001. SWEET LIGHT
002. CAMERA MOVEMENT
001. SWEET LIGHT
Whether you use digital or film, light is the foundation of every good photograph. Photographers are accustomed to thinking about light in terms of quantity.....”do I have enough light to correctly expose my subject”.....but the quality of light is equally important. If you aspire to take great photographs, you must be a student of light.
After 40 years in photography, I am still learning about how I can alter light and use light to my advantage.
When at all possible, I prefer to photograph using what I call “sweet light”. It’s the light that comes 30 minutes before and about 90 minutes after sunrise; or 90 minutes before and 30 minutes after sunset. It’s a beautiful, dramatic light that produces striking images (example). It’s Hollywood’s favorite light for good reason. The only problem with “sweet light” is that it lacks in quantity what is has in quality. Using “sweet light” requires the photographer to pay more attention to technique than is needed while shooting in the middle of the day. Low light photography requires slow shutter speeds for correct exposures. and if you don’t have a tripod handy, requires the photographer to use some tricks to insure sharp images at slow shutter speeds.
002. CAMERA MOVEMENT
Camera movement has ruined many otherwise great photos but camera movement can be minimized by a few simple techniques. First, brace your body against a tree, a fence post, a doorway or some otherwise solid object. Second, brace your elbows against the side of your body. Lastly, don’t push your shutter release button with your finger. Instead, use the self timer on your camera to release the shutter for you. Using these techniques, I’ve successfully exposed images at hand held shutter speeds as low as 1/2 second. Using these techniques allows you to take full advantage of “sweet light” in those unexpected moments when you don’t have a tripod along.