The First Thing To Learn When You’re New to Photography
So you’ve got yourself your first camera, “Hooray”! You spent an hour or so reading the manual and learning your camera’s functions. “Check!” Perhaps there was more to learn but no time like the present right? So, out to the backyard you went, taking pictures of Ben the dog, a bird sitting in the tree, a flower in the garden … basically, anything that fit into the viewfinder. “Check!” Okay, now what? Well, your pictures were alright, but nothing to get excited over. So next you drove to a local scenery hotspot where you were sure to get some fantastic photos. “Watch out Instagram!” You got busy snapping, you scrolled through your images (stoked they were in focus), but something was amiss. To be frank, your photos were [ahem] BORING, and you felt like a babe with a tool wondering how long it’d take to “get good”. If this sounds familiar, don’t despair. Photography is less about equipment and more about the art of seeing. I’ll share with you the first thing to learn as a new photographer, so you don’t give up on what could be an enjoyable and rewarding hobby.
The Beautiful Truth
I’m a companion animal photographer who does NOT photograph dogs, cats, horses or people. Yup, you heard that right. What I photograph is light. And I don’t mean that in the literal sense - like photographing sunsets. I photograph the light that is on (or not on) the dogs, cats, horses, and people. It’s a subtle but transformative difference affecting how you approach photography.
Photographing light is intentional. As a natural light outdoor photographer, you are constantly aware of the light, where it is, and how it affects your subject and surroundings. It’s important because, aside from illuminating subjects, light creates mood, helps to tell a story, and is often the reason why you love an image whether you realize it or not. I’m going to share with you, three different ways to see and use the natural light available to you, as it relates to portrait photography.
A Dreamy Atmosphere
One of my favorite photographs is of a young couple taken from a San Diego hilltop on a day when forecasted rain was making its way to the area. I love shooting before and after storms because of the effect weather has on light. Often, water particles in the sky (as in fog or rain), will disperse the light and create colors you wouldn’t ordinarily see on a sunny San Diego day.
That afternoon was nothing short of magical as both fog and clouds rolled in, diffusing the afternoon light perfectly to create an ethereal orange glow. This is something more commonly seen up north in the Alps than here down south in the desert. It was a backdrop so beautiful, it could make the angels sing. I chose to keep the subjects in front of the light creating a beautiful silhouette against the firey sky so as not to compete with the dreamy atmosphere in the background.
Quality Light
Next is a photograph I took in what I would consider some of the best quality natural light I have ever had the luck of shooting in.
What is quality light? Without getting too technical, quality light refers to the brightness in the gradual transition from light to dark. This transition is called “rolloff” and visually speaking, you might describe the light as “soft” compared to “harsh”. While harsh bright light washes out colors, making them dull and lifeless, soft clear light allows colors to stay true.
But how do you achieve soft light when you can’t control the weather? A great start is to choose a day when you can make use of clouds to diffuse or soften the light. Next, shoot early or late in the day when the sun is positioned lower in the sky, so the light is evenly spread on the subject’s face avoiding shadows under the eyes, nose, and chin.
On the morning I took this photograph, the clouds were just beginning to break so that a perfect amount of soft and even light was diffused onto the scene. Naturally, with lighting this good, you want to have the light source behind you and your subject facing the light to bring out all the beautiful details in the scene.
Striking Photos with Directional Light
In opposition to soft evenly diffused light, there is directional light. Directional light has a higher degree of contrast in the shadow rolloff which in turn creates arresting, sometimes moody imagery. When executed well, photographs with directional light result in images perfectly suited for monochrome. Why? The use of highlights and shadows replaces color as the point of interest.
Moody photos are something I lean into and you’ll see throughout my portfolio. In the scene above which I often receive requests to recreate, the mood was important for this legacy photoshoot of a senior dog and the woman who loved him deeply.
To create directional light outdoors, angle your subject (or yourself) so the light falls on facial features with a hard edge. To achieve this, I allow my subject to remain stationary while I walk around the subject taking photos along the way. I’m constantly assessing where the light is falling as it’s easy to end up with an unflattering image when shadows land in the wrong place.
With dogs, directional light can be tricky. Their pointed long faces are usually better suited for soft even light but here, I captured the photo from above and it worked well in keeping the face in the light while creating a harder shadow rolloff in the leaves and the ground below.
Be a Student
As natural light outdoor photographers, we can’t control the light source but we can control how we shoot with it. It takes practice to understand how best to shoot under different light conditions. A sure way to learn is to shoot when it’s great and shoot when it’s terrible. Never shy away from challenge rather, try techniques to draw out the best from every scene. For approaching photography with a student-like mindset allows you to both learn what to do and learn what you love. And in doing so, you’ll begin to craft your personal style.
Happy learning and don’t stop shooting!
