Light #1 - Introduction.

[RichardTaylor]

Light #1

This is in response to questions on the forums, and will mostly cover available light, be it outdoors or indoors.

We will be looking at:

(1) How much light do we have to shoot with?
This, and camera, will determine the kind of picture we can take.

(#1) This was before dawn in summer. Even though I didn't have a tripod (I was using a mono pod) there was still enough light to capture a decent image.


Camera Canon EOS 40D + Canon 100-400mm F4.5-F5.6 IS L Lens.
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 100 mm
ISO Speed 3200
Exposure Program: Manual

(2) How harsh is it?
What contrasts, in light levels, do we have in the scene?
May determine how we will capture the scene or how we can reduce the contrast if it is excessive.

(#2) Here it was raining which makes it very easy to capture a subject from any direction as you don't have to worry much about shadows, reflections from windshields etc. However notice the lack of contrast.


Camera Canon EOS 40D + Canon 100-400mm F4.5-F5.6 IS L Lens.
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 320
Exposure Program: Manual

(3)
What direction is the light coming from?
It may determine our shooting position and emphasise textures and details and/or it
can add lots of atmosphere.

(#3) Very late in the afternoon and almost shooting into the sun.
Notice how the burning rubber (its not dust) adds a lot of "atmosphere"

Exif data is not available for this.

(4) What colour is the light?
Is it the warmth of a sunset or a cool shade. Mostly controlled by the time of day or if your subject is in direct light.

(#4) Taken from near the same spot as pic #2. Late afternoon with the sun off to my left.
Notice the contrast in the colours between the directly lit area and the shade.


Camera Canon EOS 40D + Canon 100-400mm F4.5-F5.6 IS L Lens.
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 500
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Exposure Program Shutter speed priority AE

Some references.

(1) For a good "hands on" introduction.
Rick Sammon's - "Exploring the light"
ISBN-13: 978-0393331233


Larger images are on my Fikr photo stream.
More to come, and I do shoot more than motor sport.
Thanks for looking, and feel free to ask questions or comment.

Richard

[ChrisAdval]

thanks for that understanding how natural and ambient light works in photography isn't an easy task...

[RichardTaylor]

The colour of light.


The colour of light, even natural light, may change the appearance of the subject a lot. Think of a cool moonlit evening or the heat of a summer sunset or the cool of a mountain stream.

Some examples.

(1) The warmth of an afternoon sun. However it really wasn't that late in the afternoon. This was a vacation (tour) snapshot where there was little control of the time to shoot. The photograph has been warmed up when post processing the RAW file. You may be able to achieve a similar results when shooting by changing the white balance, how the camera interprets colour in your camera settings.



Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 26 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(2) This is very late in the afternoon with most of the light the warm afterglow of the setting sun.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV


(3) Cool - Mostly clear sky, just a few puffy clouds around, and deep in a forest with just filtered skylight coming though.


Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 1
Aperture f/13.0
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(4) Cool - Taken 45 minutes befor sunrise. Most of the light is skylight, stars can be seen on the larger pic on my Flickr stream . The warm yellow light is from flood lights on a nearby beach.


Camera Canon PowerShot G11
Exposure 15
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 6.1 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

While the colour of light can be used artistically ther may be times where the subject colour should not be influence by the light. Some examples would be product and people photography. There are at least two methods of doing this; set the white balance when shooting and/or correct it when post processing (shooting RAW helps a lot).

This tutorial, on DPS may be of interest.

White Balance (1) Intro

-----------------

Part 2 of this series (Light #2 - How much? Enough #1. ) can be found here:

Light #2 - How much? Enough #1.

Part 3 - Indoors (1)
Light #3 - Indoors (1)

Part #4 - Low light outdoors (1)

Light #4 - Low light outdoors #1


Part #5 - High contrast light.
Light #5 - High contrast


#6 Too much light.
Light #6 - Too much light.

#7 Light direction.
Lifgt #7 - Directiuon

#8 Weather
Light #8 - Weather

#9 Time of day.
Light #9 - What time of day to shoot?


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Larger versions of the pics are on my Flickr stream
Thanks for looking, and feel free to ask questions or comment.

Richard

[ccting]

Wow, very nice images..
Let me guess and correct me if i am mistaken:

#1: The starlight from the car lights. I only manage to capture "starlights" for long exposure. Is it something to do with lens?

#2: Wet roads / white snow works as great reflector that lit the shadows, thus reducing the light contrast..

#3: The best angle to capture dust is side lighting. I can notice the light shadow cast by the car. Do you plan for the angle?

#4, let me guess why you set the exposure bias to -2/3.
my Guess: The "lighting" is not consistent. To avoid the interested portion of image overexposed, -2/3 exposure bias has been set. I guess u are using Matrix metering? Another reason why you set to -2/3 exposure is to increase the shutter speed to either eliminate camera shake / freeze motion...
I wander how do you manage to change to setup for time-critical shot like this.. ????

Your 2nd post: about 2nd characteristic of light : color
1) Color can be artistic..it can represent the temperature of the moment.
3) Green harmony, higher brightness drive eyes towards to center (directional) - great composition. The great detail surprises me. The intentional slow shutter speed demonstrates movement.
4) unbalance of color??? I don't know.. what i have learned is i will use a color "scale" to measure the balance ...

Summary that I learned from this post:
1) luminance matters exposure for sharpness ?
2) light contrast & nature approach to reduce distractive high contrast shadow
3) Angles of light to see particles. Side lighting is the best as it creates dimension and not flat to camera. Thus finding shooting location must be planned.
4) Color is one of the three elements used to describe light source.
5) Controlling how long ambient lights received by sensor determine the motion characteristics of subject.

well, i am crazy.

@Chris: Photography is easy for those who never learn photography; hard to those who is trying to master photography. For the former, photography is just a button click ;D

[RichardTaylor]

(1) The light and the lens (aperture). Notice not all the cars have "starlights".

(3) When shooting motor sport, especially from the spectator side of the fence, you have limited control over where you can shoot from, and no control over the subjects.
Depending on the weather you tend to follow the light and where the action is likely to occur.

For example this location is a terrible place to shoot for most of the day when the weather is fine & sunny as you are shooting into the light. However when it is raining the light is so diffused that you can shoot in any direction without any real problems.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/14.0
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 640
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV

(4) I never use negative exposure compensation to control shutter speed. It is mostly used to stop highlights blowing out.
For the first couple of laps of a race you have your camera set up to capture action.
Usually 1/320-1/400 is enough for that and still show blurred wheels.
After that you may lower your shutter speed for panning shots (around 1/125) depending on where you are standing in relation to the track but when you have finished the panning shots it is back to the higher shutter speeds.
You always track vehicles close together and if there is only one in your field of view you track that one.