What The Flash | Evolution of Light

Lighting is easily the most important aspect of photography. I would even go as far as saying that lighting is photography: It is even in the word itself; “Photography” is greek for “Light Drawing”, or “drawing with light”. Without light, you cannot take photos. It is perfectly possible to take amazing photographs with a very simple camera – as long as the lighting is good. The opposite is true as well: If you are taking photos in a situation where the lighting is truly appalling, having the fanciest, most expensive camera in the world isn’t going to help you capture the photographs you want. Become a seeker of light! The most important thing we have to do is to learn how to “see the light”.

A lot of things will affect what the effects of a light source are, and how your photos are affected by said source. The brightness (or ‘intensity’) of the light source plays an important role, but, as we will explore in depth in the next chapter, is a lot less important than you might think. The color of light is essential – and some of the biggest challenges you’ll meet in photography are the issues that arise when you start mixing different light sources.

Sunlight, for example, has a drastically different color from the light that comes from your flash, the light that comes from car headlights, or the light in your house. While it can be incredibly difficult to get your photos to look “right”, light sources of different colors offer an opportunity too. With the right mixture of types and colors of light, you can achieve some beautiful creative effects that will make your photos really ‘pop’. During the class we are going to through the evolution of light using small Speedlites, direct flash, bounce flash, multiple wireless remote flash, and creating studio quality light anywhere, anytime.