Light is the most vital part of photography. Light is the very thing that allows a photo to be taken! How a photographer utilizes and manipulates light is what defines their style. Harsh, soft, minimalist, or maximalist, light is the make or break factor to any photographer's work. I personally love shooting in soft natural light. I think it looks so beautiful and enhances every subject! However, this kind of light isn't always available without a little help. In this post I'll explain how important light is, the best kind of lighting (in my opinion), and how to work with bad lighting!

The Inner Workings of a Camera

Light is the essential factor in photography mostly because of how cameras work. Let's start with a brief history lesson on cameras: (If you're looking for a more in-depth look at the history of cameras check out the link here.)

The first camera as we know it today was invented by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1816. Niépce's camera worked by exposing silver chloride-lined paper to light through a small hole. When the light hit the paper it effectively (though not literally) burned a reverse image of what the camera was facing onto the paper. As cameras have evolved they kept the same basic process of exposing something to light to receive an image. Today's digital cameras expose light to a sensor. Without light, the camera wouldn't be able to see or record any images!

Clearly, from a technical standpoint, light is an important part of photography. But how do different kinds of light affect an image?

Clouds: The Photographer's Best Friend

The idea of a cloudy day being a photographers best friend is a funny and almost backwards concept in the minds of the average person. Most of the people I talk to assume that more light equals a better pictures. But this is not necessarily true. Sometimes a bright and sunny day can even be the hardest to photograph! This is because light also means shadows. On a bright, sunny day with few clouds there are more harsh shadows that make even lighting on a subject difficult. That's why a slightly overcast day is the best light to shoot in! The layer of clouds acts as a natural soft box which evens the light out over a model so there's no dark shadows over their face or body.

What is a soft box you may ask?

It's a tool in studio photography that goes over a studio light to disperse light evenly over a subject. To really understand this let me explain the two main kinds of light in photography: hard and soft. Hard light is what I was saying before about the shadows. There's clearly defined darks and lights in the image. Soft light is when light is evenly spread over the subject. In these images the lights and shadows are much softer and blend together. A soft box helps to diffuse the hard light coming from a flash or strobe and spread it out to create soft light.

Clouds are like a natural soft box. They float between the sun and the subject to spread out shadows and create even lighting. This works best when the clouds are spread out like on an overcast day rather than a partly cloudy day where big fluffy clouds create defined shadows on the ground. That said, an overcast day that's cloudy to the point of being grey can be problematic in color. The ideal spot is cloudy enough to be soft but sunny enough to let the light through the clouds.

Obviously, photographers can't control the weather (one of the greatest regrets in my profession), but that doesn't mean we don't have tools to help on bad light days!

When the Sun Won't Cooperate

There are a variety of photography "toys" that can help create a soft light look in harsh sun conditions. Two of the popular ones are light reflectors and diffusers. A reflector is a round sheet used to bounce light from the sun onto a subject. This might sound counter productive considering too much light seems to be the problem. When using a reflector, the subject's back is usually to the sun which causes an even shadow over their face. A reflector can be used to lessen that shadow without messing with camera settings. Standard reflectors usually come in white but also have some variations like black (used to absorb light and create shadows), and gold (used to create warm colored light).

A diffuser is like a soft box but flat. It's like a translucent sheet that someone could hold or put on a stand between the sun and the subject. It serves the same purpose that clouds or soft boxes do! (For more info on diffusers and reflectors click here.) Of course there are many more tools than these but what if you don't have any on hand? My go to workarounds are placing the subject in a shadowy spot (like under a tree) or with their back to the sun. Both of these scenarios usually require me to change my camera settings to get the lighting just right. Shifting how the subject is facing the sun is typically my first go to.

But now you may be wondering, if fixing the light is this simple why don't all photographers use that method?

The main reason is that not every lighting situation is as simple as just moving the subject. Using these tools can also create a different look, and working without the tools can cause problems in editing. In college the metaphorical bane of our existence was when people said "just fix it in post." The goal should always be to get it right in camera, before editing. Otherwise, I'm just creating more work

for myself!

That said, there are ways to fix a bad exposure in post processing. You can alter just the blacks, whites, highlights, or shadows. There's also sliders for overall exposure and coloring, ways to edit just the background or the subject, and ways to copy parts of a properly exposed image to the poorly exposed one! Basically, if you can think of something to edit, there's a way to do it. Editing power in software like Lightroom and Photoshop is so cool and capable of fixing a lot of mistakes. But like I said before, fixing problematic lighting in post is Way more work than just getting it right in the first place. It should be a fail safe not the main plan.

The Bottom Line

Even after all I've said in this post about harsh light vs soft light, I would be remiss if I didn't allow that harsh light can look amazing! Some photographers work exclusively with harsh light and their work is gorgeous! In my work, I simply prefer how soft light looks. I think that few things can top the simple beauty of even lighting. It looks good on everyone and brings out each subject's natural beauty!

When you're choosing a photographer to work with, choose one based on what You think is beautiful. After all, you're the one who will look at those pictures the most! The photographer-client relationship should be team moving towards the same goal. We're both trying to make something beautiful that will last forever. Find a photographer you can "click with" both relationally and artistically then get creating!

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