Monday, January 31, 2011

Classification of photography lighting

Photography lighting can be classified by its direction with relation to the subject. There are four major classifications for light, (both natural and artificial).

Overhead: If you are looking for high contrast and harsh shadows on your photographs, then you should consider overhead photography lighting. In studio you can place the lights at the top and under the sun you can get overhead lighting in the noon when the sun is right over your head. If you still want to cut the shadows out, you might consider using flash "fill" technique.

Front: Almost 90% of camera users would use front lighting because this is the simplest and common photography lighting direction. You place the subject in front of the light and you click. Such photography lighting gives you flat and dimensionless photographs. Also, the photographs will lack depth.

Back: Ever wonder how silhouettes are formed? Well, keep the light source behind the subject and you will be able to click some excellent silhouettes! You may require additional fill or reflector to make the most of this type of photography lighting.

Side: This type of photography lighting is considered as the most creative one because you can use different angles of light and create a number of effects playing with shadows and highlights. It is complete fun photography lighting. This is good for bringing out textures, defining shapes.

Once you have understood the play of directions, you can play with the intensity of photography lighting to get more combinations for your photographs.

To continue Reading about: - Light box.

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