Photography Lighting Basics and Principles

There are three basic principles of relevant to all photographers, these are. Size of Light source, Types of reflection, Family of angles

One of the most important things of a good light source is its size. This determines what type of shadows you are going to have and also affects the type of reflection

Small light sources will produce a hard edged shadow, large light sources will produce a soft edged shadow.

Take as an example the most important light source in our life, the SUN. In a nice bright day with no clouds the sun will act as a small light source. On the other hand when it is a cloudy day the clouds will act as diffuser and the light source will not arrive from a direct single point but will be diffused through the clouds thus becoming a large light source and therefore producing soft edged shadows.

Types of reflection

Diffuse reflection

Direct reflection

Polarized Direct reflection

Diffuse reflection will have the same brightness irillevant from the direction you are observing the object. The light from the sources is reflected equally in all direction.

Direct reflection is the mirror image of a light source. This means that the light ray hits the object and then reflects back at an angle of incidence equal to the angle of reflectance.

Family of angles

A person looking at an object sees each point of that object at a slightly different angle. If we sum up all these angles we would have a family of angles. The family of angles is very important thing to master as a photographer because it determines where we can place or where we cannot place our lights. Ideally before you master the technique you should draw down the lighting diagram of a particular set to see if all the lights are properly set up to avoid unwanted reflections, glare etc.

The author runs Portrait Studio Lighting.com a portrait photography related website which features lots of resources and tips of the art of portrait photography which includes also video tutorial for the absolute beginners.

Camera Review
Camera Review
Camera Store