Have you seen the light?

I know this question has to do with coming to a realization and then changing our attitude or behavior to a better attitude or behavior. 

But for us photographers, it's a question that can not only be taken in the way most people mean it; it's a question that can be used practically to help us in our studies and practice. 

Because as photographers, we're not only seeing light; we usually take pictures of the light we're seeing.

So when we see light as a photographer, whether we get the impulse to make a picture or not, describing the light we're seeing is a good practice. 

When we describe light, we can first define it as a transmitting or reflective light source. 

And then consider these six characteristics:

1. Color
2. Direction
3. Distribution
4. Intensity
5. Movement 
6. Texture

When we learn to describe light this way, we can imagine the composition we want to make.

And then, we can imagine what we need to do in terms of camera operation to make the picture we want. 

We can do this whether we intend to make a picture or not.

In other words, it's something we can do while making a picture, or we can do this as an exercise to hone our photography skills without using a camera. 

And I recommend doing this as often as possible because it does some helpful stuff. 

It raises our visual awareness and vocabulary and gets us better at understanding how light, camera operation, and the elements of composition all contribute to making pictures. 

And if we want to make the best pictures possible, the more we understand this stuff and consistently study and practice with it, the better photographers we become. 

This is a way to see the light, in the first way stated, when it comes to our photography studies and practice. 

You can also see the light, by learning photography with me. 

An Introduction To Photography class starts tommorrow Sunday, July 9. There's more scheduled, but this one is the soonest one. Register now.

More ways to learn photography with me are below.