P#5 Q#3a: How Do You Find And Recognize Interesting Light For Your Photographs?

The use of light has a huge impact on your photography

Rob Sheppard: I think that's a really great set of questions because I think that those issues, about light, about interesting light and using light to gain some impact, and good light and interesting light, and so forth really do affect a picture.

The photograph ultimately is about light. That's what we're photographing.

Sometimes people simply look at light as illumination. In other words, "Is there light on my subject and is there enough light?" I think that to really see light, you have to go beyond that.

You have to look at light as something that is doing other things than simply making your image brighter or darker, or your subject brighter or darker. You have to say, "All right, what can light do?"

Now, there are lots of things and we could spend a lot of time talking about it.

One of the things I like to do is talk about dramatic light. You can't always get dramatic light, I understand that, but very often people can find dramatic light in a picture. That will help that boost the picture and give it a little bit extra.

What is dramatic light? Think about if you go to a play. If you go to a play, you know that somebody has created some light for that play that's dramatic. Why? So that you look at the scenes, that you can identify who the hero is if there's a hero, or who the lead actor is, important things that are going on, the action -- all that stuff, the light is doing that.

What you're looking for as a photographer is light that is making your subject the star.

There are lots of ways of doing that. One way is to look for light that is on your subject that is different than light that is on the rest of the scene.

Very often you can create an image that's like a spotlight so that that light really makes the subject pop. Sometimes it is light that literally is like a spotlight because it's a little bit of a beam of light coming through a set of buildings, and there's only this one beam that's hitting your subject, or you move your subject so it is in that.

Sometimes it is light that is hitting, let's say, the back of a subject so you get some backlight so that the rim light helps your subject separate from the background.

One of the real big problems that are very often in a photograph is having subjects that blend in with the background. Backlight will often help them pop.

In summary

Remember, the photograph is ultimately about light. There are plenty of ways to use light, but first the photographer has to see it. Light is not simply illumination -- it is an integral part of the whole.