Characteristics of Light
Light is the raw material we work with.
Light is like clay to a potter or words to a writer.
A writer uses a pen to write words to communicate what they see, think, or feel.
A photographer uses a camera to record light to photograph what they see, think, or feel.
Light has characteristics that we can describe.
And learning to describe the characteristics of the light we're seeing is good practice.
This
is important because when we understand the light we're seeing, we'll know what to do with camera operation to get the best picture possible to communicate what we'd like to express intentionally.
Characteristics of Light: Color
Hello ,
We need to consider color, even if we're working in black and white because the color will appear as greyscale
tonalities in our pictures.
Color affects us, and the people who know how it affects us use it intentionally as a powerful element of composition.
What’s Color?
According to the definitions from Oxford Languages,
"the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way the object reflects or emits light."
Did ya notice they
defined color as a sensation in the eye?
And just to be clear
,
I usually use the word transmit instead of emit.
The Color of Transmitting Light
The color of transmitting light is described as a color temperature measured in degrees of Kelvin (K).
It ranges from red to blue and ranges from 1,000 to 10,000 as numbers/degrees.
We usually see color temperatures expressed with a number followed by a K, and it would look like this 5,200K, except it could be any number in the range mentioned above.
The setting on our camera that deals with color temperature is white balance.
The Color of Reflective Light
The way we describe the color of reflected light is pretty straightforward; red, green, blue, etc.
Green grass, red rose, blue sky, etc.
We can add bright or dark as a second descriptor.
For example, bright green or dark green.
How To Study and Practice With Color
A good study and practice would be paying more attention to color as a compositional element in our pictures.
We can also take a look at a color wheel.
And while we're at it, why not read about color theory, color schemes, and color psychology?
We gotta be careful with color because our intentional use or mistaken misuse
can make or break our picture.
And remember, we learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture today.
That’s all for now; thanks for reading!
Sam
Study and practice photography with me.
And if the timing doesn't work
for you in any of my scheduled group classes, we can schedule a one-time lesson or a series of in-person or online one-on-one private instruction that cover the same things as any of my group classes.
Ways to work with me are listed
below.
