Lighting - Natural light

Whats the most important aspect of photography with the
exception of the camera (That meaning there would be no image if there were no camera)?

Its light of course.  Photography means painting with light.  Whatever we see we see because light is reflecting off that surface.  This might be the first time you have heard this, but its all about the light, not Photoshop.  So lets learn how to create with light...

Quality, quantity, direction, type of light.  All these come into play.  For this blog, we are showing what natural light is.

The first one is obvious, its outside, you cant get much simpler than that.  This was shot at 3 pm, when the sun was still pretty high in the sky.  Usually you avoid shooting around noon because of the harsh shadows that ensue.  But today was a cloudy/overcast day which diffused the light and made the light less harsh.  

In the previous shot, everything was lit up but what if you want to control the light, or what if there are shadows that need to be filled?  You dont always have to have a light kit in your bag, sometimes all you need is a reflector.  

Or you can use window light.

Window light is great for creating a dramatic feel to your image.  In this case it was just one window to the right of the camera.  Depending on the harshness of the light, you might want to step the subject away fromt he window so you can get the soft feel like this shot.  You dont want blown out highlights (unless that is what you want).

Tune in next week when we talk about lighting some more.... (probably not going to be next week, just a few days or a few hours...)