How to make good use of natural light in macro photography.

Sunshine is one of the most common things in life. Natural light is the term we use to refer to sunlight in photography. Contrary to artificial light, artificial light is usually produced by converting electricity into light with a light bulb.

Although natural light is always produced by the sun, it will change greatly due to the influence of many factors. The time of day, the season of the year, the weather and other conditions may affect the way sunlight reaches the earth and the way it spreads in photos.

As photographers, we need to understand its working principle and make full use of it. This paper will study the working principle of natural light and how to apply it to macro photography.

First, the quality of light.

Light quality is a common term used by photographers, which refers to the "hard" or "soft" of the light source.

This quality depends on how a given light source creates a transition between highlights and shadows.

Soft light can produce a smooth transition, while soft light can produce a clear transition between tone regions, making the contrast of the image lower or higher.

Basic principle: The bigger the light source, the softer the light.

This means that the direction of sunrise and sunset becomes softer and harder near noon due to the change of the distance between the sun and the earth (and the angle of entering the atmosphere) during the day.

Left: Images taken at dawn. Right: The image taken at noon.

Second, the lighting direction

The direction of light refers to the position of light relative to the object, which determines the width of the shadow it produces, thus giving it texture and shape.

Basic principle: the shadow falls on the other side of the light source.

Front lighting has a "flat" effect on most objects because it casts shadows from behind and eliminates the 3D effect.

Side lighting enhances the texture of an object because it creates side shadows to achieve size and volume.

Backlight will produce an outline effect, which distinguishes the subject from the background and gives the subject an advantage.

Third, color and contrast.

The light color, white balance and contrast under natural light mainly depend on two factors:

The time of day will affect the position of the sun. The closer the sun is to the horizon, the smaller the contrast and the warmer the light. The main reason for this phenomenon is that sunlight must pass through more atmosphere, thus reducing contrast, filtering out blue light and producing yellowish tone effect. The closer to noon, the higher the contrast and the smaller the color change, because the sun is farther from the horizon.

#2 The weather that affects the contrast and color of light is mainly due to the existence of clouds, which, as a huge diffuser, leads to the decrease of contrast and blue.

Fourth, diffuse reflection light.

Even if you can't control the sun, it doesn't mean you can't change it as needed.

Diffuse light can be achieved by passing a light beam through a translucent surface, resulting in a decrease in contrast and darkening of shadows.

Reflecting light is achieved by directing incident light onto a reflective surface, which leads to changes in the direction and intensity of light.

Verb (short for verb) tool

Basic tools such as reflector and diffuser are the basis of using natural light. Although there are many reflection tools available, if you don't want to spend money on these gadgets, you can only use what you may already have at home.

Aluminum foil is a good material for making self-made diffuser and reflector. Just cut them into the most suitable size and shape.

The light diffusing materials range from nylon to translucent paper, plastic or acrylic, which is a good example of macro shooting coins with direct natural light and parchment diffuser.

Left: The sun shines directly from the side. Right: Sunlight scatters from the side.

In this special case, the diffuser acts as a softener and reflector, producing high light, thus increasing the volume of the carved coin.

Sixth, add more light.

Even if sunlight is the only light source, you can easily simulate other light spots with a mirror. Look at this example of a pocket watch taken in natural light.

The light on the surface of the watch is very good, and the rest gradually turns black, making the surface smooth. Another light spot does help to obtain a suitable image volume. Therefore, we must add specular reflection on the other side of the main light source to better outline the object.

A small amount of reflection from the mirror on the left is enough to produce a suitable volume and give the image depth and atmosphere.

Various types of materials can be used to create such reflections. A mirror like the one used in this picture will produce a narrow and strong reflection. Although aluminum foil and other materials can produce extensive reflection, if aluminum foil is bent, it can spread in different directions.

White surfaces (such as cardboard) are also good reflective materials. Compared with aluminum foil, they produce softer reflection and lower contrast.

Seven, out of context

In photography, there are many factors that will affect the separation of objects from the background: focal length, aperture, distance between objects and the background, and light.

However, because macro photography is a specific type of shooting in a small range, all these factors become crucial, because every small change will lead to great differences in the final image. It is difficult to use a hand-held camera because of the large scene. When taking macro photography, you must use a tripod and a cable releaser.

There is no doubt that macro photography is most concerned with the depth of field. Usually, the focus area is very small, and the smallest change of object distance or aperture will lead to errors. This shallow depth of field can also be used as an advantage to separate the subject from the background.

These two pictures were taken at the same position with a macro lens of 100mm, and the difference here is the depth of field caused by different holes.

Left: f/32. Right: f/ 1 1.

The image on the left is full of information. In the image on the right, the subject is separated from the background, which makes it simpler and more attractive to the eyes.

Another way to separate the background is to use the position of the light source.

The image was shot with a simple monochrome background and backlight, which will lead to overexposure of the background to highlight the subject.

Eight, combine natural light and flash.

Sometimes natural light is not enough to generate the desired image, so it is not easy to mix natural light with the flash, because the flash will often drown the natural light, thus giving the image an artificial appearance.

However, mixing the right amount of these over-bright light sources can produce interesting results.

The image was shot with a ring flash, which creates specular highlights in water droplets and has a faster shutter speed, enabling the background to capture natural light.

This result can only be obtained by combining these two light sources. If only natural light is used, the dull water droplets will darken, and if only flash light is used, artificial light will be produced.

Nine, the combination of natural light and LED lights

In the past few years, LED lamps have become a valuable resource for photographers. They want to use continuous light, but they don't want to deal with incandescent lamps or fluorescent lamps and all related problems.

LEDs are very energy efficient because they convert 80% of energy into light, while incandescent lamps only convert 20%. They also don't generate much heat, and there are many colors to choose from.

This image is a combination of the natural morning light of the window and a simple and cheap white LED flashlight.

This picture uses a 2-second exposure light drawing technique. Moving the flashlight to the top will produce texture and blue, while the backlight scattered from the window will illuminate the food.