The other day, I was watching my four cats fight over a tiny sliver of sunlight coming in thru the blinds to sun themselves and sleep. I thought to myself there's a lesson in photography. My cats have an the amazing ability to find the tiniest spot of sunlight and plant themselves in it. As a photographer, I need to be equally obsessed with light. After all photography is light. My cats don't care if it's sidelight, front light, or backlight, to them it's just a warm place to sleep. It could be harsh, diffuse or soft. If it's warm and sunny they find it.
A term photographers toss around a lot is 'bad light'. Guess what...it doesn't exist. We only have light. Now, certainly the light at dawn and sunset is much easier to work with than the harsh light of noon. Does that mean you can't take good pictures at noon? No, it means you have to manipulate the camera and settings to compensate for the harsh noon light, or even better yet exploit the harsh quality of the light. I'm obsessed with light no matter what time of day.
Hailey.
Equally important than the light can be the lack of light or the absence of it. Shadows give depth to an image. They let you see the contours and shape of a 3D object in a 2D picture.
'Isolated' Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA
Don't fight the light. Embrace it and seek it no matter the time of day.
I'd love to hear your comments below and don't forget to subscribe to the blog. Thanks!