Light in Photography - Importance of light to a subject

These two photographs illustrate the importance and transitory nature of of light. When we tune our eye to "seeing" the subject as areas of light and dark we begin to see with a photographic vision, and gain an insight into how the camera will record the scene as an image.

Look at the two images below - taken at the same location within a few minutes the reading of the seat in the image is very different..

Here the last rays of sunlight are falling on the seat, which bring this element of the photograph forward against the darker background.

In this image the sun has fallen below the horizon and the light is now flat - the seat is far less prominent.

In these images we see the difference of light in the transition from ambient dusk light combined with artificial light .

Click for the full sequence

Want to learn more? - do a workshop or one on one with Lloyd Godman