Focus On Lighting Photos Focus on the Fundamentals.pdf

The size of the light
The size of the light may be the
most important decision we make.
More often than not, we’ll want a
large one. The easiest way to get
a bigger light is simply to buy a
bigger light. We could close our
case right there, except this is not
practical for most people. Beginning
photographers don’t want to
pay the cost. Experienced photographers
generally want the flexibility
of taking the light to another
location with as few assistants as
possible. So we usually want to
make a small light behave as if
it were a bigger one. There are
several basic ways to do this, and
we’ll want to use them all.
Bounce is our principal tool.
Instead of aiming the light
directly at our subject, we aim it
at a bigger white surface and let
that surface be our main light.
What might that surface be?
Anything big and (usually) white.
If we have a white wall or ceiling
handy, we’re in fat city. Little
work, good lighting.
We can bounce the light from
anything handy. What’s handy?
The following two situations are
most common:
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Wall bounce. If we are using
only the light built into the
<strong>Focus</strong> <strong>On</strong> <strong>Lighting</strong> <strong>Photos</strong>
This light is bounced
from the white ceiling.
We could just as
easily bounce it from a
white wall or a white
bed sheet taped
to the wall.