2. Lighting is everything
The essence of photography is light. Its light that hits the camera’s digital sensor and creates an image. So it’s pretty obvious how the right lighting can make a world of difference to a photo. While you definitely don’t need to spend on expensive lights, you can try training yourself to make the most of the lighting already available to you.
The image below shows you the kind of lighting that most casual users find appropriate to shoot with. It’s ample, it’s surrounding the subject and it completely brings out the colors. But the thing is — it’s also plain and boring.
The same subject shot with a little strategic lighting brings out the contrasting light and shadow effect that makes the overall composition look a lot more appealing. Just by moving around your subject or moving the subject to a different place around the same area can help you achieve the right lighting.
A little more dramatic lighting can really spruce up the end result
Of course natural light will not always be in your favor and chances are, a lot of your outdoor shots will be taken with equal amount of light falling all over your composition. Don’t fret about it, following the other rules we mentioned in the feature, will still get you great results.
If you want to take your experiments with lighting to a different level, try taking pictures in less-than-adequate lighting conditions without using the flash. Set the camera to a night scene mode and place it on a still surface. If done right you’ll notice how the results look moodier and artistic than what using the in-your-face lighting of the camera flash.
Image taken in low-light using camera flash
The same subject shot without flash using "Night Portrait" mode
gr8 tips!
