Lesson 7 Quiz

Light is what actually forms the picture, so it works like a painter's brush. Choosing its direction, softness and color shapes the subject the way brush strokes do, which is why controlling light matters as much as any setting.

At dawn and dusk the sun is low, so its light travels through much more atmosphere. Blue light scatters away and the light turns warm orange and red, then shifts to blue after the sun sets. At midday the color stays fairly steady and neutral.

With the light behind the subject, the camera exposes for the bright background and the side facing the camera falls into shadow. The subject then shows as a dark outline, a silhouette. Texture and surface detail need light falling on the front or side.

Side lighting skims across a surface at a low angle, so every small bump casts a tiny shadow next to a lit edge. That pattern of light and shadow makes texture such as bark, stone or skin stand out. Front lighting fills those shadows in and flattens texture.

Front lighting comes from behind the photographer and falls straight onto the subject. The shadows land behind the subject where the camera cannot see them, so shape and texture flatten out. Side light is what creates depth.

Hard light comes from a small or distant source, such as direct sun or a bare flash. Its rays travel in nearly one direction, so shadows have crisp, sharp edges. Soft, diffused or reflected light comes from a larger area and gives gradual shadow edges.

Diffusion materials scatter light rays so they strike the subject from many directions at once, softening shadows. Any translucent material between the source and subject, from professional softboxes to tracing paper, achieves this effect.

A reflective surface such as white paper, a white card or a reflector bounces some of the main light back into the shadow side of the subject. That lifts the shadows and shows detail without adding another lamp. Backlighting and hard light would deepen shadows, not fill them.

Fill flash adds a small burst of light to a subject in bright daylight. When the sun is behind the subject or high overhead, the face falls into shadow or goes dark against a bright background; the flash brightens the subject so it balances with the scene. It works in daylight, not only at night.

Frontal lighting flattens a subject by filling in shadows, making surfaces look two-dimensional. Light arriving at an angle rakes across surfaces, casting small shadows that reveal texture and give depth to three-dimensional forms.