Light & White Balance

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IT’S ALL ABOUT LIGHT


Front light, side light, back light, low light, soft & harsh light—there are countless lighting considerations in every single photograph.

  • Position of light

  • Mood lighting and flattering shadows

  • Different lighting conditions and sources change the colors in the image

  • Manual mode to take more control over both natural and artificial light


Position of light

Light changes, not only from the source, but from you or your subject moving. When seeking variety in your images or needing more or less of a dynamic range, just move around.

  • A backlit subject can create a silhouette or beautiful glow depending on exposure and ISO

  • Front light can create an instantly dynamic image from natural contrast in light and shadows (bump up that exposure!)

  • Side light is another intense variation of contrast with a direct line of light meeting shadow. This can be a tricky one, but can create really unique imagery.

As you can see in the first image, the light is extremely filtered through a canopy of trees, casting orange tones through a very green scene during mid-day. Adjusting white balance using Kelvin keeps it from turning blue as if you were in shade, keeping the subjects warm with overall good and realistic color tones.

In the second image, you can see the subject is lit directly from bright late morning sun. I didn’t have much choice with light at this exact moment without ruining the moment, so I dropped by ISO and upped my exposure, keeping her from getting blown out.

PHOTO CHALLENGE | Explore variations of light inside and outside. See what limits you can push yourself here. Whether outside in shade or bright sunlight, using nothing but a window or even candlelight. Try adjusting your settings to capture a variety of images that have a somewhat balanced exposure. It doesn’t have to be perfect (that’s why we edit) but you need to have captured enough light in camera to not ruin the quality of photo in low light (low aperture), as well as not capturing too much light to overexpose and ruin the quality of photo (high aperture). Keep practicing!