Outside The Box: Painting With Light

When was the last time you thought about light?  I know, I know—you’re a photographer, so of course you think about it every time you shoot.  You’re constantly checking exposure, fiddling with the aperture, adjusting the shutter speed, bracketing your shots.  Once your composition is determined, every subsequent decision you make centers around light.  When is the last time you didn’t think about light?  I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, but not in those dry, technical ways.  Most of us have been shooting long enough that we don’t even think about that.  We just do.  Every type of light has its own unique qualities.  Just as a master painter understands the language of color, and uses the entire spectrum to create his masterpieces, the wise photographer learns those qualities and works with them.

It occurred to me one day as I was driving about that I was limiting myself when it came to creating opportunities to shoot.  It had been a series of bright sunny days, and I found myself wishing that we’d get some overcast conditions so I could get out and shoot again.  Some point shortly after, I realized that was silly, and started lurking in shady places to shoot on sunny days.  I had subconsciously fallen into conventions I’d picked up along the way, and my creativity suffered for it.  Photography means  “painting with light.”  Maybe it wouldn’t hurt us light painters to take a fresh look at our magical palette.  This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive treatise on various types, temperatures and qualities of light, but rather a few observations I’ve made as I’ve discovered the joy of light all over again.

Over the years I’ve read many articles that give the impression, or state outright, that bright midday sun is to be avoided.  The middle of the day is recommended as a good time to edit and organize your photos, or do other business related chores.  Professional outdoor photographers speak of scheduling their shoots to catch the magical light that happens briefly at the crack of dawn.  (The pros have a second practical motivation for this: if they’re shooting at iconic locations, they need to beat the crowds.)  Most of the beautiful outdoor photos we admire are taken in the luxurious warm hues of sunrise or sunset.  These are just a few of the ways we can subconsciously absorb the notion to leave our cameras behind when the light is at it’s brightest.

So what about that bright, harsh midday sun?  One of my favorite applications is finding opportunities to blow out highlights to artistic effect.  Be careful here, as we’re flirting with breaking another photographic rule.  But in the right situation, this can provide stunning results.

Another thing that bright sunlight provides is the opportunity to capture fantastic shadows.  Brighter light means bolder and sharper definition of the shadows.  Keep your eyes open; shadows can appear in the most unexpected of places.  I like to walk in the woods on sunny days.  The sunlight filtering through the canopy always provides interesting and sometimes entertaining shadow play.

Sunny days can also present excellent backlighting situations.  You can go for the silhouette variety of backlight, or you can keep your eyes open for translucent surfaces through which to shoot.  In this example Yaz has done a magnificent job capturing a super hot highlight and amazing detail in the backlit leaf.  She has also caught a nice burst of flare, which adds to the high drama of the shot.  This is another rule I like to break.  Over the years I’ve heard lots of warnings not to let flare ruin your pictures.  Flare can ruin your pictures if you don’t know what you’re doing, or if you’re not paying attention.  But in the right situations it can add an extra dimension of wonder to your shot, as Yaz has ably demonstrated.

You can also keep your eyes open for any type of different or unusual surface that reflects the light in that magical glinty way.  Water, glass, and shiny metal are obvious candidates for this technique.  Dew drops on flowers and pond reflections are the first things that come to mind.  Never pass those up, but always be on the alert for more unusual combinations. For example, lately I’ve been noticing litter.  I’ve found wonderful condensation in discarded juice bottles, and colorful luminescence in broken glass.  Not one’s usual vision of outdoor photography, but hey, its outdoors!  The world is our canvas, and we paint with light.

I’ve always enjoyed shooting on overcast days, because cloud cover disperses light evenly and generally provides excellent opportunity to capture vibrant colors.  Unless the weather provides the dramatic clouds of a gathering or dispersing storm, overcast conditions are usually best suited to keeping the camera close to the ground; Too much dull gray sky will often render photographs lifeless and boring.

Light diffused by a cloud cover can provide a different kind of highlight.  This is especially true when the clouds bring a bit of rain into the mix.  Water always has a way of making colors pop.  It also reflects light, and can add some nice highlights to a scene that wouldn’t be there on a dry or sunny day.  Richard has utilized several of the techniques outlined above in this shot.  The rain water yields some nicely muted reflections, and brings out the gorgeous color and detail of the snail’s shell that couldn’t have been achieved under less damp conditions.

Even the best among us can fall into habits of shooting that by definition limit creativity.  Identify some of the conventional habits you’ve formed and bust yourself loose.  Go out and break all the rules; explore the full range of your magical palette of light.  You will be continually amazed and delighted by the diversity of possibilities with which nature will reward you as you expand your powers of observation.