![]() The shadows were dark and sharp, definitely unflattering to his Justin Bieber look-alike assistant. Small source of light, straight on – it was hard light. The first was on-camera flash directly at his subject. When I watched Joe McNally take the stage at Photoshop World, he took photos of his assistant using a small flash. In fact, we’ve seen demonstrations that prove this right before our eyes. ![]() If you’ve ever touched a hot bulb or stuck your finger in a fire, you know what I mean.Īs photographers, we often hear people say that soft light comes from a large light source. Since Incandescent Light comes from heated atoms, it’s warm. It doesn’t matter what causes the heat that affects the atoms. It happens when atoms heat up and release some of their thermal vibrations as electromagnetic energy. Sunlight, fires and regular light bulbs are all sources of Incandescent Light. There is Incandescent Light and Luminous Light, and both may occur naturally or artificially. If you thought the two types of light are Natural and Artificial, I’m afraid you’re wrong. X-rays and Radio Waves are governed by the same natural laws as Light. The labels that we give them are for our benefit, but otherwise have no meaning at all. Keep in mind that it’s ALL the same thing. Beyond that perception, electromagnetic energy continues as x-rays, gamma rays, etc. The electromagnetic energy we call Light happens to fall within the range of our visual perception. We can’t see radio waves because of they have a long wavelength and low energy that our eyes can’t detect. Polarization – the angle at which the light waves vibrate.Let’s break those down into simple terms: They all have the same properties – wavelength, amplitude, & polarization. All of these forms of energy behave in the same way. That means we can see light, but we can’t see other forms of electromagnetic radiation. Light is electromagnetic radiation at frequencies within the visual spectrum. So light does go in a straight line (until it reflects off something), but there’s plenty of light to go straight in all directions from the point of origin. Some waves go straight this way, some go straight that way, depending upon the source which originally emitted the photons. You may have heard before that light travels in a straight line, so how can it go in all directions? Remember, the basic unit is a photon. Light goes in all directions around its source, and it bounces (reflects) on objects which change its direction. However, water flows on a 2D scale, where electromagnetic radiation flows in three dimensions. Groups of photons interacting with each other behave like waves of water. At its smallest element, light is an individual unit called a photon. It’s just like radio waves, x-rays, infrared, gamma rays and every other type of energy on the electromagnetic spectrum. Light is nothing more than electromagnetic radiation. That’s what the nature of light means to photographers. If we can learn to control the light and bend it to our will, we can use light to communicate to our viewers. Describing the Nature of LightĪll of these concepts of lighting speak to our imagination. We do our best when we understand how to get the light we want for the image we want to make. The same light that is good for me may be bad for you. The truth is the light we use depends upon the scene we want to make. We often talk about good light or bad light. We can make our images seem magical or desperate by changing the type of light we use. When understood, photographers can use light to communicate senses, emotions and stories. As you’ll see, there are two types of light, but those labels aren’t the correct ones to use. Behold the glorious sun! We don’t need no stinkin’ artificial light here! Let’s get more granular than the Natural vs. Surely, there must be something magical about light that comes from nature. After all, light is the core of photography. Something I could use as a reference in future articles to build upon. Since light is essential, I wanted to create a post that provided a foundation on the subject. The nature of light is the most important aspect of photography, and yet it’s frequently one of the most misunderstood topics.
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