Chapter 6. Working with Light
Light is the essence of photography; without light there is no photograph. Not only is light necessary to make an exposure, but the impact that light has on your images is also a major factor. Light has many different qualities that come into play when making a photograph. Light can be soft and diffuse, or it can be hard and directional. Light can also have an impact on the color of your images; different light sources emit light at different temperatures, which changes the color-cast of the image.
The ability to control light is a crucial step toward being able to make images that look exactly how you want them to. In this chapter, I explain some of the different types of light and how to modify them to suit your needs.
Light, whether from a light bulb, the sun, or electronic flash, is required to make an exposure.
Lighting Essentials
There are a number of different ways that light can be manipulated using accessories to modify the light. The way the light strikes the subject has a big effect on how your images appear to the viewer. The angle of the light, the contrast it creates, and the amount of light all impact the image.
In this section I cover the two types of lighting used in photography as well as lighting direction. Keep in mind that these light types can also be used when shooting video as well as still photography.
Soft light
Soft light is very diffused ...
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