Types of lighting

There are many different types of lighting that create many different types of images and can cause different feelings towards an image. These include:

• Intensity of the light
• Direction of the light
• Temperature of the light and white balance
• Using reflectors (silver / gold)
• Studio lighting
• Natural lighting

Flat light:

Flat light is very different from soft and hard light, flat lighting causes the minimum contrasts in an image/scene.This means there is pretty much no significant contrast between the highlights and shadows of that particular image.

Split light:

Split lighting is simply the use of one light angled at 90 degrees from the subject you are photographing and placed a bit higher that their eye level. Leaving one half of the face exposed to the light and other in shadow.

Back light:

Back lighting is basically the main light shining in from behind the subject, pretty much so that the back light is some what facing onward towards the camera.

Natural lighting:

Natural lighting is the most basic type of lighting and refers to mainly light produced from the sun.  In other words ambient light (meaning the available light in an environment) can be considered as natural light as it is photographer’s lighting equipment. This usually indicates natural lighting from outside that lights up a room through a window. There are three different types of natural lighting they include:

• Intensity of light
• Direction of light
• Temperature of the light

Studio lighting:

Studio light is essential for most photographers and allows photographers to create natural lighting effects in a variety of situations that the photographer controls. This helps us change and alter things:

• Filter lighting
• Distance from subject to create hard / soft light
• Angles and directions
• reflectors and diffuses

By using studio lighting it allows a large range of equipment to be used, for example, soft-boxes, umbrella lights, spot lights and floodlights.

Why use this particular lighting?

Studio lighting allows the photographer to have full control of the image being created, and can help us imitate almost all types of lighting with the right equipment.

Flash:

Flash units offer a range of possibilities in both low and high lighting scenarios:

• fill-in flash flash “bouncing”
• TTL / speedlight flash
• remote / infra-red flash (studio lighting)
• fast + slow synch flash
• light painting c/w slow shutter speeds

What is the difference between 1-2-3 point lighting and what does each technique provide?

Point lightning 1:

Point lighting is the most common and can sometimes be accidental for example when taking a photos outside with the sun shinning- this is a prime example of one point light this can be proven to mainly natural images/light. However one point lighting could lead to a rather dramatic image being produced, with the light being focused on one section/area/or the whole subject.

Point lightning 2:

Although not as popular 2 point lighting can also be proved to be extremely beneficial as the  lighting allows the main subject to stand out much more, creating a stronger 3D image as the two point lighting creates much stronger shadows leading to more dimensional angles  throughout.

Point lightning 3:

The goal of three point lighting is to create the illusion of a three-dimensional subject in a two-dimensional image.  whilst removing background shadow produced by the subject/ clashing lights. this is proven an extremely popular technique commonly used.