Considering that “photography” means literally “writing or delineating with light,” the subject of photographic lighting can’t really be separated from the subject of photography as a whole. Photography is all about light. It is the lighting on the subject that makes the photograph.
Photographic lighting can be broken down into two main categories: available light, meaning existing light without any additional light added; and artificial light, which means the photographer introduces flash or strobes or tungsten lights or some other source of light to illuminate the subject for the photograph. Available light does not mean you have no control over the lighting. If the subject is movable (a person, a car, etc.) you can position the subject in the shade or turn it around so the existing light falls on it differently. An immovable subject (e.g. a building) can be photographed at a different time with a totally different photographic lighting effect.
But artificial lighting is where photographic lighting really comes into its own. Here the photographer can exercise tremendous control over the photo by using either on-camera flash or separate strobes or tungsten lights. To these basic photographic lighting can be added a variety of reflectors, diffusers (such as umbrellas and softboxes) or attachments which narrow the light to a spot (snoots or honeycombs). The color of the light can be changed by using a gold colored umbrella, for example, to warm it up or gels of different colors to selectively add colored light to parts of a photo.
The principles underlying photographic lighting, however, remain the same whether one is using available or artificial light. Many photographers search for recipes of where to place the lights and so on, those who grasp the fundamental concepts are far more successful in creating the effects they are looking for with photographic lighting.
For example, once you understand the difference between a specular (point source) and a diffuse source (large and spread out source) of light and the effects created by each you will know whether to move the person you are photographing out of the direct sun into the open shade for a softer shot. Or, in the studio, you will know to use a large softbox instead of a narrow reflector to create a similar effect. Side lighting shows up the surface detail of a subject whereas frontal lighting tends to eliminate surface texture, so you can exaggerate or minimize the wrinkles on a face or the texture of the sand on the beach or the bricks in a brick wall.
This is all part of photographic lighting. Since light, not camera equipment or anything else, is the photographer’s chief tool, photographic lighting is a subject well worth learning. But learn the basic concepts, not a bunch of rules. The best book I have come across on the subject is Lighting Techniques for Photographers (or some variation thereof) by Norman Kerr who worked for Kodak for years as a professional photographer and knows his subject.
David © Phillips is a professional writer and photographer living in Seattle, WA. You can find out more about him and his work at www.dcpcom.com
All photographs in this article © David C Phillips, All Rights Reserved (except as noted otherwise.)
