Art of Light by Rachel Korinek [PDF]

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ART of LI GH T

Art of Light Copyright © 2017 Rachel Korinek | Two Loves Studio All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author at the email address below. [email protected] www.twolovesstudio.com

Acknowledgements Photography by Rachel Korinek www.rachelkorinek.com Case Study Images Food, Prop Styling + Recipe Creation by Carmel Gohar www.carmelgohar.com Image A, B, C + D from our case studies + Pavlova. Workbook Design by Sarah Renae Clark www.sarahrenaeclark.com Author portrait by Matt Korinek www.mattkorinek.com

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WHAT’S INSIDE 1

2

Introduction

Myths of Lighting

You’ll never know how incredible light can be until you explore it.

5 common myths about light and how to shift to a growth mindset.

3

4

Dynamics of Light

Taming A Hard Light Source

Understand the dynamics of natural light and how it behaves.

How I utilised a hard light source to produce two very unique images.

5

6

Create Mood

Enhance Your Shadows

Discover simple manipulation aids I used to create mood.

Why shadows are so important and how I enhanced them.

7

8

Manipulate Light At Home

Troubleshooting Tips

Uncover manipulation aids to help you shape beautiful light.

Tips you can quickly integrate to get the light you crave.

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CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction 1 How To Use This Case Study Workbook

2

Introduction 3

Chapter 2: Myths of Lighting 4 5 limiting lighting mindsets 5 #1: Artificial light will solve all my problems 6 #2: I have to wait until the natural light is perfect for me to shoot

6

#3: Natural light is bad to shoot in, as it keeps changing 7 #4: I live in a part of the world that isn’t good for photography, as it’s always cloudy 7

#5: I need fancy equipment to manipulated natural light correctly

8

Chapter 3: The Dynamics of Natural Light 10 Colour temperature of light 12 Distance from light source 14 Height of subject to light source 20 Apparent size of light source 23 Hard vs soft light 26 Direction of light 31 Fill light 36 Shadows 39

Natural Light Case Studies Chapter 4: Taming Hard Light 41 Images A + B 43 The steps I used to tame hard light 47

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CONTENTS Light source: Sun vs diffuser 47 Apparent size: Sun (small) vs diffuser (large) 48 Adding back shadows: Negative fill 49 Create it 50 Checklist 50

Chapter 5: Create Mood 51 Image C 52 Tools I used to create mood 55 Creating a strip 56 Using black foam core to block light 56 Reducing ambient light 57 Edge light 58 Create it 59 Checklist 59

Chapter 6: Enhance Your Shadows 60 Image D 61 Moody light can be soft light 64 Using distance + fall-off 64 Reducing fill light 65 Size of negative fill 65 Key light blocking 66 Create it 67 Checklist 67

Chapter 7: Manipulate Light At Home

68

Must-haves 69 Combining tools 71

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CONTENTS Creating a collection 71 Uncovering your light 73 Creating at home 74

Chapter 8: Troubleshooting Tips 75 I need more light 76 There is too much light 76 I feel like trying hard light 77 Soft light is my jam! 77 Shooting with hard shadows 78 I want softer shadows 78 I only ever have clouds 78 I only ever have direct sun 79 I have too much fill 79 I love shooting bright + airy 79 I want to create dark and moody 80 I want that ‘special sauce’ 80 How do I make things shine? 81 What’s the most common light direction? 81

Final Thoughts 82 Worksheet: Light Manipulation 83 Glossary 84

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ART of LI GH T How To Use This Case Study Workbook This Behind-The-Scenes Case Study Workbook is here to both educate and empower you to create the light of your dreams at home, with the tools you already have. Before we get into the juicy behind-the-scenes setups, I want to first take you through some of the Dynamics of Light. Don’t be afraid now; this isn’t as complex as you think and at the end, you’ll have a whole new setup of tools to approach natural light at home. I slowly introduce you to some foundation lighting concepts in the Dynamics of Light section. Don’t fret if you feel like we just touch on the juicy stuff then move on. I will show you how I apply each of these concepts in Chapters 4, 5 and 6 with diagrams and images. I am all about empowering you to be able to create on your own, so when you start to manipulate light for your next shoot, you can use the Troubleshooting Tips section to see how you can put these into action. Then you’ll be able to see the potential in ANY natural light. And as always, remember to enjoy the journey.

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ART of LI GH T Introduction The difference between ok and amazing light is you I thought I was blessed with amazing natural light in my house when I first started my photography journey. Any light was amazing to me, I was just happy to be creating. As I learned more about how light works, how to harness it and looked at the lighting in images that I liked, I noticed that my light was always different to how I imagined it. I struggled to find decent light for dramatic photos. I struggled to take pictures because the light was always changing. I struggled to get even lighting and make my shadows anything other than boring. It was hard for me to build my still-life scene from nothing, style my food and props how I wanted, and shoot with the ever-changing light (all at the same time)! I was frustrated because I was always waiting for the lighting to be perfect. I didn’t have the ability to see the potential in my light source; I just shot with what I was given. Being so focused on composition and styling, I noticed that I was creating the same old images with boring, flat light. The thought of learning yet another skill (truly manipulating light) left me feeling overwhelmed; however, I knew this was the most important thing I needed as a photographer. Now I live by this idea from my photography pal Bea Lubas: The magic happens when you stop taking photos of objects and start capturing the light. Knowing that light could make or break an image, I decided to stop being controlled by light and start taming it. To work with it, shape it and make it. That’s when I focused on exploring and building my light manipulation skills. My goal: To strengthen my ability to see the potential in any light source I faced. The light I couldn’t change. The light I was given. I realised that natural light is beautiful, it will surprise you and there are occasions when you won’t have to lift a finger for it to be beyond beautiful. But many times the difference between amazing natural light and ok natural light is YOU. You’ll never know how incredible light can be until you explore it, harness it, tame it. Together, let’s seek out your hero light manipulation skills with simple, low-cost techniques you can implement without fuss and... create beautiful images every time with natural light.

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ART of LI GH T The number one frustration I hear from photographers is that they struggle with lighting Now, when photographers say ‘the lighting never ends up looking like it did in my head’, I can totally put myself in their shoes. This is a frustration I have dealt with constantly throughout my photography journey. See, I would only ever shoot in my go-to lighting and in my comfort zone as it produced good results. But I got stuck there - and let me tell you, it’s unfulfilling. As my journey progressed and I started to freelance more, I was no longer able to rely on my lighting comfort zone. So many times the light I was used to shooting just wasn’t available. Being presented with more and more new lighting challenges allowed me to troubleshoot to produce more beautiful light than I was able to before. Not to mention a huge sense of achievement and creative freedom. The key is that by having a growth mindset, new challenges with lighting can lead to neverbefore-captured opportunities. Yes, there are times when bad light stops us in our tracks, but if you approach bad lighting as a temporary situation, then amazing light is just a few manipulations away.

5 limiting lighting mindsets: ·

#1: Artificial light will solve all my problems.

·

#2: I have to wait until the natural light is perfect for me to shoot.

·

#3: Natural light is bad to shoot in, as it keeps changing.

·

#4: I live in a part of the world that isn’t good for photography, as it’s always cloudy.

·

#5: I need fancy equipment to manipulated natural light correctly.

Let’s clear up some common lighting limitations and misconceptions that you may have come across and how you can shift these limitations into areas of growth.

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ART of LI GH T Limiting mindset: Artificial light will solve all my problems Growth mindset: Knowing the dynamics of light will empower me to create beautiful light. Truly understanding the dynamics of light requires some physics. Not sexy - I know, but some photographers don’t find their groove with natural light and think that they’re cursed with ‘I just don’t have good light in my house’. Their solution: artificial light. But let me ask you, how will you create and manipulate artificial light without a solid understanding of natural light? The answer? You’ll probably struggle just as much. The good news is that if you understand the dynamics of light that we’ll cover in this case study, then you can apply this knowledge to any light source. Natural or artificial. Ever heard the saying, ‘you’ll always take the weather with you’? Well if you don’t tackle your natural light manipulation skills head-on, those gaps will roll over into artificial light. Everything you learn here will not only put you in a better position to create beautiful light with natural sources, but you’ll be working on your knowledge base for artificial light down the track.

Limiting mindset: I have to wait until the natural light is perfect for me to shoot Growth mindset: Each lighting situation is a chance for me to discover and capture something new. If you’ve come from other niches of photography where you’re primarily shooting outdoors, then you may have a mindset of having to wait for perfect light. With food photography - as we’re indoors - we have more opportunities to turn imperfect light into something worth shooting.

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ART of LI GH T The images in this case study were all created with lighting that was not my go-to choice. Each scenario brought new lighting challenges, but the results were freaking beautiful. Now can you imagine if I just put the camera down and said, ‘this isn’t perfect for me to shoot’? Exactly - I would have missed creating these beautiful images. That’s the cost of a limiting mindset and only shooting when the light feels perfect. Approach each lighting limitation as a chance to put your skills to the test and find new beauty.

Limiting mindset: Natural light is bad to shoot in, as it keeps changing Growth mindset: In every moment, there is the possibility to find new magic. We tend to have the mindset that change is bad. Natural light can change quickly, for sure - but your ability to adapt with it is what produces consistent results. Even when your lighting changes unexpectedly, embrace that change and take the opportunity to capture something new. Photography is all about problem-solving. See it as part of the process and you’ll reap the rewards.

Limiting mindset: I live in a part of the world that isn’t good for photography, as it’s always cloudy Growth mindset: Light isn’t static. You have the power to change any situation. Full sun or full cloud: Each can provide you with magic to tell your story. A cloudy sky doesn’t mean less light. In fact, there is no one factor that determines ‘less’ or ‘more’ light. It’s all relative, as we’ll explore in this case study. There is this unconscious idea that natural light is a take-it-or-leave-it situation. Light is light. It’s not static. If you understand the dynamics we’ll cover in this case study, you’ll see that you have more power in controlling and manipulation light than you thought.

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ART of LI GH T This is exciting! You’ll be able to work with whatever natural light you have. No more feeling jealous over another photographer’s Instagram because they live in a different part of the world to you.

Limiting mindset: I need fancy equipment to manipulated natural light correctly Growth mindset: If I know my sh*t, there are so many possibilities that I already have or that are ‘free 99’ that I can use to create the light I want. We tend to think that to be a ‘good’ or ‘professional’ photographer we need expensive equipment. With the rise of fancy behind-the-scenes Instagram stories, we can get trapped into thinking that in order to create beautiful images, we need a lot of stuff - or complex setups. But complex setups don’t always equal better images. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that you create work you’re proud of. There are so many things that are right at your fingertips that you can use to manipulate light. In this case study, we’ll cover many manipulating techniques that are free and don’t require any aids. If you understand the dynamics of light, then you can make everyday items work for you. Promise.

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ART of LI GH T KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • It’s hard to fully utilise artificial light without an understanding of how natural light works. • Waiting for ‘perfect’ light can allow you to miss opportunities to capture something new. • When you adapt to natural light changes, you can produce consistent results. • There is no one factor that determines more or less light. • Complex lighting setups don’t always equal better images, understanding the dynamics does.

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ART of LI GH T Light will literally make or break an image It’s the difference between a good image and a powerful, fist-pumpingly-good image. No matter how incredible your food is, there is no amount of glisten on your chocolate ganache that can save poor lighting. In fact, with poor lighting, you probably won’t have any glisten at all! If you have a killer dish but shoot it in terrible light, it’s going to look ho-hum. Shoot a, ahem… ‘ugly’ dish in amazing light, however - and you may be onto something. It’s just like a selfie.. Bad hair days... no makeup... but good light - it does wonders right? On the flip side, not even makeup can save us from bad lighting. That’s the power of light, my friend! Moral of the story: light before ANYTHING. But light is light, right? Not even close. Not all light is created equal and there are many factors that change how light shows up for us. Even if you know a lot about natural light, we’re about to explore the dynamics of natural light like never before. Get excited, because you’re about to... See the potential in any natural light and create beautiful images every time.

Explore the dynamics of natural light A taste of what we’re about to uncover: • Why colour temperature is different with each light source. • How distance is totally a manipulation tool. • That height of a light source will affect light quantity and direction. • What apparent size is, and why this concept will blow your mind. • The directions of light and when to use each one. • The concept of fill light. • Hard light vs Soft light. • Why shadows are an important part of your lighting.

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ART of LI GH T Then we’ll piece it all together and work through how to create each type of light and when to use it. I’m excited - because once I truly understood all this, a massive shift happened in my work. Now it’s your turn. Ready? Let’s do this!

COLOUR TEMPERATURE OF LIGHT Each light source has a temperature value, which is measured in degrees kelvin. As well as having an actual temperature value - so how ‘hot’ the light source is in degrees - light also has an associated colour depending on how warm or cool the light source is. Now let’s take a look at the associated colour of different sources of daylight.

The colour of daylight When the colour temperature of light is high, more of the colour blue will exist. If the colour temperature is low, more of the colour red will exist. Now I know this feels contrary to the actual ‘feel’ of temperature. We tend to think that high temperature feels ‘warm’, whereas low temperature feels ‘cool’. Just remember that ‘colour temperature’ works differently. Natural light or ‘daylight’ is made up of sunlight and skylight. We get differing colours in the sky throughout the day as sunlight is scattered at different wavelengths depending on where the sun is in the Earth’s orbit. Sunrise/sunsets have a low colour temperature, so more red coloured light will be present. That’s why we have that ‘warm’ look associated with sunsets and sunrise. At other times, daylight, on both cloudy and clear days will have a higher colour temperature so more blue light will be present. But before you shout ’enough with the science!’, let me share the colour temperature examples you’ll find commonly used in white balance examples.

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ART of LI GH T Daylight Colour Temperatures

Degrees Kelvin

The Blue Hour (Skylight)

9500

Shade

7500

Cloudy day

6500

Daylight*

5500

Sunrise or Sunset

2000

*Because daylight is made up of sunlight and skylight, there is more ‘warm’ colour in it than pure skylight, which only occurs when the sun isn’t up. So the blue hour would be an example of skylight.

Colour temperature in photography Ok, enough with the science and let’s talk photography - you with me? Why is it important to know about the colour temperature of light? You may have heard photographers gush over the ‘golden hour’ as the best time to shoot. This is because the light is soft and warm, and casts an incredible glow on landscapes and skin. But does this apply to the daylight in your home? The answer is: of course! Depending on the time of year, time of day and the direction your windows face, the light temperature will ‘feel’ different. Whilst our eyes regulate light temperature changes very well, the camera will capture light differently. It’s important to seek out how the light ‘feels’ at different times of the day and through different facing windows. North-facing windows will give you different light to south-facing windows. Just as eastfacing and west-facing will be different. The time of day will change this, as well as the time of year. North-facing light tends to be warmer, whilst south-facing tends to be cooler - IF you live in the Southern Hemisphere. This will be the opposite for those living in the Northern Hemisphere. Now the temperature of light is associated with white balance, so if you were thinking about this, then you are correct. However, here we are really looking at how the light ‘feels’ as we get more acquainted with how we can utilise different light in our homes.

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ART of LI GH T KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • Colour temperature isn’t the same as ‘actual temperature’ of light. • High colour temperature has more blue (blue hour). • Low colour temperature has more red (sunset/sunrise). • Natural light is known as ‘daylight’, which is made up of sunlight and skylight. • Light will ‘feel’ different depending on its colour temperature. • The temperature of light will feel different throughout the day and at different times of year. • It’s important to seek out different-feeling light depending on your creative direction.

DISTANCE FROM LIGHT SOURCE If you’re a bit of a nerd (like me) and you love the ins and outs of photography, then this section of the case study workbook is going to be epic! We’ll cover one of the most fascinating concepts in lighting. As a photographer, you may have noticed that the distance from a light source will affect how much light you have falling onto your scene or subject. We kinda know that - just from living our life. But there’s soooo much more to it. The closer you are to a window, the more intense the available light will be. The further away you are to a window, the less intense the available light will be. Sounds about right, but there’s a little bit more to it than that. Let the fun begin! Distance from a light source is a little more complex. If you ever plan on using artificial lighting, (even mixed lighting) in the future, then understanding the role distance plays in relation to the amount of available light is a crucial concept.

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ART of LI GH T The inverse-square law (It’s not scary at all, promise!) Don’t be afraid if the title of this section sounds too technical - Really, it’s not. The inversesquare law is actually a super simple concept that applies to many things in today’s world. Even though it makes reference to the laws of physics, we’ll look at this law in a practical sense and how it relates to photography. I promise you’ll have no problems understanding it when we’re done. Any type of lighting - whether it is natural or artificial - follows what is called the Inversesquare law. The Inverse-square law states that the power of available light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.

In a nutshell, the Inverse-square law provides us with the understanding of how the amount of available light works over a given distance. It will also reveal why the distance between your light source and your subject is so important when manipulating any source of light. Now, stick with me here. This will all make sense in a moment, I promise.

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ART of LI GH T How the inverse-square law works Forgetting about the unit of measurement, if we were to take a distance of ‘2’ and square it, (so 22 or 2x2) we get a value of ‘4’. The law states that light is inversely proportioned to the square of the distance - Inversely, meaning that the value we get is not ‘4’, it’s ‘1/4’.

Whether this made sense or not, taking a look at a practical level, you’ll see how this works for lighting in photography. The above example shows us that as we double the distance from our light source, (so 2m x 2m OR 2ft x 2ft) our value of available light is now 1/4 as powerful as it was before we moved. So we now have not half the amount of light, we have 1/4 of the amount of light. Simply put: Doubling your distance from the light source will give you 1/4 of the power of light. The most common mistake photographers make is to think that when we double the distance, we get half the amount of the original power of light. But physics tells us that’s not how it works. Let’s take a look at a few more examples to really hit this home. (I am going to use meters in this example, but don’t get caught up on the unit of measurement. The same would apply to any other unit).

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ART of LI GH T Distance from light

Amount of light fall off

% of original power

1x

1 of original power

100%

2x

1/4 of original power

25%

3x

1/9 of original power

11%

4x

1/16 of original power

6%

5x

1/25 of original power

4%

The Inverse-square law explains the dramatic fall-off in light over distance. Fall-off simply means; the reduction in the amount of light, or the power of light, the further you get from your light source. A key point to remember is that initial fall-off of light happens very quickly. Then fall-off slows down quite quickly the further you get from your light source. (If you’re interested in the math, this is because the inverse-square law or the ‘fractions of power’ get smaller more slowly as the light moves further away). If we take a look at the above figures, we can see that this is demonstrated when we move from 1x to 2x, (x being any unit of measurement), we now have 25% of the original power of light. Therefore we lost 75% of the original power of available light (100%-25%).

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But the further we get, from 4x to 5x, (x being any unit of measurement), we’ve gone from 6% to 4% of the available light. Therefore we’ve only lost 2% of the original power of available light.

Why is this important in photography? At the most basic level, it is important to know that distance will change the power of available light. Dramatic fall-off will occur very quickly (against original power), but the further you get away from the light source the less relative fall-off you’ll experience.

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ART of LI GH T When shooting with natural light, the immediate space between your window and your scene or subject, at say the first 1-1.5m (3-5ft), will make a huge difference and impact on how the available light can change your image.

It’s this little amount of change that can bring you exponentially more or less light. Now to really blow your mind, distance can be on the horizontal plane as well as the vertical. So what this means is that the Inverse-square law applies to the height of your light source compared to your subject - so let’s move onto that.

KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • The Inverse-square law states that the power of available light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. • The Inverse-square law provides us with the understanding of how the amount of available light works over a given distance. • Doubling your distance from the light source will give you 1/4 of the power of light, (NOT half the power).

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ART of LI GH T • Light fall-off happens very quickly, then slows down the further we get from the light source. • Moving in the immediate space between your window and your subject will have the most impact on available light. • The Inverse-Square Law applies to both the horizontal (distance) and vertical (height) planes.

HEIGHT OF SUBJECT TO LIGHT SOURCE Now we may think that because we’re using natural light, we don’t need to worry about placement as you would have to do when setting up artificial light. But the height of light will change both the distance and direction of your light. As we just learned, the distance from our light source will change the amount of light we have. It will also change our shadows and how defined their edges are - but we haven’t gotten to that section yet... Hold that thought!

Height of our window as distance Let’s think about this concept in terms of a window that is a reasonable or average size, but not floor to ceiling. There is about 1.5m (5ft) from the floor to where the window starts, which obviously lets in no light. We know now that the height of our light source is also a distance factor that can change available light. Using our trusty reasonable-sized window that sits about 1.5m (5ft) off the ground, let’s imagine we are shooting on our table that is the same height as the window. Here we have the largest amount light available, and it’s coming to our scene as sidelight.

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Now let’s say that this is too bright for what you want and you decide to move closer to the floor. You will have reduced the amount of available light by nearly 75%!

Height and the effect on direction Using the same window example as above, let’s assume that you shoot on the floor, and are planning an overhead shot. Suddenly your lighting could become top-down lighting, (the extent of this will depend on the distance between your window and the floor). If you moved your scene onto the top of a table that sits at the same height as the window, then you’ve changed the lighting to become sidelight.

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If you have floor to ceiling windows, then height isn’t going to be a consideration. You’ll still want to think about distance, size of light source, reflectivity or diffusion. On the other hand, if you don’t have floor to ceiling windows, getting closer to your window will give you more intensity of available light. Your light will become sidelight and will change your shadows. If you lower your setup from the window height, then you will have less intensity of available light - the light ‘may’ become top-down light and your shadows will look different again. Now if you’re thinking, ‘so which is the best direction of light for me to shoot with?’, I hear ya! I’ve got you covered with the pros and cons of each lighting direction and when to use each type a little later on in this section. If you can’t wait and need to read it now, jump ahead to Direction of Light.

KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • The Inverse-square Law also applies to the height of your light source. • You’ll lose power from your light source the lower your setup is from the window. • Shooting on the ground with a high window that isn’t floor to ceiling can produce topdown lighting.

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ART of LI GH T • Shooting at the same height as the window will give you side or back lighting. • Floor to ceiling windows are less likely to change the direction of your light.

APPARENT SIZE OF LIGHT SOURCE The size of your light source is an important concept in photography. Actually, scratch that - It’s a crucial concept in photography, and I want to empower you to know the difference between ‘actual’ and ‘apparent’ size, because it’s a game changer when it comes to understanding and manipulating natural light. Again, nothing in photography is isolated, so size is dependent on our good ol’ friend distance. Yep, distance will get involved every time.

Actual vs apparent size When we refer to the actual size of the light source, we’re referring to its overall dimensions or magnitude. Whereas, the apparent size of the light source is its ‘size’ relative to the subject when you take into account the distance between the two. Another way to think about this is the size of the light source as viewed from the perspective of the subject. From the subject’s perspective, is it large or small? Let me break that down with an example: Take a piece of fruit; a plum, for example. Now the plum is always the same size, meaning the actual size of our plum doesn’t change. However, the further it is away from our camera, the smaller it looks. Closer to the camera, the plum looks larger. This is a concept known as apparent size.

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This concept can also be applied to our light source. Our light source is a window. No matter if we are standing next to it or are across the room, the actual size of the window never changes. What changes instead is the window’s apparent size. If we’re standing next to the window, it seems larger in comparison to if we’re standing across the room from the window. Let’s put this into action and test it out. ACTION: Walk to a window, then move to the other side of the room. Which position makes the window seem larger? Keep moving back and forth if you need to. (The answer is being close to the window).

The light source in natural light Now, as we’re talking about natural light here, we now know that our ultimate light source is always daylight (made up of sunlight and skylight). The actual source of your light will depend on where you’re shooting and what you’re shooting with. If you’re shooting outside, your light source is the sun. (Unless it’s a cloudy day, then your light source becomes the clouds themselves).

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ART of LI GH T If you’re shooting inside with natural light, your light source is your window. (Unless the sun is shining directly through it, in which case your light source goes back to being the sun). Let’s explore this idea a little more. If you’re shooting with a manipulation aid (e.g., a diffuser) between the sun and your subject, then it will become your light source. (Just let that sink in for a minute before we move on. It took me a while to understand this concept).

Size is dependent on distance When it comes to the size of your light, it’s not just a blanket rule that a bigger light source will give you more light, and a smaller one will give you less. In addition to the power of light, the amount of light is also dependent on the distance from the subject. (And sometimes other factors can trump this as well). This is where things get really exciting: Distance is totally a manipulation technique! I’m going to take you through my thought process and how to use distance to manipulate light in the case studies coming up. Get excited!

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ART of LI GH T KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • The size of the light source is dependant on distance. It’s not simply a large window provides more light, or a small window provides less. • Actual size is the dimensions or magnitude of your light source. • Apparent size is ‘size’ relative to the subject when you take into account the distance between the subject and the light source. • The apparent size changes as you move toward and from the light source. Actual size never changes. • The apparent size of a window is larger the closer you are to it. • The apparent size of a window is smaller the further you are from it. • The sun is your light source when shooting outside in full sun. • Clouds are your light source when shooting outside on an overcast day. • A window is your light source when shooting indoors, unless in direct sunlight. • If using a diffuser, the diffuser becomes your light source. • Using distance is a manipulation technique.

HARD VS SOFT LIGHT We’ve covered a lot of fascinating points about the dynamics of light. For me, I love how photography is about problem-solving. It’s about seeing the beauty in seemingly ‘everyday’ things; light included. I think that’s why people love natural light so much. In this section, we’re about to put some of these ideas together (like distance and apparent size) as we talk about the two main types of light.

Misunderstanding light Natural light can be either ‘hard’ or ‘soft’. You will find both types of light present even before you start to manipulate it.

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ART of LI GH T We will dive into what each type of light actually refers to and how to produce it; but before we do that, I want to call out my biggest confusion when it came to the distinction of each lighting type that led to a misunderstanding of light. Hard light isn’t ‘harsh’. Harsh by definition means: unpleasantly rough, having an undesirably strong effect. Nor is hard light ‘bad’ light and soft light ‘good’. They are just different types of lighting. Hard light is not just undiffused light either. I used to think that they were one in the same - but they’re not. You can have either hard or soft lighting with both diffused and undiffused light. Hard light shouldn’t just be thought of ‘direct sunlight in the middle of a sunny summer’s day’ either. Sure, the UV rays and heat of the day may feel ‘harsh’ on our skin, but conceptually calling this ‘harsh light’ led me to misunderstand. Neither should we think that a cloudy day always means soft light. It may be soft, but simplifying this without considering the definition of hard and soft light didn’t empower me to move beyond basic concepts of lighting. So, forget: hard = harsh = full direct sun/undiffused = bad OR soft = good ...and prepare to get savvy!

Hard light Hard light is the type of light that creates shadows that have a sharp edge. That’s the core of it. Any type of light that creates shadows that have a sharp edge comes from a hard light source.

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What determines a hard light source is the size of the source relative to the subject, so examples of hard light aren’t as simple as just naming a bunch of small light sources that we may encounter each day. Knowing what a sharp edge is (when it comes to the shadows hard light produces) is important in understanding a hard source of light. Shadows that have a sharp edge are shadows with an abrupt transition, without much gradient from light to dark. It goes from light to dark very quickly causing a ‘sharp’ edge. As you may have guessed, the opposite of hard light is soft light.

What is soft light? Soft light is the type of light that creates shadows that have ‘soft’ edges. Soft light tends to wrap around objects, casting a diffused shadow that has a gradual transition from light to dark. Soft light is any light source that creates shadows that have soft and generously transitioned edges.

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Light sources that are soft are also dependent on certain factors like relative distance and apparent size. Soft light is often deemed to be ‘good’ lighting and therefore desirable. But there is such a thing as ‘too much of a “good” thing’. Super soft light can eliminate all shadows, which can have an impact on a three-dimensional subject both aesthetically and emotionally. Both types of light can be beautiful sources to create food photography with, depending on what mood and feeling you’re striving for. Neither is better than the other as a rule of thumb. One of the main differences between hard and soft light in terms of creation/manipulation is that natural hard light needs to be found, whereas soft natural light can be either found or manipulated from hard light. This is because you can turn hard light into soft light, but it is harder to turn soft light into hard light.

Creating hard light As we mentioned, hard light is easier to be found than created. The most obvious example of natural hard light that we have is undiffused sunlight that can be found outside in direct daylight or streaming directly in through your window. The latter will change depending on the time of day and time of year.

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ART of LI GH T For example, in the Southern Hemisphere, north-facing light tends to stream directly through the windows in winter, but significantly less in summer. Daylight can stream into east-facing windows in the morning as the sun climbs from sunrise to noon but will soften through these same windows as the day progresses. When I am referring to ‘harder light’, I’m not necessarily referring to the most extreme end of hard light, but creating a light that is harder rather than softer. The shadows will be less gradual in transition. Hard light can be created by having a larger distance between your light source and the subject because that makes the light source appear to be smaller.

Creating soft light Soft light, on the other hand, is easier to create through manipulation. You can find soft light on a cloudy day, under an awning or roof. Shade is also a good source of soft natural light. Again, soft light is characterised by shadows with soft, transitioned edges. In order to work with your light to make it soft, you’ll want to reduce the distance between your subject and the light source, to have the light source appear larger. We’ll see this in action in our first case study in Chapter 4.

KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • Hard light isn’t good or bad. It’s just another type of lighting. The same goes for soft. • Hard light creates shadows that have a sharp or defined edge. • Soft light creates shadows that have a transition or gradual edge. • Hard natural light usually has to be found, but soft natural light can generally be found or created more easily. • For hard light, the light source should appear smaller, relative to the subject. • For soft light, the light source should appear larger, relative to the subject.

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ART of LI GH T DIRECTION OF LIGHT By now, we’re beginning to see that most light concepts are totally dependent on other factors, which is exciting because understanding this will put you ahead of the competition. Now we’ve done a lot of digging into the intricacies of natural light here, and I’d like you to give yourself a big high-five for tackling these concepts with me. It’ll all get easier from here. We’re about to see the spectacular view from the top of the mountain. Let’s now move onto the direction of light and when to use it.

Light source and direction As daylight is a combination of sunlight and skylight, it comes from whichever the direction the sun is in the sky. If you ever shoot outside, you’ll notice that the majority of the time the lighting is topdown, (apart from the time during sunrise and sunset). However, when we’re shooting indoors, suddenly the light no longer just comes from the top-down direction. As we just learned, when shooting inside, our window or diffuser is now our light source. This means that the direction it comes from is determined by the direction we’re facing in relation to the window.

Types of light direction Commonly, we can have four directions of light; top-down light, back light, front-on light and side light. Let’s take a look at each type of light and when to use it.

Front-on lighting Front-on light can be troublesome to shoot with. That’s because, in order for you to achieve front-on lighting, you need to be in-between the light source and your subject. This, as you may know, causes two less-than-ideal things (usually).

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The first is that you will cast a shadow onto your subject, which is not ideal (unless you’re trying to block hard or different temperature lighting), and the second is that you will reduce the amount of available light by blocking it with your body. I recommend to steer clear of using front-on light for those reasons. If you do ever happen to encounter beautiful looking front-on lighting, don’t discourage exploration just because it typically isn’t the primary direction in food photography. You never know - you might create something no-one ever has before.

Side lighting Side lighting is when you are shooting with light coming either from the right or left of your scene or subject. It is probably the most common lighting direction in food photography. It’s reliably flattering for nearly all food and is easy to work with. It can usually be manipulated to create even lighting across your scene.

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Side lighting is also a go-to choice for food photographers, as it is complementary with almost every angle you’d choose to shoot, all the way from front-on to overhead, and every angle in between. If you’re ever in doubt, default to side lighting.

Back lighting Back lighting is when your light source is coming from the back of your scene. It can produce very powerful images and can take your food photography to the next level. With back lighting, it can be difficult to get even lighting onto main subjects in your frame. A common example is trying to take a selfie with the sunset behind you - You get the sunset exposed, but you are usually just a silhouette at the front of the frame. Many times you will need an aid like a reflector to assist with getting decent exposure on subjects at the front of your scene. Back lighting should be used to capture specular highlights, shine and glisten on your food. This extends to glisten from syrups or chocolate ganache and to the highlights on the top of liquids.

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To pick up these specular highlights, not every angle will work. So explore the best angle (usually between 15-30 degrees and sometimes 70-85 degrees) to see where the light and your shooting angle intersect to create that almighty shine.

Top-down lighting Top-down lighting mostly occurs when shooting food outside, as your light source becomes the sun.

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ART of LI GH T When indoors, top-down lighting will only occur if you have sky-lights, small basement windows that only appear adjacent to the ceiling, or if you have considerable height between the window and your subject. Top-down lighting isn’t usually very flattering. It can sometimes make your subjects appear very flat, and eliminate the necessary shadows to add dimension. That being said, hard top-down lighting can create a very artist look. It shouldn’t be discounted altogether, but doesn’t generally need to be considered for more editorialstyle food photography.

KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • Front-on lighting is when the light source is in front of your subject. • Front-on lighting isn’t flattering, as you block your light source and cast shadows. • Side lighting is when the light source is to either side of your subject. • Side lighting is the most flattering, more evenly lights your subject and can be used for any angle. • Back lighting is when the light source is behind your subject. • Back lighting is used to capture specular highlights at angles between 15-30 and 70-85 degrees. • Top-down lighting is when the light source is above your subject. • Top-down lighting isn’t usually very flattering and can eliminate shadows needed to add dimension to your subject.

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ART of LI GH T FILL LIGHT Fill light is our next super-important concept that often throws a spanner in the works when it comes to understanding how light behaves when we’re changing distance and relative size of a light source. We’ll cover it briefly here, as it’s important to think about how fill light will act in your scene or setup.

Fill light is light that is being bounced or reflected from the light source onto your subject. So any light that is hitting your subject at a different angle to your key light (the main light source) is fill light. It’s also light that is being added to the shadow areas in order to make them less dark. It can be intentionally or unintentionally created. What do I mean by that?

Intentionally vs unintentionally Most commonly, fill light is created by reflectors that are strategically set up to bounce light from your window (back into your scene on the shadow side) onto areas where you’d like more even exposure. This is where we’d intentionally set up reflectors such as white foam core, or reflective disks to bounce light around.

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Unintentionally, most of us will experience fill light being created from the walls in our house. Commonly, we have white/off-whites or light-coloured walls that will bounce a proportion of light onto our subjects and setup. It’s reasonable to forget how this plays a role in our setup, especially if we have a small setup for still life photography that appears to not be close to any of the walls in our house. Fill light can be very beautiful and is essential for bright and airy images.

Negative fill On the other hand, if we want to create rich tonal or ‘moody’ images with dark shadows, fill light can provide an excess amount of light onto our scene; preventing us from creating the emotion we’re after. This is where negative fill comes into play. It’s most commonly seen where you place black reflectors to soak up light, preventing it from being bounced back onto your scene. Negative fill is commonly used in ‘moody’ images, or when you are trying to eliminate light bounce and create defined shadows.

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We’ll see some examples of this throughout the case studies.

KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • Fill light is any light that is hitting your subject at a different angle to your key light. • It’s added to your shadow area to make shadows less dark. • It can be intentionally created using any reflective device. • It can be unintentionally created from bounce off white walls in your house. • Fill light can be very beautiful and is essential for bright and airy images. • Negative fill is used to reduce light being reflected onto your subject.

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ART of LI GH T SHADOWS Shadows are shadows are shadows. They’re my favourite aspect of food photography. Without shadows and contrast, we’d just have a blank image. Shadows are almost always present in some capacity in photography; the question is how much shadow is necessary for each image. Different photography niches require different amounts of shadow and can follow trends and styles. In HDR photography, the goal is to bring out as much detail and colour as possible in the shadows so everything looks evenly lit, (as would be seen by our eyes). With wedding and portrait photography, soft lighting will be used for shadows that are less defined to achieve a soft feeling that is flattering to skin.

In food photography For food photography, it’s more a matter of style, personal taste and the story you want to tell. However, I generally feel that shadows are important in helping to shape food and ingredients and bring depth and dimension to the image. Therefore, seeking more defined shadows, rather than less defined, can be a big contributing factor in turning a good image into a GREAT image. Shadows help to define our subjects, create dimension and give rise the multitudes of textures we have to work with in food photography, in both food, ingredients and props. As we’ve covered in previous chapters, the amount and definition of shadows will depend on the size, distance and direction of your light source. It’s a great place to finish off the dynamics of natural light; because if you’re ever in doubt about your light, you can... look at your shadows; they’ll tell you a lot about what your light is doing. Shadows are probably my favourite thing about photography, so I’m excited to you show how to enhance them in Chapter 6.

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ART of LI GH T KEY TAKEAWAYS The key ideas to hold onto from this section are: • Shadows are important in helping to shape food and ingredients. • Shadows add dimension and depth to subjects; helping to bring out textures and definition. • If you’re ever in doubt about your light, just look at your shadows. They will tell you a lot about what your light is doing.

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ART of LI GH T Hard light can be so much more One of my favourite things to do when I was a kid was to lie in the direct sunshine that streamed through the north-facing windows in our sitting room and read or play with whatever I was interested in at the time. I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed basking in its sunlight; I’d often find my dogs Brodie and Jesse hanging out there too. I knew exactly which part of the day had the best light for basking, and I’d be continually moving closer and closer to the window as it faded and move into the afternoon. Maybe you did something similar? Although my adulthood doesn’t allow me to bask in the sun as much as my childhood did, it’s on my goals to have a reading chair in a sun-filled room where I can spend part of my weekends soaking up that feeling of being a child again. One of the reasons I loved it so much was that it was warm and relaxing. Even though the sunlight in Australia can be quite harsh, sunlight has calming qualities about it. Although I have these fond calming memories of direct sunlight and how it felt on my skin, when it came time to use it in photography, it didn’t conjure up those same feelings. Remember when I told you that I had this misconception of hard light? Well, those false ideas led me to be afraid of using it. While hard light can be very beautiful and quite trendy, the brief has to be super specific in order for us to use it in our food photography. So most of the time, we don’t explore and play with hard light at all. I know I certainly didn’t. Anytime I’d see such harsh light, I would disown it, search for something else or actively plan my shoots at other times. But one day I stumbled across the beauty of hard light accidentally and it totally changed the way I thought about it. Hard light is great to shoot in both as-is, and manipulated. It can give you a range of emotions beyond just bright and airy. You just need to know which tools and aids to use to get the look you’re after. Now let’s grab light by the bulbs and make some magic.

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ART of LI GH T Upside Down Banana Cake When I started to think about the light that I wanted for this shot and what feeling I wanted it to communicate, I knew immediately how I wanted to feel. I wanted it to transport me back to that feeling of warm sunlight I would bask in as a kid. For my audience, I wanted that warmth to feel like it was coming from the Upside Down Banana Cake - as if it had just come out of the oven, all sticky and delicious. I knew right away that I wanted to take the hard light I loved as a kid and turn it into a soft bright source, paired with defining shadows to highlight the varying textures on the top of the cake.

Images A + B Image A

Image B

Light Source

Sun

Diffuser

Primary aids

None

Diffuser

Negative Fill

Negative Fill

Far

Close (