Lighting Lesson 01

Today is the first installment of my better lighting workshop to help you understand how light effects your pictures. I start with this example above. I took this dark corner to show you that without light you have no image. The first picture was actually totally black, no image. I then turn on the lamp and I get an image but in order to see the photo on the table I have to over expose the lamp light. This is not a pleasing photo. In the middle photo I add a flash to the camera and take another image. I get lucky on the first attempt because I don't get any reflection from the glass in the photo in the picture and it is lit fairly well, but I get very unlucky with harsh nasty shadows from the lamp and picture frame in the background. The photo is not satisfactory. In the last photo I add off camera lighting. One pointed to the ceiling to bring up the ambient light levels in the room without casting harsh shadows.. One with a snoot to highlight the picture frame. And one with a snoot to highlight the lamp. Both lights are to camera right and add just a hint of light to our scene to give our final image depth and dimension and still remain realistic and natural. Depending on your level of photography and how much effort and equipment you have will limit what you can and can not do. I just want you to see how light makes or breaks a good photograph and maybe it will inspire you to go out and apply better lighting techniques to make better images. Click on image above to enlarge. Stay tuned for more workshop tips.