Photography Tips - How to Use Lighting To Your Advantage

The recording of light rays in a way that captures it forever can be defined as photography and is heavily dependant on the lighting conditions used when shooting. Different lighting conditions are used to create all sorts of moods and pictures. Whatever lighting conditions are available you must know how to handle it in such a way it will be to your advantage. The lighting you need may not be available at a given time and you might have to wait for the ideal conditions before taking the photograph.

The light given out at different times of the day have varied effects on a photograph. Couple this with climatic conditions and you have a vast array of possibilities for shooting the best picture with the lighting conditions that you may need. A basic understanding of lighting is a must for any photographer. This can be learnt with experimentation as well as learnt from looking at other photographs. Artificial lighting and flashes are the other type of lighting that photographers work with most often. Here you have the advantage of adjusting the lighting to suit your needs unless the artificial lighting is something beyond your control such as street lighting.

Sunlight

Sunlight is often harsh and generates dark and large shadows. The shadows are positioned around a subject according to the way the light is cast. Diffused light is always better than harsh light as it casts fewer shadows although this can be used in certain photographs to achieve a definite effect. Lighting can be changed afterwards using filters and other techniques.

The best times of the day for photography is at sunrise and sunset. This allows less harsh lighting conditions to illuminate the photograph with no shadows to speak of. Diffusers and reflectors are often used to create the kind of lighting needed.

An overcast day can be a boon to a photographer as it is the same as using a giant diffuser. The same photograph can look extremely different with different lighting conditions and with time you will learn to assess the lighting conditions with accuracy. Noontime sun is good for taking landscape photographs such as the ones you will see in travel guides. And, if you want shadows in your photo this is the ideal time for it.

Other lighting conditions given to us by nature are the overcast sky, fog and mist and the sunset. All these are ideal for a variety of photographs as you can use these conditions to innovate the way they look. Some of the most beautiful photographs have been taken under these conditions.

Artificial light

An electronic flash can be used to augment the existing lighting conditions so as to give a better result. We can use multiple sources of light when photographing indoors with artificial light in order to create the exact conditions needed. Light can be manipulated in so many ways like adding color to it or subtracting one source of light while editing and the pictures that are thus created will give out totally different vibes in each case.