Light is the most fundamental element of photography. A photograph made in the wrong light is worthless, no matter how dramatic the subject. Conversely, given the right light a photographer can make a lump of coal look good. Unlike studio photographers in their warm dry studios who create the lighting to suit, we troops out in the field have to use what nature provides. Waiting for the light to filter through the atmosphere is frustrating and time-consuming, but the subtleties are endlessly variable. All photographers can, given half a chance, drone on ad infinitum about the quality of light. There are so many variables that affect it. In truth after a quarter of a century I feel I’m still just scratching the surface of appreciating the finer points of using natural light. As a musician’s ear becomes, with experience, attuned to the subtleties of pitch and tone that the rest of us can’t hear, so a photographer’s eye picks up the variables of light that most don’t notice. But to start to appreciate these aspects of light it’s important to understand two fundamentals that determine its characteristics – the directional nature and colour temperature of light.
Natural light can be strong directional sunlight, or soft, hazy, diffuse, overcast or a combination of all of these. Basically, what determines the directional nature of the light we receive from the sun is the atmosphere it’s shining through and at what angle, i.e. the time of day. Clouds, haze, pollution and the weather all have an effect. The crisp light in New Zealand after a weather front has passed through is very different from a humid day in Bangkok. On top of all those variables we have reflected, artificial and ambient light to consider, and how they all balance. In truth, being a photographer means living your whole life subconsciously considering the light, but there are worse things to be obsessed with.
“Being a photographer means living your whole life subconsciously considering the light”
All light sources have a colour temperature (CT), measured in degrees Kelvin. The most dominant one, the sun, is reckoned to have a CT of 5,500K at midday – this is what is defined as white light. A typical domestic light bulb radiates Tungsten light, which is 3,200K. It’s actually a cooler CT, but confusingly looks more orange than white light, so we call it warmer. The sunlight at sunset at has a lower CT, typically anything down to about 2,000K, and looks warm and golden. This is because the rays have to slice through a larger layer of atmosphere to get to us; the dust in the air scatters the longer wavelengths – the blue end of the spectrum – leaving the orange, shorter wavelengths to transmit through. Correspondingly, the ambient light left bouncing around the atmosphere after the sun has set has a very high CT in excess of 10,000K, and so looks blue. To really appreciate this, stand outside your house at dusk, looking in. As it gets darker the interior lights look very orange compared to the blue light outside. Normally our eyes and brain adjust to compensate for the CT of the dominant light source to make it appear white, but seen this way with the two light sources in juxtaposition the effect is obvious.
Along with Being There, a feel for light is The Most Important Element of Photography. If you’re in the right place, with the right light then the most important elements in the making of a photograph are in place before a camera is even touched. It’s why I spend far, far more time waiting for the light than I do behind the camera. It has affected my sanity, but like location searching, it has to be done.
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