PentaxLife » Photography » A Drop of Reflective Light..

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  • Started 1 year ago by benjikan
  • Latest reply from Mitchel109

  1. Most of us have taken images outdoors and indoors. We generally use flash indoors when the available light is such that it is a necessity. Unfortunately, in most cases that light source is on the camera or perched in the hot shoe. When you think about it though, the effect of that massive blast of light kills most of the nuances of the available light and the result is often quite flat or just plain uninteresting.

    The play of light is often very subtle. We see the dominant but pay less attention to subtle play of light as it bounces off of reflective objects to finally land on the most absorptive materials. Move one of those reflective sources and the whole landscape changes. We often look for that dominant light source and feature it as the nod or focal point of our images.

    What I am suggesting here is perhaps looking at the scene from a different perspective. Studying the nuances will open up different way of viewing your composition. When using available light you may start to play with multiple reflectors to change the ambiance of your image. Moving your reflected source just a few inches can change the final outcome significantly. This can even be more apparent when using flash sources and reflectors, mixing those with ambient light and adjusting them to your taste. Even a half of a stop will have an effect that can prove to be dramatic.

    What are your feeling about how you approach light and how do you think you can enhance your vocabulary?

    Posted: 2007-07-13 18:38:15 #
  2. Yes. This is one of the elements that makes difference between snapshot and photograph.

    Posted: 2007-07-14 08:03:46 #
  3. ahhh light. its what we see. and for some photographers, its what we control. and when we control it, we are stylizing what <i>you</i> see.

    so gaining control of light is the first step in this situation. (exclude available light photography from this post)

    take a step back. decide on the energy, style, feel, look...whatever....then experiment.
    or, if you have the experience with lights, just do the job.

    i have one sidelight.
    i can use it to cast defining shadows, help illuminate a larger scene, make some rimlighting, etc.

    i had a thought the other day. to describe it is cliche. its the 'painting with light' idea.

    when you learn how to use your light, you arent just blasting the frame with illumination.
    its like adding salt to food...brings out the flavor.

    i guess if im going to go the way of the cliche then ill need to start calling my flash my lightbrush...or something...

    Posted: 2007-07-17 04:26:31 #

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