Why Lighting Is So Important To Photography

Why Lighting Is So Important To Photography

By William Lulow

Well, it seems quite obvious, since photography is defined as “light pictures,” that without light, there would be no photographs. And, of course, we all need light to live. Plants need it to grow and evolution has made it something that we can’t do without. You can take images with X-rays and infrared wavelengths, but it’s not quite the same as actually seeing an image made to represent what your eye has seen.

So light is really the most important, determining factor in the success of an image, that is, whether it conveys a photographer’s message or just makes you react to a scene emotionally. It is the way light looks at a specific time of day, from a particular angle or the way it makes someone or something look, that creates a complete photograph. But, when it comes to picture making, it’s really how you USE light that makes all the difference. And that includes all types of light, from the natural to the artificial.

I have detailed in other blog pieces, how light can create images, but in order to get a good idea of how important it is, you need to study it a bit. The best way to do this is to examine the various types of artificial lighting that photographers use to make their images. The more you are aware of how artificial light is applied and the feelings it evokes in viewers, the better you will be at recognizing natural light in all its various occurrences. The study of light, therefore is necessary if you really intend to explore photography’s creative abilities to make images.

There are roughly ten types of light that can be recognized readily by how it falls on a subject. They are:

1. Hollywood light
2. Side light
3. Edge light
4. Silhouette light
5. Halo light
6. Hair light
7. Monster light
8. Fill-in light (ratio lighting)
9. Soft light
10. Point Source light
11. Diffused light

We explored all of these in my classes at New York’s New School For Social Research back in the 1980s and 1990s. Suffice it to say that once you really examine light, you will never again look at an image or anything else in the real world, without noticing the lighting.

One thing I have always noticed myself is how expert the Great Dutch Masters were at noticing light and rendering the clarity of it in their paintings. They didn’t have photography back then, but they did have the Camera Obscura which I am sure aided them in “seeing” light and its effects. They then were able to duplicate them with oil paints. Go to a museum that has some in their collection and just notice how white the white paint is in a Rembrandt or a Vermeer. They were able to duplicate the light they saw with their paints. It was nothing less than pure genius!

So being aware of the types of lightings there are will go a long way to making you more educated about the kinds of images you want to make. You will catch yourself looking for lightings whenever you are outside (or indoors, for that matter). Studying how to make these lighting arrangements even with a simple, one light setup will help you understand the whole photographic process much better.

Here is the subject actually looking up at the light source.

Here is a “Hollywood Light” found on the Statue of Liberty.

Here is a Back Light or Silhouette Light, found on a beach.

Because light is all around us, you become a better photographer the more you notice it. But you have to know what you are looking at to make the images work.