Lifgt #7 - Directiuon

[RichardTaylor]

Light 7.

Direction - Intro.

A question was asked on the forums and this tutorial is a result of that question.
"How do you expose for sky and subject?"

How do you expose for sky and subject?

The direction of the light can have a huge impact on the appearance of the subject.

Some examples - all of the same subject.

(1) Diffused light. The weather was overcast making it very easy to shoot in any direction. Notice there are no shadows at all and very little in the way of textures.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 12 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(2) From (almost) behind me. No real exposure problems, and very easy to get the subject & sky correctly exposed. However some pictures can appear to be a bit flat. Bright sunny day with some clouds around. Pic has had fair bit of post processing.



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/9.0
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV

(3) Backlight for the people and basically front lighting for the buildings.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/10
Focal Length 150 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Flash did not fire

(4) Here it is a bit of front and side artificial lighting, to some modelling to the subject.



Camera Canon PowerShot G11
Exposure 8
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 21.5 mm
ISO Speed 80
Exposure Bias 0 EV

More to come

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Other parts of this series

#1 Introduction
Light #1 - Introduction.

#2 How much? Enough #1.
Light #2 - How much? Enough #1.

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

#4 Low light outdoors #1
Light #4 - Low light outdoors #1

#5 High contrast.
Light #5 - High contrast

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

#8 Weather
Light #8 - Weather


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

Richard

[Tito87]

Thanks for taking the time to enlighten us.

[RichardTaylor]

Thanks......

Light 7b.

Diffused light

Some notes:

(1) Again the weather was overcast making it very easy to shoot in any direction.
However skies can be a problem is that they may be featureless. Here the amount of sky has been minimised by selection of the point of view and contrast enhanced in the sky by post procesing.



Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(2) Sometimes nature doesn't cooperate and the light may be diffused when you don't want it to be. In that case it may be possible to take a different style of photograph. This was a coastal dawn sunrise shoot. Howver the sunrise did not eventuate due to clouds. This was an alternative. Notice there is not much sky included. This photo also has a fair bit of post processing to bring out the textures.



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture f/22.0
Focal Length 65 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(3) Sometimes it is possible to difuse the light by just changing your point of view and shooting through another subject, as in these two examples taken through foliage of flowers very close to the lens. Afternoon sunlight from above & behind the subject.



Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 154 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(4) Around mid day on a sunny day.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

More to come (sidellight).

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

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

Richard

[RichardTaylor]

Light 7c.

Side light.

Sidelight (can be top or bottom side) will emphasize shape and textures and you may have some great shadows to work with.

(1) Early morning, just after dawn, with the sun more or less off to my left.



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/13.0
Focal Length 100 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(2) Late afternoon with the low sun of to my right. Notice the bark texture and the shadow caused by the peeling bark.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/18
Focal Length 300 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

(3) Artificial lighting above of this vertical architectural feature. Notice how it has brought out the textures of the concrete "rope"



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(4) Indoors, in daytime,with most of the light coming from a window to my left. There is a little bit coming in from the window behind me and a very small amount being reflected on my left. A black background was used.
Notice how the light has nicely modelled the capsicum/bell pepper.



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 1
Aperture f/22.0
Focal Length 105 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

More to come (backlight)

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

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

Richard

[RichardTaylor]

Light 7d.

Back light.

Back light is basically when most of the lighting is behind the subject. Exposure can be tricky, unless you want a silhouette, however the results can be spectacular.
This tutorial, in the Tutorial section of this site may help.

Tip for Great Backlighting

Using lens hoods and the removal of any unnecessary filters will help reduce flare.

Some examples:

(1) Shooting almost straight into the sun, exposure set, by basically exposing
for the sky, to give a silhouette. I did have a skylight "protection" filter on the
camera (I shouldn't have) and I was using a lens hood. Notice the flare.



Camera Canon EOS 5D
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/22.0
Focal Length 28 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias +1/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(2) Bright sunny day with the sun high and behind the cactcus. Having a dark background helps with the shape and edge lighting.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 320 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

(3) Shooting almost straight in the direction of the sun around midday on a clear sunny day. Again a dark background helps.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 400 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias -1 EV

(4) Just after sunrise, with the sun more or less off to my right front but behind the waves.



Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 260 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

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

Other parts of this series

#1 Introduction
Light #1 - Introduction.

#2 How much? Enough #1.
Light #2 - How much? Enough #1.

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

#4 Low light outdoors #1
Light #4 - Low light outdoors #1

#5 High contrast.
Light #5 - High contrast

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

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

More to come.

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

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

Richard

[ccting]

OMG, so beautiful captured..

[RichardTaylor]

Thanks. I don't normally show any poor photographs, now days..