Don't Be In The Dark About Light

Part of creating a digital photograph is being aware of how a scene is lit. Creating the same photograph under different lighting conditions evokes different emotional responses from the viewer. So, emotional responses are determined in part by the lighting.


Light has three basic characteristics - color, direction and quality. Photographers use these characteristics to set the mood, control the viewer's emotional response, reveal the subject's shape, texture, form, detail, and reveal the colors of the scene as either vibrant or subdued.

Color of light. The temperature of the light, measured in Kelvin degrees, determines the color of light. It can range from 10,000 degrees K before sunrise to as low as 3,200 degrees K at sunset. So, the time of day determines the color of the light. Starting with the time before sunrise, the color of the light will give your images a blue, cold feeling. Depending on what you are trying to convey, this can be desirable or undesirable.


As soon as the sun comes over the horizon and up to about 1-½ hours after sunrise, the scene will take on a yellow cast. This is a great time to take photos of landscapes and some types of portraits as the soft light bathes the scene in warmth.

With the sun low, the lighting is very directional thereby skin texture will be very defined - desirable if your subject is a rancher, fisherman or in another profession where the skin is weathered. Not desirable if you are shooting a young woman where you want to minimize the skin imperfections and show her soft silky skin.

As the sun continues to rise during the morning, the sunlight decreases in color temperature and becomes what we consider daylight color, usually around 5,000 degrees K. This is where the daylight white balance setting on digital cameras works the best. However, this is not the prime time to take photos because of the harsh shadows. Look for subjects in the shade or small subjects you can shade using a scrim - a small piece of thin white material stretched over a wood frame.

The next best time of day to shoot, after early morning, is about 1-½ hours before sunset to sunset. The color temperature goes down to about 3,200 degrees and your image takes on warm, yellow-orange cast, which is again good directional light.

Direction of light. Light has three basic directions - front, side and back.

Front lighting, light coming from behind the photographer, brings out the colors in a subject, but this type of lighting can create shadows behind the subject, thereby photographs take on a flat look.

Sidelighting, or crosslighting, is light coming from either side of a subject. Sidelighting is good for bringing out the detail in a subject as the light hits the high points and create shadows in the low points thereby creating texture. This is the type of lighting you see at sunrise and sunset and it is a great light for landscapes, weathered buildings and other subjects where you want to accent the texture and depth.

Backlighting is the sun is shining into the eyes of the photographer. This is good lighting to create silhouettes or a halo light around your subject. If you are shooting a portrait with backlighting, be sure to use fill-flash or bounce some light back into the subject's face using a reflector, otherwise it will be devoid of detail. If you are shooting a translucent subject, this is great light as it reveals the detail by shining through the subject.

Quality of light. Quality of light is defined as the hardness or softness of light. If you are shooting outdoors, it is generally controlled by the weather. Hard light is a bright, direct source of illumination, such as sidelighting, and is good for shooting landscapes or any situation where you want to emphasize texture. This lighting will create bright highlights and deeply defined shadows.


On the other hand, soft light or diffused light as it is sometimes called, is a very even non-directional light. This light results from an overcast day, under open shade or by using a piece of diffusing material between the light source and subject. This light is good for photographing portraits where you want to minimize facial flaws. Because light is a key element in photography, photographers must make conscious decisions when choosing where, when and in what light to shoot a subject.

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