Understanding the direction of a light source

11 Sep

THIS BLOG IS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF LIGHT DIRECTION IN PHOTOGRAPHY

Have you ever considered how light can help photography? Each time you take a picture, you need light to focus your camera and capture an event or scene.

With technology, we can all use our phones to take an image at any moment. Do you ever have issues where the light looks impressive, but your foreground object or person is dark? If so, try adding your phone flash to the image, and the foreground object or person is lit, but you lose the background lighting! Well, all this has to do with the direction of the light in the photograph and the strength of each light source.

Within this blog, I will explain the light direction of this blog, rather than the intensity of the lighting.

Now to start, you need to determine where the shadows and highlighted areas fall. It’s impossible to move the sun if this is your primary light source, so you need to move the subject to direct where the shadows fall. This process can be completed with a mobile phone camera, point & shoot or an SLR.

There are three main directions for light positioning when photographing: Front, Side and back.

The image above shows the visual effect per lighting direction used.

Column 1 front lighting
Column 2 side lighting
Column 3 backlighting.

FRONT LIGHTING

Frontal lighting refers to light directly in front of your subject (the light source is behind you and the camera).

Front Photographic Lighting — **Pros:** Frontal lighting illuminates your subject’s face evenly, without shadows. It creates an aesthetic and balanced look, which is why this setup is popular for fashion and beauty shoots.
**Cons:** The lack of shadows will create a lack of depth and drama.

This type of light direction is suitable for either still life, product or portrait photography. One main lighting technique for portrait photography is butterfly lighting. This means the light source is at the front of the model, but at a top-facing angle toward the model’s face. When you use this lighting technique, shadows will always form, and this type of lighting causes shadows under the chin, nose, and around the cheeks.

This headshot picture shows the butterfly lighting technique. You can see a shadow under his nose and chin. I have used a silver reflector to bounce back light to smooth the shadows in this picture.

Some tips to consider:

Angle the light. (which is what is used in the butterfly light position)
Diffuse the light (I use soft boxes).
Monitor the light. (look out for squinty eyes if the light is too bright)
Reflect the light from other areas to soften the light

Side Lighting

Side lighting is light that falls on a subject at roughly ninety degrees to the camera. This means one side of a subject will be lit and the other in shadow.

Here are some key positives of this type of side lighting:

Side lighting is a landscape photographer’s friend. Light direction plays an intrinsic role in achieving the desired effect.
Display textures, dimensions, and shapes with side lighting
Exaggerate the depth and dimension
Side lighting acts as a raking light for food photography.
Adds a dramatic look & feel to the portraits
Side light affects black-and-white photographs
Side lighting is effective for wildlife close-up portraits

This lighting direction is the main type used for most types of photography, as natural light is either on the right or left-hand side of an object, person or scene. Portrait photography uses two types of side lighting techniques:

Loop lighting - sometimes lengthens the face. It’s flattering on most people is used for headshots, and can be set up on either side. A shadow appears on the opposite side of where the light is placed.
Split Lighting - Position your main light to the side of your model or object at a 90º angle, leaving the unlit side in shadow.

This image shows loop lighting (ABOVE).

I missed studio portrait lighting. This is called Rembrandt lighting, which has been influenced by the amazing Remebrant painter. This lighting technique shows a clear triangle space, like the painter painted his portraits.

To create this lighting technique, the light must be positioned to the side and angled down towards the model. This is so that the nose shadow forms part of the triangle.

Back lighting

Backlighting, defined in the simplest of ways, refers to the main source of light behind the photography subject. In other words, the main light (or one of the main lights) is positioned so that it faces the camera. The subject is then placed in the middle of the light and the camera. This creates a glow effect at the edges or back of the subject. Backlighting is normally created with artificial lights, although there are also techniques for effective backlighting by taking advantage of natural light.

When to Use & Not to Use Backlighting

Backlights are not effective in all situations. Additionally, not all subjects and scenes can be backlit. One of the things you need to remember is that a strong light source will produce greater backlight.

Backlighting Tips & Tricks:

Make sure you (as the photographer) are facing the sun, and your subject is positioned with his or her back to the sun.

Look for a place or location where the light source is hidden – partially or fully – once you look at your camera.
It is imperative to familiarize yourself with the spot meter before shooting backlit subjects.
Shoot and position your subject against a dark-coloured background.
To prevent wrong exposure, you need some light on your subject’s face. Before you position yourself and your camera, make sure there is nothing behind you that blocks whatever light comes into that area. Use your camera's manual mode.

After reading this blog, you might be interested in this page, where they have compared the three light directions - https://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/2627/front-light-vs-side-light-vs-back-light/

Further reading upon understanding lighting - https://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/types-photography-lighting/

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