How To Find The Perfect Lighting In Your Photos

Finding the right angle to capture the best light in every photo is difficult. Any changes in angle or position can often have a substantial effect. Finding the best light when you are shooting can sometimes be hard; thus it is important that we know how to handle perfect lighting in all photos.

Light in photography creates a significant factor in producing a successful image. It determines the brightness and darkness of a photo. It will set the tone, mood and atmosphere. To get the best texture, vibrancy of colour and luminosity of your subject; it is best to manipulate the light correctly.

Different types of light are present in a photo. There are other techniques in the photo like, high-speed photography which can freeze moments in time or motion blur which can capture a moving object. This technique is often used in sports photography and used to create interesting images with light or fast-moving object.  Let us identify how we can properly apply these techniques in our photos.

Light Positioning

It plays a vital role in capturing the perfect moment by placing a light in a particular position, but it could create or destroy a photo. There are three positions that we need to consider before we take pictures and below are the following positions.

Front Lighting Position. When adequately utilized, front light can bring superb features to our subject, it removes shadows and can show the fine details of our issue. Beginners and starting photo hobbyist can use this.

Back Lighting Position. The backlighting position is more often used by professionals. With proper usage, a backlit subject can bring halo effect making it more artistic and brings the issue into focus. If appropriately utilized this can be a perfect position to bring the topics crowning glory.

Side Lighting Position. This position is the most often hard to blend the lighting position into the subject. A photographer should know how to utilize the side lighting position to bring that picture-perfect photo. Side lighting plays a vital role in the subject’s artistic focus, and by blending the shadows, it brings a subtle yet powerful impact to the photo.

Light Sources and its Effects

Light sources can be divided into two categories, and these are known as hard light and soft light. Let us discuss both sources and let us try to use samples on how we can use these sources to produce fun and artistic photo using only available lighting materials around us.

Hard Light. It can produce a minimal shadow transition and creates darker shadows. To make it subtle, a hard light source can be used with diffusers to create secondary volume in darkness. When properly utilized, hard lighting source can help produce a more powerful impact into a photograph by blending shadows into the subject.

What are the materials that we can use to get hard lighting sources? Small lighting materials often produce hard lighting source. The flash from our cameras, flashlights, and strobe lights is often considered as hard light. The sun is also known as a hard lighting source, but with the help of clouds, the sun uses these as diffusers making it subtler and softer bringing that special effect into the subject.

Soft Light. The other type of light source that can create a spectacular effect on our subject is the soft light. Soft lighting effect can give a subtle transition, and this lighting effect can help the issue in the making after detail. The soft lighting source can provide body and transition shadow into the subject.

Great light sources often produce soft lights. By adequately using our light sources this can significantly affect the quality of our photos. Utilize diffusers and use mix lighting effects to bring that fabulous glow and artistic scene in our subject. Not some experienced photographer are advised to use soft lighting sources as this can be easily manipulated and used in photography subjects.

There are a lot of ways in finding the best light, and this can make a big difference in a photo. This is quite a difficult area to master, but with little understanding of the details, this will help create a new light on the subjects better.

Distance Makes the Light Dimmer. As the light source becomes far, the subject becomes dimmer. The light also spreads out, hitting less light to the subject. Light falls off quickly when you move away, which means that when a light source is far away from the subject the lesser you have clear visibility.

Side Lighting Adds Drama. Side lighting gives your image tons of visual impact. When the light comes into the side, it adds long shadows which provides an image with depth and dimension. It is a popular type of lighting because it provides an image with a three-dimensional look. Some use it effectively for portraits that offer an artistic knack. The light entering the scene can provide a spectacular picture. 

Make Use of Shadows to Create Volume. Volume in images whether it is landscape, portrait or something in between creates more visual impact. That means that if you want to add more emphasis, try all different sides of lighting like side, behind and even below or above. This will create shadows in your images, which will give a three-dimensional look. The shadows coming from lighting schemes will create a pleasing image.

Backlighting Can Minimize the Subject. Silhouette is a dark shape subject that can be seen in a light background. The image does not contain any details that you can see from the front light or backside, but it does have a lot of power when it comes to the shadow of the scene. Backlighting minimizes the image of the subject; however, you can still identify the details of the subject and its effect. 

Diffuse and Broaden the Light Source. In a situation where the subject has harsh shadows on the subject's face, the easiest way to improve an image is to diffuse or choose a broader light source. Images taken indoors which have harsh lighting from the subject due to sunlight coming from the windows, the best thing to do is to diffuse the light, it could be by simply pull down the curtains from the window. By diffusing the intensity of sunlight from the windows and moving the subject deeper in the house, this will create a stunning and more pleasing portrait.

In photography, shadows play an important role in photography while silhouettes are the supreme art of photography. When these are properly used it can turn out to be extremely beautiful. How light can make the picture extremely beautiful is the secret to how the techniques in lighting can be used.