After a shoot with personal trainer, Victoria Wood, she made the comment:-
“who knew that lighting was such a big thing!”
And it go me thinking about this blog…
All we do as photographers is use a device which records light – it’s called a camera.
We use things called “lenses” to focus and manipulate the light – bringing things nearer, or making them look further away, getting everything sharp or blurring out things… it’s our main tool
However “lighting” is most important.
For landscapes we rely on sun light – or the lack of it – to create the mood. A dull day is infinitely harder to work with than a red skied sunset.
For portraits we can use sunlight, light from windows or ambient light in a building to good effect.
But we are still not in control of that – all we can do is move the person around to best effect.
The true creativity is in adding light to a scene for the camera to record. This takes vision, technical knowledge, skill and vast amounts of practice – hundreds of hours if not more.
Then we get our little box and its lens and record the lighting we have created.
My friend and fellow photography trainer, Jayce Clarke, tells his delegates:-
“Lighting first, lens second, camera body last”
Without good light, even the best camera and lens will create an uninteresting photograph.
Lighting is a constant creative challenge which can be added into any scene – landscapes, architecture, portraits, cars…. whatever genre you enjoy (except maybe wildlife) can include lighting.
So if you’re not getting the shots you want, maybe its time to invest in learning how to add light to your work!
