2020 Photo Challenge #18

May’s theme / technique: It’s all about the Light


The six visual keys to a great photograph are:

    • Patterns
    • Texture
    • Lines
    • Light
    • Depth of field
    • Space


The qualities of light that affect a photograph are:

    1. brightness of light
      this is fairly easy to understand; it is the intensity of light.
    2. lighting contrasts
      is the difference between highlights and shadows in a scene
    3. specular light
      or hard light can be explained by thinking how sunlight strikes an object on a bright and clear day. One side will be lit up, the other in dark shadow.
    4. diffused light
      on the other hand when it is an overcast day the sun lights the clouds and they become the source of light. Light wraps itself around the subject and reflects light into the shadows. The light is soft or diffused.
    5. direction of light
      creating depth in photographs relies on knowing the source of the light. Front light comes from behind the camera and strikes the front of the scene, usually producing a 2-dimensional image. Use bold colours or a strong colour contrast to replace the lack of shadows. Sidelight is most apparent when the sun is low and shadows are long separating foreground from the background and giving a 3-dimensional look. Backlight comes from behind the subject and can create depth and shape. If a subject is transparent then backlighting is a way to make them glow.
    6. colour of light
      Sometimes you can actually see the colour of light. The so-called ‘magic hours‘ before sunrise or after sunset can produce coloured air which can be pink or orange or golden. Everything seems to change colour. There is also the question of white balance (WB). A setting on your camera that makes things that are supposed to be white really look white. This setting can be changed either in the camera, or if you shoot in RAW, in processing.

As I have previously said, I am not an expert in the technicalities of photography. I tend to use auto settings most of the time. I have altered the white balance occasionally when it has been cloudy or when photographing snow, to prevent that blueness you often get. But by all means experiment to see what difference the presets in your camera make.


Tip: Shadows are more dramatic when the sun is lower to the horizon

(Please click on an image to enlarge)

(1) Evening shadows on a row of terraced houses in Bridport, Dorset. I particularly like the elderly gentleman emerging from his house at that moment, into the shadows.

(2) I love looking for patterns created by shadows in strong sunlight.

(3) Occasionally it is not a plant itself that catches my eye, but the way the light falls on it casting shadows and patterns as in this delicate bamboo print.

(4) Or this shadow pattern in the Japanese Garden.

(5) And the shadow patterns of these common polypodium ferns growing on the limb of an ancient Magnolia tree appear to be growing from the base.

(6) The fingers of long shadows on the harbour beach in St Ives on a summer’s evening reach out for this tiny figure watching the tide come in.

(7) And finally old worn headstones in a churchyard among dappled sunlight and deep shadows. Again captured as the sun begins to set.



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