Understanding Light & Lighting

We want to know the light source, direction, and light available when taking photographs. There is no such thing as bad light – but rather challenging lighting conditions! Significant, broad light sources, such as an overcast sky, will enable soft lighting of a scene. Small, direct lighting, such as the bright sun, will give you harsh light that produces a lot of shadow and greater contrast between dark and light tones.

While artificial lights are fixed and might change only in terms of colour and intensity, natural light changes minute by minute, not only in terms of colour and intensity but also in direction and form (It can be direct light on a clear day or diffused if we have clouds).

Natural light is the best type of light source we can work with but, at the same time, the most challenging, simply because of its continuous change in terms of quality.

There is a range of lighting conditions, directions and intensities. Photographers use these to their advantage - finding opportunities to be creative and constantly challenging themselves to make the most of each lighting situation.