2. Light
• Light is one of the most important things that
photographers need to be aware of.
• Understanding how your eye sees light and colors will
allow you to take stronger pictures.
3. The Color Spectrum
• Natural light and artificial light look white to our eyes.
• Shining a light through a prism shows how white actually
contains every shade in the color spectrum.
4. The Color Spectrum
• When light hits an object, the object absorbs some of the
color spectrum and reflects back the rest of the colors.
• The color(s) that are not absorbed are reflected back are
the colors that our eye sees those objects as.
• For example, when we look at a red rose, that flower
reflects the color red and absorbs the rest of the colors.
5. Natural Light
• Natural light changes in tone and color throughout the day.
• Midday has the blue portion of the color spectrum as
dominant.
• Creates a “cool” light
• Creates clearest, sharpest images in bright light.
• Sunrise and sunset have strong red tones
• Creates “warm” light
• Creates softer contrast
6. Artificial Light
• The types of bulbs that create artificial light creates different
effects
• Incandescent light
• Our gym
• Creates a yellow tinge
• Gives a feeling of warmth
7. Artificial Light
• The types of bulbs that create artificial light creates different
effects
• Florescent light
• Classrooms
• Creates a green tone
• Creates an eerie/sickly effect
8. Adjusting for your light
• You can change the white balance on your camera,
depending on your environment
• Only works in certain modes (M)
• Different settings for different lighting
• Helps your camera understand what kind of colors
the lights may be adding to your subjects
• Helps make sure that your colors are captured as
accurately as possible
9. Basic White Balance Settings
• Auto – this is where the camera makes a best guess
on a shot by shot basis. You’ll find it works in many
situations but it’s worth venturing out of it for trickier
lighting.
• Tungsten – this mode is usually symbolized with a
little bulb and is for shooting indoors, especially under
tungsten (incandescent) lighting (such as bulb
lighting). It generally cools down the colors in photos.
• Fluorescent – this compensates for the ‘cool’ light of
fluorescent light and will warm up your shots.
10. Basic White Balance Settings
• Daylight/Sunny – not all cameras have this setting
because it sets things as fairly ‘normal’ white balance
settings.
• Cloudy – this setting generally warms things up a
touch more than ‘daylight’ mode.
• Flash – the flash of a camera can be quite a cool light
so in Flash WB mode you’ll find it warms up your shots
a touch.
• Shade – the light in shade is generally cooler (bluer)
than shooting in direct sunlight so this mode will warm
things up a little.
11. Exposures
• Term that describes the amount of light that is shined (or
exposed) to the film when a picture is taken
• Correct exposures look natural—the way that our eyes
perceive images
• Incorrect exposures look off—too dark, too light.
12. Manipulating Exposure
• Adjusting the camera’s aperture and shutter speed impact
exposure
• Good photographers know how to balance the shutter
speed and aperture to get the right amount of light, while
still producing the desired effect
• Cameras have a built-in meter that show if the shot will be
over/under exposed.
