How to use light in photography

Since the birth of photography, it has been known as "painting with light". The use of light is directly related to the shooting effect-it often determines whether you take a commemorative photo or a wonderful work. For light applications, we first introduce the angle of light, that is, the direction from which light hits the subject. 1. Plain smooth light If most of the light illuminates the subject from the front, we call it smooth light. Think about the two big lights on the left and right in front of us when we take ID photos, that is typical smooth light. As you may have guessed, shooting with the flash on a digital camera is basically smooth lighting. 2. Sharp side light If the light shines from the side of the subject, it is called side light. Basically opposite to the characteristics of front light, side light puts great emphasis on the outline and surface texture of the subject because it leaves thick shadows on the concave and convex areas. Side light shooting metering can be subdivided into side light and side backlight. 1. Side light (oblique side light): Photographic lighting when the horizontal direction of the light projection is approximately 45 degrees to the camera lens. In photographic art creation, it is often used as the main shaping light. This kind of light illumination can cause light and dark changes in the subject. It shows the three-dimensional effect of the subject very well. The surface texture and contours can enrich the dark levels of the picture and play a good role in shaping the shape. Side forward light 2. Side backlight, also known as reverse side light and rear side light. The lighting direction when the light projection direction and the camera shooting direction are approximately 135 degrees horizontally. Most of the scenery illuminated by side backlighting is in shadow. The illuminated side of the scenery often has a bright outline, which can better express the outline form and three-dimensionality of the scenery. This kind of lighting can better express the atmospheric perspective effect in outdoor photography. When side backlighting is used for close-ups and close-ups of characters, auxiliary lighting is generally required to prevent the face from being too dark, but the brightness of the auxiliary lighting must be controlled so that it does not affect the natural lighting effect of the side backlighting.