust the incoming light using the aperture setting. Using this you can make the images bright or dark as per your need.  

You could set the camera according to shutter priority or the aperture priority. At the end you get a better control on the camera, or should I say a better idea on how you want the resulting images should look. 

MASTER THE LIGHT IN PHOTOGRAPHY  

What are the basic photography things that you need to know for setting the right light? They are listed below:  

  1. APERTURE

As you adjust the aperture of the camera, you are changing the opening size of the lens. This automatically works on how light you are letting the sensor to catch. In case you are dealing with the depth of the field, it turns out a mandatory thing to set the aperture. If the background is blurry then a wide aperture value would do, whereas a sharp, in-focus needs a small aperture.  

  1. SHUTTER SPEED

Shutter speed indicates the time for which the shutter is kept open. The higher shutter time, the more light you are letting inside the lens. When you are clicking any object in motion or something that is running quickly, it’s ideal to keep a fast shutter speed. On the other hand, you can set a slower shutter speed for blurring the moving object.  

  1. QUALITY OF LIGHT

No doubt the amount of light matters, but along with that the quality of light is also something you need to focus upon. The light could be soft, a diffused one or a hard light.  

Where do the photographers need to work upon? 

The fact is, quality of the light keeps on changing and as a professional photographer you need to understand the nature of the lights closely before taking the shot. For example, if you are shooting during the midday duration, the sunlight would be harder, and you will get more darker shadows. Isn’t it? 

According to my opinion, the morning and the evening sunlight stands the best for the photography. In photographer’s language, this time is also referred as the Golden Hour for the photography lovers. 

  1. ISO

The final but not the least, we have the ISO! This is the camera sensor’s sensitivity towards the light. If you are in a low light condition, setting a higher ISO will be preferable. Similarly, for a bright surrounding, lower ISO setting would work. We would still recommend lower ISO setting, as the higher ISO usually add grains on the photographs.  

Understanding the use of Light for Portrait Photography is different; things that you can apply for this are given below- 

It’s an art work, there’s no quick learning way!  

Acknowledging this point is very important. You can’t master the tips and get photography results just like that. Make use of your creativity and click the best shots.  

Check the direction of the light 

The direction of the light determines the prominent section of the picture. All this will be eventually deciding the quality of the photograph, and a slight mistake can bring down the feel of the photograph. 

Loop lighting 

This is the type of the lighting for the photograph, there’s one loop lighting and the other one is the split lighting. In the split lighting, only half portion of the face is facing towards the light, and the other half is in shadow.  

Whereas, the loop lighting is one lighting technique where the light source is placed at a 45 degrees angle from the subject. I would recommend this style for a single person portrait photography.  

Light intensity also matters 

Here you need to check the distance between the light source and the subject. This distance will help you in better understanding the light intensity in a clearer way. As you increase the distance, the light intensity will decrease (works in an inverse way). 

White balance 

Make sure you set the right color temperature on your camera and correct the white balance here. For example, if there is blue color in real, it should look the same on your camera as well.  

That was our take on how to set the perfect light for the photographs. What you think about the points discussed here? Do share your thoughts and tips below.

Leave a Comment

Scroll to Top