Mastering Light: Part 1
I am making my entire book, Mastering Light, free for everyone to read right here on the PhotoWILD Magazine website as a series of articles. I wrote this book in 2015 and decided it was time for an update. In preparation for this new version I am working on, I decided to release the first version of this book in its entirety here first. We hope you enjoy!
Introduction
Light is the essence of photography. Without it we have nothing.
Such a statement is meant both literally and figuratively, of course. But without light, we have dark and thus black frames. More to the point of this book though, without good light, without quality light, without the right light, we have only snapshots and tourist photos. We have cliché images. We have photographs that inevitably find their way into the trash.
When it comes to light, there is an overarching truth that must be learned, understood, and followed. This one very simple concept often times separates the pros from the amateurs. Understand this simple fact, and you will go far. It’s the most simple of all concepts in photography. Maybe this is the problem though. It’s SO simple, how could it be that important?
Are you ready for it?
Drum roll. . . .
Bad light still sucks even if you have a great subject.
I know. Not exactly a mental grenade rolled across the floor in your direction with that one.
I’m sure you are probably thinking, “wow, what a waste. . .”
But there is more than meets the eye here with this statement.
Let’s face it, the greatest subject in the world, when photographed in bad light is nothing more than a bad photograph. On the flip side of this, however, a bad subject in great light is a great photograph.
But here is the catch: what defines great light often changes with the subject.
Huh?
This is why I wrote a book on light.
I am going to make an assumption here that everyone reading this book has probably heard of the term “golden hour.” This is what most photographers would define as good light. The golden hour is almost universally accepted as being great light because it really is that good.
By reducing the intensity of highlights and shadows, while replacing the overpowering blue light that dominates throughout the day with soft warm colors, the “golden hour” has long been the "gold standard" for outdoor photographers.
However, it’s not great for all situations.
And just because you have that low golden sexy light to work with, it does not mean that the ANGLE in which it comes across your subject is ideal for the given situation or species you are photographing.
Yes, you did read this last part correctly . . . different angles of light for different species.
I firmly believe that more often than not, these more esoteric themes in wildlife photography are ignored or forgotten while in the field, simply because of how easy it is to get caught up in the moment. A grizzly bear standing atop a carcass guarding it against an approaching pack of wolves, an immense flock of northern gannets plummeting into the ocean by the thousands from one hundred and fifty feet in the air. . . if you have a heart beating in your chest, these are profound moments that will overwhelm your senses. These are the situations where it becomes easy to let the excitement of the moment overwhelm and you find yourself firing away with little regard to the quality and direction of the light. We have all been there.
Of course, we all have those images that sit in our portfolio of top-tier photographs that were little more than grab shots. Sometimes action is happening so fast, so unexpectedly, that you simply cannot plan for it. But as the saying goes, chance favors the prepared mind.
As photographers, as artists, it is our goal to intimately learn the quality, the pros, and the cons, of each and every type of light that we may encounter or create in the wild (by create, I am referring to the use of flash). It is only once you truly understand and have mastered the different types of light that you will find yourself in a whole new realm of wildlife photography.
Why? Because only by understanding all forms of light intimately, will working with it in the field become intuitive. And it is only once something as intangible as the quality of light becomes instantly recognizable, that the possibilities of the situation will begin to reveal themselves. Only then will your wildlife photography cease to be reactionary, and instead become a calculated artistic decision based upon a variety of unique options.
Understanding this stuff really is that important. As rudimentary as a discussion on light may seem, chances are if you feel as though you have reached a plateau with your photography, this subject is most likely what is holding you back.
With an intimate knowledge of how to exploit light to your benefit, you will become limited only by the depths of your own creativity.
As photographic artists, we are given only a small number of creative variables to work with: lens selection, depth of field, composition, and light. Given that the first three variables in this list are actually something that we can control, all too often these become the only ones that we concentrate on – giving only an obligatory nod to light.
Yet as we have already established, light is the essence of photography. This means that the most important facet of the photographic equation is given little to no attention (especially in wildlife photography) when in reality, it is the most important.
This appears to be a distinct problem of the digital photography age.
The genius of digital technology is that we have been given significant control in terms of histograms, instantaneous feedback on the LCD, and the extraordinary power of Photoshop and Lightroom. For this reason, all the emphasis is now placed on technical perfection simply because we can.
Moving into the digital age, we have become surgically precise with our technique but have lost the artistry.
For this reason, digital photography has ushered in an age of images without soul. Photographs cease to tell stories about our subjects and instead tell stories about the superiority of our equipment and post-processing skills.
This is why light is so important. Light is the one aspect of photography that the technology of our cameras cannot conquer. It’s the last frontier.
Make no mistake that as cameras continue to advance, so too does the dynamic range of light that our cameras are capable of recording detail in. However, all this does is simplify exposure in ways not possible before. Dynamic range does not teach you how to create explosive detail in mammals or how to maximize saturation and minimize reflectivity of birds feathers – only an understanding of light will do this for you.
Truth be told, your camera’s ability to help you work with creative lighting situations has not really changed since the 1970s, except for the invention of the histogram – and all that does is allow you to judge the accuracy of your exposure. What it does not do, is allow you to think and see and photograph in new and creative ways.
Our cameras today have more processing power than all of the technology at the fingertips of NASA when they sent the first man to the moon (true story). Yet for all the technological breakthroughs, for all of the mind-bending possibilities in terms of autofocus, low light capabilities, and resolution - the light is still the light.
Thus, if you want to be a photographer, even one with $100,000 of the latest and greatest equipment, you must learn light backward and forwards. You must become intimately familiar with the most subtle of nuances found in working with each and every type of light imaginable.
This is a lifelong quest.
Sound daunting? Sound like an exaggeration? I don’t think so. Fifty years from now I will still be a student of light.
FOR STARTERS
WE HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE, SO WE MIGHT AS WELL GET THE LIST OF “LIGHT” ON THE TABLE.
When you really start to think about light, that is to say: its quality, direction, hue, etc. . . there may be a seemingly infinite number of “types” that we can come up with. For the sake of this book, I am going to identify 4 primary types of light.
Some types such as frontal lighting and backlighting are the literal polar opposites of each other and are pretty straightforward. When we begin speaking of side lighting, however, things can get to be a little more complicated.
Not all types of light that we encounter are so easily defined. Chiaroscuro is one of these and I have opted to include it underside lighting since this is typically how we find this type of lighting scenario - though not always.
These four types of light are what I consider to be the most important for wildlife photography. If this was a book on lighting for landscape photography, the list would probably look slightly different. However, for those of us who pursue the challenge of finding and photographing wild animals in the natural world, this is the list that matters, the types of light that dramatically change the look, feel, and artistry of a photograph.
So, let’s just get down to business here shall we, and start by simply identifying these four different types of light that are so crucial for wildlife photography:
1. Frontal lighting
2. Directional / side lighting
3. Backlighting
4. Overcast lighting
Each of these different types of light has a purpose. Each one comes with its strengths and its weaknesses. Some are good for certain situations. Others are better for certain types of species and not so much for others. Light and the way that we use and control it is far more complex than most ever realize.
Let’s go!
WANT THE BOOK FOR FREE?
We are giving away Jared Lloyd’s book Mastering Light: The essence of wildlife photography as he begins work on a new and expanded edition.