So this month, I'm going to talk about the heavily requested topic of 'locations and lighting'. These are the two most important things to consider before picking up your camera.
Fun fact actually; the word photography means 'drawing with light' and the word "Photo" is Greek, meaning light. (ahh yes, I can feel your curiosity growing haha)
Let's talk about locations! So as a photographer you do travel often and the scenery is always changing. It is very much a trial and error process with different environments you travel to. It can be hard to find the right location for what you want to photograph.
Every single photography teacher has told me "location, location, location!" (Amen!) Having an idea of where you want to go is always ideal. Most photographers, like wedding, event or even family photographers generally 'scout out' the location before the initial day of photography. A location is always experimental but you can always make it work, even if you don't have much clue as to what it might look like haha.
Photographing a beautiful sunrise or sunset varies every single day so getting the right view of the sun is super important. In saying that, you can always make something work depending on angles, lighting, settings and you always have the option of editing it later in photoshop haha again, a trial and error process is good to keep in mind. It's okay if it doesn't work out, learning on the job improves your workflow
If you're photographing outdoors, your background consistently changes, particularly if you're photographing people. There's a lot to take in whilst amongst nature; the scenery of a tree, a branch, flowers, sunlight and even wildlife could make or break the beauty of each shot. So it definitely helps to be able to see the location before a big day of photographing.
Personally, I've had many failed attempts whilst photographing outdoors due to lighting and location haha, but those attempts has made me think quickly on my toes for what other options might work well whilst in the wilderness. Australia has a lot of beautiful locations to photograph outdoors, it just really depends on where you'd like to go and planning out what you can utilize. The best locations always have those cute hidden spots that make the best memories.
Outdoor photoshoots, with or without a model, require a good 'time of day' also known as 'the golden hour'. An early morning or evening light would be perfecto!
Having the right amount of light is critical for each location, so you'd want that certain sunrise glow in the mornings and a cooling, warm scenery in the afternoon. (especially if you're photographing people) The midday sun can be annoying and difficult to photograph in as it gives you harsh lighting, unless you want that type of lighting, I wouldn't recommend photographing during the heat of the midday sunny time. Although, sometimes you don't have a choice in the fact of photographing during midday, in that case I'd recommend to find some shade with some trees, an umbrella or even a big reflector.
Lighting is definitely a key ingredient to photography, and there are a variety of different lighting techniques that go along with it. To name a few, there is broad lighting, split, direct, rembrandt, short and butterfly lighting. All of those are different lighting techniques that you can use whilst photographing people or subjects. We could be here all day if I was to explain each one but the two main ones worth explaining today would have to be high key and low key lighting.
They are very much self-explanatory, so high key lighting is having a lot of light on your subject with a small amount of contrasting shadows. Low key lighting is the opposite, having the subject matter with an abundant amount of shadowing/contrast and little amounts of light displayed in the image. I feel like if you can nail those two lighting techniques, you should definitely try out some of the others I've mentioned above.
I'm still continuously learning what works/what doesn't work while photographing a sunrise. There can be a lot of lighting difficulties because you're facing your lens directly at the sun which can cause a range of exposure issues but if you take a tripod with you and shoot multiple images, changing your shutter speed, keeping that same framed shot, you can merge the photos together in photoshop and bring out all of the blemishes, creating the perfect shot that your lens may not capture within one exposure.
The photo above was taken during a cold sunny morning, with just one exposure and a tripod. I personally like this photo and I hope to capture more sunrise/sunset moments this year
If you'd like to talk this more personally, for some location recommendations, or lighting techniques, send me an email in the 'booking' tab. I'd be happy to try and help out
Thankyou for reading, have a great day!
Ebony