DSLR Photography Forum

In music I still prefer the minor key, and in printing I like the light coming from the dark. I like pictures that surmount the darkness, and many of my photographs are that way
- W. Eugene Smith

There are two truths in photography: there is no image in the absence of light, and there is no great image in the absence of great light.

Photographers are sensitive to the qualities of light in a way that most people are not. Light has direction, colour, intensity and diffusion, not just "on" or "off". For this assignment, let's look at the images that make the best use of light, and look at the qualities of the light when we're taking photographs. It's also great to see the images that would have made better use of a different light, and be able to learn from them as well.

On a more personal note: In my camera club's judging, the images that score well are ones that make the best use of harmonious colour and great light. We worked with colour in assignment #35, and touched on the edges of light in assignment #34, so don't forget to look back at those two for ideas in this assignment. An image that I took for the Shadows assignment won a ribbon at my club's last clinic, so I think we're on to something that works here.

Taken at a local DJ event. Flash turned off and adjusted shutter speed to capture the light, but still keep the image sharp.

I really like that shot Jbman - nice capture of the mood and lighting.

JB, that's a great shot. I remember liking some earlier images of the same style, but I have to say that this one absolutely nails it. The slight motion blur to his arm adds a fantastic sense of the moment.

For the past couple of days, I've been blessed with perfect weather -- light scattered showers day and night. Naturally, I grabbed my camera and hit the streets.

The lighting in rain makes it worth a little discomfort. It's even softer than overcast, and has its own particular colour. The ground adds a little reflection, and saturation and colour is enhanced by the damp. Tonal range is nicely compressed, and best of all, there's so much less competition for good shooting locations!








At night, the qualities of light in the rain change dramatically. Since the light sources are hard, ground reflections are strongly defined and hard to control. Night photography is always a balance between tonal extremes, so this can be a positive or a negative depending on the subject. The colour of the individual light sources adds interest to the standard city scene.








And light can be added as needed. Flashes are balanced for daylight (which is the same as moonlight), which makes it much bluer than most artificial sources. As with all night photography, colour temperature is part of the palette.

If it's not raining, my second favourite weather for photography is fog and mist. (We're not even going to talk about snow...)











jbman and I aren't the only ones with cameras around here... or are we?

(all images taken with my trust weather-sealed E-1 and sealed zuiko 11-22 or 14-54 lenses. Flash images taken using an FL-36 on-camera and an FL-50 via an optical sync.)

Matt - I love these images. All are really well thought through. I particularly like the 2nd fog/mist shot.

I'm trailing behind, late as usual .. but I'm just a very frail, doddery old lady and it's a long way to swim from the UK to Oz, carrying my picture and trying to keep it dry.

Anyway I finally arrived so here's my contribution - shot in bright/harsh sunlight after being washed up on the UK side of the beach.




Polly

Playing with light and some weathered paper:

fun with odds and ends around the Christmas tree

And some more recent pictures. I took these pictures Easter Sunday while visiting friends that live up in the foothills. I love the natural path of light that fell between the trees.



And the golden early evening sunlight falling on my daughter.

This picture was taken the other day. My son was sitting on the couch and I looked over and he had this rainbow on his face. The light was hitting the fish tank and reflecting on Joel. He really likes this one

I also like it. Very interesting effect, indeed.