Four Weeks to Become a Better Photographer: Lesson One
Assistant Editor and novice shooter Kathleen Davis challenges herself to take her photography to the next level. What amateurs and pros alike can learn along with her.
Click here for previous posts on her course.
Techniques of Natural Light Photography taught by Jim Zuckerman
Lesson One: Learn to Use Dramatic Natural Light
Zuckerman discussed how angled light effects a photo, providing both more texture and diminishing the contrast between shadows and highlights. He gave various examples of landscapes and portraits shot both in harsh mid-day sun and during the golden hours around sunset and sunrise. To help us figure out how to accomplish what he was talking about, he also covered how to meter properly for various types of light.
Our assignment: Submit pairs of before and after photos that show any subject in both drab light and dramatic early morning/sunrise or late afternoon/sunset lighting.
After the jump, my photos with Zuckerman’s critiques.
(Above Photo: Water towers in Brooklyn, NY at sunset— one of my first attempts at the dramatic natural light assignment)
*Click on photos to enlarge*
Greenwood Transformer Mid Afternoon Greenwood Transformer Sunset
This photo of a power transformer at sunset is my favorite that I’ve taken so far. I was impressed with how something that was so ugly during the day, became almost magical when the sun went down.
Zuckerman noted that the second shot is approaching twilight more than sunset and that the muted glow from the sky mixing with the artificial light is what makes it look so artistic. He suggested that I train my lens on a more exciting subject and attached the below photo he took of the New York skyline several years ago. His shot is postcard-perfect, but I still like my attempt at ugly made beautiful.
New York skyline by Jim Zuckerman
Shawna in Harsh Sunlight Shawna in Diffused Sunlight
I shot my roommate Shawna in our backyard on a sunny afternoon and then again a few hours later as the sun was setting. Since we didn’t get any of the low angled light from the sunset, the result is a soft diffused light that is much more even than the one a few hours earlier. In the harsh sunlight shot, I thought the colors looked a bit richer, but other than that I didn’t think I got much right (there are really dark shadows and her skin is much less even).
According to Zuckerman though, I got more right than I thought. He said:
“In the sunny picture of Shawna, either you got lucky or you understand light. The way her nose shadow falls across the corner of her mouth forming a triangle of light on the cheek is called Rembrandt lighting because this is what the famous Renaissance artist used. Look closely at the portrait of his that I've attached and you can see how this is almost identical to what you have on Shawna's face.”
It looks like I got lucky.
Rembrandt Painting
Next Week’s Lesson: Moody Light: Fog, Mist, Rain and Deep Overcast
—Kathleen Davis
Assistant Editor
What about composition as a Lesson One?
Posted by: Marc W | February 20, 2009 at 11:58 AM