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Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs
book

Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs

by Henry Carroll
March 2014
Beginner
128 pages
2h 1m
English
Laurence King
Content preview from Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs

Soft light

Soft light can be flat

For other examples:

Richard Misrach p. 49

A house burns in the distance while a fireman seems more concerned with choosing the right pumpkin than putting out the flames. In this photograph by Joel Sternfeld, what should be a dramatic scene instead has an intriguing sense of the everyday about it.

It’s the soft or ‘flat light’ of an overcast day that helps remove any trace of drama here. This type of light is very low in contrast. It casts little or no shadow and makes everything in an image seem flatter. What we’re left with here is a very matter-of-fact photograph, which draws us in through unanswered questions rather than instant gratification.

The blanket evenness of soft or flat light means that there are ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781780673356