{"id":7215,"date":"2011-02-22T23:06:46","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T03:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=7215"},"modified":"2017-08-24T13:46:57","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T17:46:57","slug":"photography-direction-of-the-light-using-available-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/photography-direction-of-the-light-using-available-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Photography: Direction of the light – using available light"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photography: Direction of the light – using available light<\/h1>\n

This striking photo of Shawna illustrates something that I want to underline: at some level, our consideration of the light that we’re using remains the same, whether we’re using available light, or flash, or video light or some other continuous light source.<\/p>\n

We need to consider the\u00a0direction and quality of the light<\/strong><\/a> we have or are creating. We then either need to adapt our lighting, or adapt our way of shooting our subject, to complement our subject. \u00a0So let’s look closer at the light \/ lighting used for this photo …<\/p>\n

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The light that you see in the top photo, came from this incandescent spotlight in the ceiling of this hotel-floor lobby. Just having Shawna look directly at the camera, with no consideration of the light, creates this unattractive photo. The uneven light on her face just doesn’t look good.<\/p>\n

We could either bring in additional lighting, such as a video light … or as in this case, pose our model so that the light falls onto her face in a way that suits us. \u00a0It just makes sense to get more light onto her face and not have her eyes completely in shade. With a slight shift in her pose, we have the light fall on her in a way that just looks so much better. I don’t think this needs more explanation as to why it looks better. It just is.<\/p>\n

There’s a sense of drama now, a little bit of mystery … and we have a photograph that makes our model look as attractive as she really is. Mostly because we considered our available light and really looked at the direction and quality of light in how we posed our subject.<\/p>\n

As mentioned at the start here, our approach would be quite similar, whether we used flash or continuous light (like video light), or the available light.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Direction<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
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Direction & Quality of Light<\/h2>\n

I wanted to distill the essence of what we, as photographers, work with – light! Before we can truly grasp on-camera flash and off-camera flash, and really, any kind of photography, we have to be aware of the direction and quality of light. We need to observe the light that we have, and then decide how best to use it, or enhance it.<\/p>\n

With this book, I try my best to share those \u201caha!\u201d moments with you, and I do believe this book can make a difference to your photography.<\/p>\n

The book is available on\u00a0Amazon USA<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Amazon UK<\/a><\/strong>, or can be ordered through Barnes & Nobles and other bookstores. The book\u00a0is also available on the Apple iBook Store, as well as Amazon Kindle.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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