Photography Lighting Tips
Photography highly depends on playing with light and shadows. The results of a photoshoot are often decided by how you illuminate your subject. Using the right photographic technique can have a significant impact on how your photographs turn out. Even if you only use your camera on weekends and you’re not a professional photographer, you still want to take the best pictures. Here are some photography lighting tips to bear in mind.
Photography Lighting Tips
This post highlights a few photography lighting tips you can use to improve the quality of your photographs. It breaks them down into simple tricks that can help you use lighting to your advantage.
Use a Broad Light Source
A broad light source produces softer lighting. It also suppresses the texture of the subject and casts fewer shadows. Narrowing lighting accessories such as CFLs and flashes do the opposite. You must broaden these light sources by bouncing their light through a diffuser or reflector such as an umbrella or softbox. Using a broad light source is especially useful when shooting portrait photographs or food.
Place Your Light Source Close to Your Subject
The farther your subject is from the light source, the harder the light falls on them. This is because, when the source of light is moved away, it seems to become narrower and decreases in broadness, whereas when it’s closer to you, it seems to be broadened. The pros at Industry Print Solutions suggest to make sure your subject or product is close to your broad light source so that the light illuminates your subject naturally and evenly.
Use Front-Lighting Judiciously
Front-lighting will suppress the foreground’s texture, thereby de-emphasizing it. Therefore, you can use front lighting for shooting portraits as it will help to cover-up blemishes and scars on your subject’s face. However, landscape photography works best with side-lighting rather than front-lighting as the former will emphasize the texture of the tree bark, bricks, sand and rocks.
Include Shadows for a Three-Dimensional Look
Shadows are not always the enemy. When you use shadows judiciously, they can help to give your photographs a voluminous look, thereby projecting your subject to be in a space rather than a flat surface. Shadows give a three-dimensional look that make your pictures look real.
Keep Color Temperature in Mind While Shooting
Light may look white but it has color. The human eye cannot detect this but sensors in our cameras can, and record the color cast. While shooting, always keep the color cast in mind just so you don’t ruin any important opportunities. During the midday, the sunlight is bluish whereas during the late afternoon and early morning, it has a warm tone.
Fluorescent lighting casts bluish light, whereas tungsten lighting puts out yellow light. If you don’t want the color cast, you can neutralize the color using the camera’s white balance control setting. It also helps to experiment with different lights to discover more secrets that will improve your photography.
Bottom Line
These photography lighting tips should make it easier for you to take better photos of your products or subject. Practice how to use lighting in different settings and see what works best. Taking advantage of lighting is all about customizing the light and shadows to take better photographs.
