A course on the use of light in digital photography

What are the lighting skills of digital photography? Photos are artistic products of light and shadow, and it is not an exaggeration to call light the soul of photography. To take good photos, you have to master the key element of light. Below, I have compiled a video tutorial of digital photography lighting skills, hoping to help you!

1, the properties of light

(1) direct light

On sunny days, the sun shines directly on the subject without any obstruction, and the light-receiving surface will produce bright shadows, while the light-receiving surface will form obvious shadows. This light is called. Direct light? . Are you online? Direct light? Next, there will be a very obvious contrast between the light-receiving surface and the non-light-receiving surface, which is easy to produce a three-dimensional sense.

When the sun is blocked by thin clouds, the sunlight will still diffuse through the white clouds, and the resulting illumination contrast will be reduced, which is very suitable for portrait photography.

(2) Scattered light

On cloudy days, the sun is blocked by clouds, so it is impossible to shoot the subject directly. It can only shine on the subject through the intermediate medium or through reflection, and the light will be scattered. This light is called. Scattered light? . Because the light receiving surface and shadow surface formed by scattered light are not obvious, the contrast between light and shade is weak, and the change of light and shadow is soft, so the effect is flat and soft.

? Direct light? Will produce a strong contrast of light, resulting in strong shadows, less tonal changes, and the lines and tones of the photographed image will be hard. And then what? Scattered light? It will produce light with weak contrast, so the shadow is lighter and the tone changes are richer, which will produce softer and softer image lines and tones. So photographers should choose the right light according to different situations.

2. Different directions of light projection

Shooting the same scene, using light projected in different directions will produce different effects.

(1) Guang Shun

The light emitted from the back of the camera and directed towards the subject is called. Guang Shun? . ? Guang Shun? The characteristics of lighting are: most objects are directly illuminated, the shadow area is not large, and the color of objects is relatively clear. The contrast between light and shade formed by this kind of light is weak, and the three-dimensional sense of an object can not be reflected mainly by illumination light, but by its own ups and downs. So the three-dimensional sense is weak.

(2) Front side lamp

The light from the left or right rear of the camera to the subject is called? Front side light? . Most objects that receive light will receive light, resulting in a brighter surface, so the color tone is brighter, and the area of the object that is not exposed to light will not be too large, but it can already show the light and dark distribution and three-dimensional shape of the object. This kind of light can not only keep the bright hue, but also show the three-dimensional form of the main body.

(3) Side lights

The light emitted from the left or right side of the camera is called. Side light? . It will make. Half of the subject receives light and the other half is in the shadow, which is beneficial to show the ups and downs of the subject.

Because? Side light? Lighting increases the shadow area of the object, so the color of the picture is not bright or dark, and the light and shade are mixed. Guang Shun? And then what? Front side light? Too bright, but not too gloomy. Three-dimensional form will be better.

(4) Side backlight

The light from the left or right front of the camera is called. Side backlight? . It makes the object produce a small part of the light receiving surface and most of the shadow surface, so the color tone will be darker. Will this lighting method produce a contrast to the object? Guang Shun? Better, but still weak.

(5) Backlight

? Backlight? It is the light from the back of the subject and the front of the camera. Most objects are in the shadows. Because the light is weak, the three-dimensional sense is weak, and the tone is gloomy. But? Backlight? It can be used to sketch the silhouette and outline of an object, and it can also highlight the texture and shape of the object and clearly show the lines of the object. Use it on sunny days? Backlight? There will be a strong contrast.

(6) dome light

The light comes from above the subject? Top light? . The sunshine at noon is a good example. ? Top light? It often casts a strong shadow on the theme. If it is used in portrait photography, it will form a dark shadow under the nose, eyes and jaw of the face.

(7) Bottom lamp

? Bottom light? The light source is located below the object. This kind of light is rare in daily life experience, so it has weird and dramatic effects and is rarely used in general photography.

3. Contrast of light

? Contrast? Refers to the subject The smartest? With what? The darkest? The tonal relationship of. So-called? Strong contrast? It means that there is a great difference between the brightest part and the darkest part of the light on the subject, and the change from the brightest part to the darkest part is very strong and the contrast is very strong. Relative,? Weak contrast? It shows that the difference between the brightest part and the darkest part is not too big, and the change from the brightest part to the darkest part is very smooth, which makes the tone very rich.