What are the six elements of light used in photography?

The six basic elements of photography light are luminosity, light level, light quality, light type, light ratio and light color.

1, luminosity

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. Brightness 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.

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.

4, light

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

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.

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.

Extended data

Rules for the use of light

1, the direction of light

If you put the light source in the same direction as the camera, you will get a white circular plane with no stereoscopic effect. When the light source deviates from the main axis of the camera, the object becomes stereoscopic immediately. When the light source deviates from the main axis of the camera, five things will appear, including incident highlight, highlight, core, shadow and cast shadow.

The highlight is the bright part, the incident angle is the illumination angle of the light source, the core is the transition between the bright part and the dark part, the shadow is the dark part after the transition, and the projection shadow is the projection shadow. When lighting a lamp, these five things will definitely appear. What we can do is to control these five things and put them in a favorable position. When we make good use of these light and shadow, we can create a three-dimensional sense of the object.

2. The texture of light

The size of the light source determines the quality of light. The above example is a point light source, so you will get hard light. But when the light source area increases, such as using a soft box, you will get soft light. When soft light is used, the five elements mentioned above still exist, but the transition between bright and dark parts becomes smooth.

When the light source is larger, the light becomes softer, and this transition will become softer. Different situations need different light textures. As a photographer, you should choose the corresponding light texture according to the information you want to explain.

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