Thursday, September 30, 2010

Most Important Thing about Photography .... Light



Light: what do we know about it? First, it is always changing. Second, it can make things appear different than they really are. But, does it affect our emotions when we view a photograph? I believe it can. The way the light is captured sets the tone or the "mood" if you will, for the photograph. The way we capture light can make images "feel" warm or "feel" cold. Here are a couple of examples. Each photograph contains a storm, but the way the light is captured affects the mood of the storm. In the picture taken at White Sands National Monument, the storm does not feel so severe. This shot was taken in the evening with very low light. The evening light is almost like a blanket in that it makes everything appear like it's in the same "layer" of light. But in the photo taken on the Eastern New Mexico plains, the light creates a completely different efect. This shot was taken late-afternoon just before the sun started down. Which storm can you "feel?"