What are the basic elements of photographic light?

Six basic elements of photographic light

The six basic elements of photography light are luminosity, light level, light quality, light type, light ratio and light color. Mastering these six factors is the basic skill of photographic lighting.

1. brightness

Brightness is the general name of the luminous intensity of light source, the illuminance of light on the surface of object and the brightness of the surface of object (the luminous intensity and irradiation distance of light source affect the illuminance; Light intensity and surface color affect brightness). In photography, luminosity is directly related to exposure. In terms of composition, exposure is closely related to the reproduction effect of hue or color. Rich hue and accurate color reproduction are based on accurate exposure. Conscious overexposure and underexposure should also be based on accurate exposure. Therefore, mastering the basic skills of luminosity and accurate exposure can actively control the tone, color and contrast effect of the subject.

2. Optical level

Light level refers to the position of the light source relative to the object being photographed, that is, the direction and angle of the light. The same object has different light and shade modeling effects under different light levels. The light levels in photography can be ever-changing, but they can be summarized into seven types: front light, front light, side light, back light, back light, top light and foot light.

(1) Front light: The light comes from the front of the subject and is called "flat light, flat light and advanced flat light" according to different angles. The subject illuminated by frontal light makes people feel bright, but the stereoscopic impression is poor, and there is no change in light and shade. When shooting in front light, exposure latitude is larger. In lighting portraits, the front light is often used as the auxiliary light.

(2) Front side lamp: refers to the 45-degree front side lamp. This is the most commonly used light level, and the scenery illuminated by the front light is full of vitality and three-dimensional sense. In light portraits, the front light is often the main light, which is generally located on the other side of the face. The right light is the left face and the left light is the right face.

(3) Side light: Also known as 90-degree side light, under the side light, the subject has a yin-yang effect, which is a dramatic main light position in portrait photography and can highlight the strong contrast between light and dark.

(4) Backlight: The light, also called "side backlight", comes from the back of the subject, which can make one side of the subject produce outline lines and separate the subject from the background, thus enhancing the three-dimensional sense and space sense of the picture.

(5) Backlight: Also called "Backlight", the light comes from the right rear of the subject. Backlight can make the subject produce vivid outline lines and separate the subject from the background, thus giving the picture a three-dimensional sense and a sense of space. It is very important to make the picture have a dark background, otherwise the outline will not be eye-catching. Backlighting is also beneficial to the expression of animal groups in modeling.

(6) Top light: The light comes from directly above the subject. For example, the sunlight at noon and the dome light will make the face of the person being photographed have unpleasant heavy shadows, so it is usually forbidden to shoot portraits.

(7) Footlight: The light comes from below the subject, which is often used as a lighting direction to demonize people. There is no light level of footlights in natural light.

3. Light quality

Light quality refers to the gathering, scattering, softness and hardness of light. Spotlights are characterized by coming from obvious directions and producing clear and heavy shadows; Astigmatism is characterized by coming from several directions, resulting in soft and unclear shadows. The hardness of light depends on several factors, and a narrow beam is usually harder than a wide beam. For example, the sun on a sunny day illuminates the subject from an angle with obvious directionality, which is direct hard light; When there is fog in the sky, the sun will spread in a large range and emit light from many angles. This is a kind of soft light. For example, the direct light of electronic flash is a kind of hard light, and the reflected light is a kind of hard light. Soft light of plants. Hard light can make the subject have a strong contrast between light and shade, which is helpful to the expression of texture; Soft light is good at revealing the shape, shape and color of objects, but not good at expressing texture and details. Strong light is often more vivid than soft light.

4. Lightweight

Light type refers to the role of all kinds of light in shooting.

(1) Main light: Also known as "shaping light", it refers to the main lighting light used to express scenery, texture and image.

(2) Auxiliary light: also called "supplementary light", it is used to improve the brightness of the shadow produced by the main light, reveal the details of the shadow and reduce the contrast of the image.

(3) Decorative lights: also known as "decorative lights", refer to the light that is locally strengthened and shaped on the photographed scene, such as cold light, eye light, flare light of craft jewelry, etc.

(4) Side light: refers to the light that outlines the object being photographed. Backlight and side backlight are usually used as side light.

(5) Background light: Light shines on the background behind the subject to highlight the subject or beautify the picture.

(6) Simulated light: also called "effect light", it is used to simulate the lighting effect of a certain venue and add auxiliary light.

5. Light ratio

The light ratio refers to the difference in light reception between the bright part and the dark part of the subject, usually referring to the difference between the main light and the auxiliary light. The greater the light ratio, the greater the contrast, which is beneficial to show the "hard" effect; The light ratio is small and the contrast is small, which is beneficial to show the "soft" effect. For example, the elderly often use a large light ratio, and children often use a small light ratio. There are three main ways to adjust the light ratio: adjusting the intensity of main and auxiliary light; Adjust the distance between the main and auxiliary lights and the subject; Fill the dark part with reflector and flash.

6. light color

Light color refers to "the color of light" or "the component of colored light". The color of light is usually called "color temperature". Light and color are very important in expression and technology. The color of light determines the cold and warm feeling of light, which can cause many emotional associations. The significance of light color to composition is mainly manifested in color photography.