The light from above will look more natural, flattering, pleasing to the eye, ok for most subjects, but not if you want a gritty look. The lgiht from above will look more natural, flattering, pleasing to the eye, ok for most subjects, but not if you want a gritty look.
So you see how light really begins to shape how we look, It isn't rocket science is it?
Light really does play such an important role in photography, and working with light is really easy, and thankfully there is one light source that is always, well nearly always on hand, if we are lucky, and using that light is very straight forward.
I am of course talking about the sun, that wonderful ball of energy which lights up our lives. When the light is right, the light can be magical, and if the lighting is magical, your images will be equally magical as well.
The best time for natural light is early mornings, or late evenings,. Close to sunset we get a lovely warm golden light coming through, this light is amazing for making portraits stand out, and we should take advantage of this light whenever we can, because it does not happen everyday, unless you are very lucky and live somewhere with no clouds.
I recall a few years back when I visited Castle Acre in Norfolk, to the Priory, it was midsummer, so warm, and the sun was getting lower in the sky, and about 7pm as I walked past a doorway, I suddenly noticed the light in the room was glowing; the sun was at the right angle to bounce light off one sandy coloured outside wall into this once cold looking, old stone room, and my goodness was it magical! Of course, I took a few images of it, and til this day I am sure I have never seen light so gorgeous as that! And I was wearing the perfect dress for the shoot too!
Bounced light is good, it is not directional, so you will squint far much less than you would with direct sunlight, and squints ruin photographs, they do, so be careful of that.
If indoors you can attach a speedlight to your camera, and aim it at the wall for a decent light bounce, but only white walls, as coloured walls could give your images a weird colour cast to them; a green wall would make you look radioactive, and unless you want to look like a radioactive spectacle then it is entirely your decision...
Another good light is overcast sunlight, but not too overcast.
Overcast sunlight is less harsh than full on cloudless bright skylight, meaning you get much more softer shadows, more gentle contrast, and very flattering light, specially if that light is entering a room, but even outside it is gorgeous, as long as you dont include much of the overcast sky in your images, no one likes dull grey skies, no matter how good your working that pose, you poser you!
Working indoors on overcast days means we use a slower shutter speed, which should not be an issue here, as long as the camera is on a good, sturdy tripod, and you dont move during the actual exposure, just expose for your face, thats where you want the exposure to be, it does not matter that the background goes too dark or too light, what is important is getting your face perfectly exposed.
If you need to, use off camera flash, and shoot through a brolly or softbox, if you have these items at hand, i know most of us don't, but even a cheap flashgun with wireless triggers and softboxes can cost less than £100 these days, meaning that you can take a photography studio wherever you go, more or less, I cover the basics of off camra flash and even throw in some lighting set ups elsewhere in this publication.
Obviously, the ideal place for any light to fall is on your face, or your subjects face if taking somebody elses portrait, be pointless having speedlights aimed at the photographer when taking portraits of someone else!
Just one small shaft of light is all it takes to illuminate a face, and even the darkest room has window light, no matter how weak it is.
But above all else, preview the images, make sure the light looks great before you start posing properly, and get those exposures bang on! You will kick yourself later if you have lots of good images ruined by having your face in too much shadow, I have done that plenty of times now and always kick myself, but I have learned my lesson.
As long as you expose for your face, nothing else really matters; backgrounds too dark? Backgrounds too light? Don't worry, in time you will know how to work around this.
Once you understand the basics of how lgiht works, you can then progress onto the more advanced section of this book, where we delve into off camera flash, but for now just concentrate on getting your face properly exposed and bathed in sweet light.
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