Light & Photography DACC Basic Photography Session 5

Light, Contrast & Texture Natural lighting

Bright Direct Sunlight  Highest Contrast  Photographer ’ s favorite times: From Sunrise to 10:00 a.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to sunset

Cross Lighting  Shows texture  Brings three dimensional look  Early morning-late afternoon brings warmer tones to photos

Color of Daylight  Sunlight has warmer tones in the times before 10:00 a.m. and after 2:00 p.m.

Color of Daylight and digital  White balance with digital must be over- ridden at times to get the effect you see

Overcast Conditions  Lower Light Amounts (re: slower shutter speeds)  Less contrast  Less Shadows  Great for portraits

Heavy Overcast – Fog Conditions  Tricky Exposures  Really Low Contrast  Really slow Shutter Speeds

Overcast conditions  More Blue to contend with.  Small corrections can be corrected in printing  Use of 81a or 85a filter with film  Select correct white balance in digital

Controlling Contrast  Choice of Films  Altering the Film Developing  Choice of Paper prints are printed on  Digital – Some cameras have a limit control  Digital – use of photoshop

Altering the contrast of light  Through Diffusion  Through Bounce  Through Reflectors

Natural Light  The Color of Light

Tungsten & Fluorescent Lighting  Labs can make minor corrections  Filters available for film  FLD for Fluorescent  80A for Tungsten  Digital has White Balance corrections settings

Flash Photography  Flash is closely balanced to daylight in color  Camera shutter has to be set to flash sync speed  Flash can “ stop ” the action

Flash Photography  Battery life  Distance  Red-Eye  Dedicated flash units  Auxiliary Flash units and “ flash sync ” shutter speed

Bounce Flash  More Natural Lighting  Fewer Shadows  Ability to light more area  Need to use faster film  Need to have a little “ fill ” flash for the shadows

Bounce Flash  Accomplished best with dedicated flash systems  Auxiliary BOUNCE deflection can add better detail  When using non- dedicated flashes, flash power can be diminished by two stops (at least)

Fill Flash  Supplements light in back-lit conditions  Sometimes hard to meter  Goal is to make it look natural  Shutter speed to control background  Aperture controls subject

More Fill Flash and Bounce Flash No Flash Fill Flash Bounce Flash – No reflectorBounce Flash with card reflector

Other Flash Concerns  Photographs in inclement conditions  Power surge on your digital camera  White Balance  Studio Lighting  Auto Focus in Low Light

Studio Lighting  Uses two or more flashes synced together  Need a flash meter  Can control contrast by the lighting ratios  Most studio settings have four lights