See The Light

Your ability to see light will help you enhance the artistic value of your photography.  Yes, the time of day does have something to do with your photo. But your ability to see the light and to use it to its full effectiveness is a wonderful ability to learn.

Some people say “don’t take photos at midday, your light will not be good.”  Not true, depending upon what you are photographing.  There are some subjects that the light will never help, especially if the main subject you want is on the “backside” of the sun or in a shadow all the time. Then you will want to wait for a cloudy day, if you can to that. so the sky will not be washed out for you.

Shadows from an early morning sun or a late afternoon son will give an added depth to your photography. But how many of us have the time sit and wait for the sun to move three our four hours so that we can take a better photograph?

(As an example, the photograph of the mill in the last “Photo of the Week” was taken while it was cloudy out. I gave up waiting for the sun and I think I came up with a much better photograph because it was cloudy).

Ask yourself, do you really look at how the subject is lit? Let the bright sun add depth to your scene, not take away from it. We have discussed this is an earlier blog. But look around your subject and move around it as much as possible.

It will take time and practice to “see the light.” The fun of having a digital camera is that you can shoot  away to your heart’s content until you have the photograph that you really want…and if yo do not like any of them, you simply delete them and move.

I have included one photos with this blog. it is a main street of an old river town where the fronts of the buildings are painted with sunlight. It is a  mid afternoon photograph but even if  it were taken at midday you would have the same lighting on the buildings.

Practice makes perfect with learning the ability to see light. The rest is up to you.