It's all about light

Light:

Light is the most important element in photography.

Light reflected from surfaces - and the shadows it casts - is what makes us see objects, their shapes, brightness of colours and textures.

Direct light will make objects appear brighter and diffused light (like in shadow areas) will make objects appear darker.

When you have two elements in a photograph, of which one is in shadow and one is in bright light, you will find it difficult or impossible to expose for both of them correctly, even though the naked eye will adapt to see them both clearly.

Exposure:

Unfortunately, film or even digital cameras cannot make this adaptation and you will have to decide which element in a photograph is the most important and expose for that element, or if possible, move them both into the same light conditions.

On automatic exposure, your camera will take its exposure reading from the largest area, which may not give you the desired results.

Using your camera’s spot meter, if it has one, or centre weighted meter (consult your camera manual), may solve this problem. You can then take a reading off the most important part of the image. If you don’t have a spot meter, move close to the subject, take a reading and lock it. Then move back and take your photograph.

If the subject that you expose for is in the foreground and in shadow, the brighter background will go even brighter and lose detail.

If the subject is in bright light, the darker background will go even darker in the photograph and loose detail in the image, even if you can see the detail with the naked eye.

Fill-in Flash:

If you need detail in both the background and the foreground, you can solve the problem by using fill-in flash. This will only help to bring out detail in the foreground if the background is brighter than the foreground subject. Consult your camera’s manual to find out how to force a flash photograph in bright light. Every type of flash and camera works a bit differently.

(If you use an older film camera with separate flash, set it according to your exposure reading. In other words, if your reading on the background is f11 at 1/60^th of a second, your flash output should also be f11 or at least f8, but make sure the ISO (film speed) setting is the same on both the flash and the camera.)

This photograph (man with hat) was taken with the sun right above, rendering deep shadows on the man's face. Even though you may not see it, a flash was used to fill in light on the subject. Without the flash, there would have been hardly any detail in the face.

If you are shooting outdoors during the day and the foreground subject is a lot brighter than the background, there is not much you can do to bring out the detail in the background except adding light to the background. But that is the terrain of professional commercial photographers with special equipment. However, if your camera can take a separate flash and you have a long flash cable, you can have someone holding the flash to light up the background, or you can place large reflectors like white styrofoam board from where they can reflect sunlight onto the background - if it is not too large an area.

You can also use fill-in flash to get rid of ugly shadows, as discussed above, on the foreground subject.

Another difficult situation is where two subjects, for instance a person with a fair complexion and one with a dark complexion are photographed together, even in daylight. Here a fill-in flash can also solve the problem to an extent.

TIP:

When taking photographs at night, set your shutter speed to about 1/8^th of a second or lower, or use the night setting on your camera, and use a flash to freeze the action or the object. (Photo left). The slow shutter speed will capture some of the ambient light and render some depth to the picture instead of having a flat pitch black background.

Shadows and highlights:

Try to avoid taking a portrait (or any) photograph in the middle of the day, as it casts ugly shadows on the face. Except for some countries which mostly have soft, filtered light, early mornings and late afternoons are the best times of day for taking outdoor photographs when the sun is at an angle and not so bright. Or move your subject into diffused light or a shadow area.

When taking sport or action photographs, or at any important event where getting the action is more important than a perfectly lit photograph, it is best to take a general exposure reading on the main subject and let the rest "look after itself". But by training yourself to "see" the shadows and highlights in any situation, you will subconsciously start taking well-exposed photographs.

The photograph on the right was taken in the middle of the day with the sun shining right from above. Because he is looking up, the man's face is brightly lit, while the boy's features lose detail in the shadow cast over his face. Here a fill-in flash would have helped to highlight the boy's features.

Exercise:

After reading through the chapter on exposure controls, you can do the exercise at the bottom of that chapter.

In your daily comings and goings, constantly look at shadows, highlights, the intensity and angles from which light strikes objects and faces, and think how the camera will see it. It will be very different from how the naked eye sees it.

© Heléne Cilliers