This is an excerpt from my book that will be published through Amherst Media this spring titled “Lighting Design for Digital Photographers”.  

 

No matter what the niche of photography, lighting and how to measure and capture it is the most important aspect for a photographer to understand, however, being able to control and anticipate its effects is equally as important. One of the best ways to anticipate and view the effects of light is by paying attention to the light present in your everyday surroundings. When we light a subject or a scene we are ultimately mimicking what we have seen in the natural world. Combining elements of light together that would not naturally exist can create surreal images, but to do that you have to first have an understanding of the effects of light.

 

Understanding that light is always present is very important. It is not always perfect. It is not always white. But it is there, and paying attention to it can help you design the look of your photographs. Sometimes we blend our lights to the point that it looks so natural it is hard to tell that it is artificial. Other times we want an illustrative graphic appearance to our work by creating lighting that is unlike anything we have seen before. Paying attention to the world around us, and mimicking what we have or creating what we haven’t seen can help to achieve this.

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