Making Media, 4th Edition

Chapter 5Light

The Importance of Light

Media production is based on the reproduction of different forms of energy that travel in waves. Visual media starts with light energy. Our eyes see because waves of a certain form of electromagnetic energy called visible light reflect off of physical objects and into the cornea of the eye. Bright objects reflect most of the light and absorb only a little, whereas dark objects absorb most of the light energy and reflect only a little (Figure 5.1).

Light is then focused on the retina, which converts the light energy into electrical impulses that the brain reads as visual information. A camera in media production does much the same thing. The lens gathers the light and focuses it through the aperture onto ...