By Howard Moo Young, Contributor 
'Come cruise with me'. Below: 'Morning at Fort Clarence'. - Photo by Howard Moo Young
THE ABILITY to control light in taking photographs is an essential compositional as well as technical skill. Light is important in establishing the mood of pictures. You must be able to use it like a tool and know how to vary its quality and direction as well as its quantity.
The outdoor photographer faces the fundamental problem, that the intensity of natural light can produce a range of brightness far beyond what the film in your camera can record. This goes for your digital camera also. A change of camera position or skilful judgement of exposure will increase your creative flexibility. But you may have to return to the scene at a different time of day to get the precise effect you want. In architectural photography, this is essential.
Indoors, or at night, photographers have much more control over the intensity, duration and direction of the lighting. If you do not experiment and try taking pictures under as many conditions as possible, you may never discover and gain experience in producing good photographs in any kind of light.
THE SUN'S NATURAL LIGHT
I am a lover of natural light, and the sheer power and breadth of the sun's light may seem to restrict the photographer's scope of creative control. The more you learn about the prevailing lighting conditions, the more you'll understand how to turn them to advantage and make the best use of natural light. In photography, there is no such thing as bad light; it's how you make light work for you.
You can influence the picture considerably by choice of exposure, camera viewpoint, the use of filters, diffusers, reflectors
and fill-in light. There is even a simpler way to control light; choose the right moment to take the picture. The weather conditions and time of day affect the quality, strength, colour and direction.
The pure light and cool, clean atmosphere of dawn; slanting sunlight in the early morning and evening; the dramatic colours of sunset all these affect the mood and character of the image in distinctive ways. The subject you wish to photograph and the facet of that subject you intend to bring out, depends on the kind of lighting you choose. You may want to capture the overall shape, or reveal forms and
texture, or you may want to
create a general picture of the image.
THE SUN'S CHANGING ANGLE
This is a self-assignment that every photographer should do even once in his lifetime. If you do this on your own, I guarantee that you will learn more about lighting in a very practical way more than what any one could ever tell you about this subject.
Photograph a single subject from a fixed camera position from sunrise to sunset on a clear sunny day. Clouds and mist introduce the element of diffusion, which confuses the issue and should be avoided. It may be necessary, therefore, to photograph over a number of days, so the chosen subject should be easily or regularly accessible. It should also be a definite shape and reasonably isolated. A building standing on its own, or a rock formation, are both good choices.
Choose a convenient camera position that you can return to without difficulty and note the framing of the shot. If the sun is likely to shine into your lens at any point during the day, be prepared to shade it with a piece of card. Make a series of exposures at regular intervals every one or two hours, you can shoot with either black-and-white, colour transparency or negative film. Compare the developed prints or slides and see how they reveal the outline of the subject, the form and modelling, detail and texture. Finally, select the image you prefer
overall and why you chose that image.
SUNLIGHT CONTROLLED
Bright sunshine produces extreme
contrast with deep shadows and blank highlights. These may spoil your
pictures, regardless of how well you judge the exposure. If the subject is of a manageable size, you can apply simple techniques to radically improve tour images.
The simplest way to reduce high
contrast is to move the subject into the shade. If you are photographing people in an outdoor setting, the shade of a tree will provide a clean lighting on their faces than standing in the open sun. You can also reduce contrast by the use of a reflector to light up the shadow areas. The reflective surface of a white wall
can also act as an excellent balancing light source.
To be continued next week.
* All photographs were taken in varied natural lighting conditions in Jamaica by Howard Moo Young. Howard Moo Young is an advertising/graphic
design/photography consultant with
over 40 years experience. E-mail: mooimages@yahoo.com.
