PHOTOGRAPHY 101 -LIGHT AND EXPOSURE-

Light is one of the most important aspects in a good photograph. It is absolutely essential to understand the behaviour of light to obtain good results.The direction, intensity and colour of light sets the mood of the photograph and it is important to capture this mood. Thankfully, the Earth revolves around itself, and in the process provides us with a wide array of lighting situations that we can use to our advantage.

The wee hours of morning, that is just before or after sunrise, is one of the best times to shoot a landscape photograph. The light is mostly consistent of hues of red, and long shadows. This is especially useful if you're trying to capture waterscapes or landscapes with a considerable amount of water in them, such as lakes, ponds or rivers. The refelctions caused by this light are absolutely magnificent. Later, when the light turns more yellow than red, is also a good time to capture natural-light portraits. This is also applicable for sunsets and evenings.
"In this picture, the red/yellow hues are dominant and give a very warm and fresh feeling to the photograph."

In late mornings and towards midday, the long shadows give way to short ones and the light turns yellowish. This is particularly a very good time to capture landscapes, and especially ones that have mountains or buildings in them. The strong light and short shadows mean that you'll have a better lit scene and won't have to worry about unwanted shadows and dark areas.

"The strong, vertical light minimizes unwanted shadows and produces good contrast. Consequently, all the key areas of the photograph are lit up."

Late evenings and nights are playgrounds for lightplay, especially in urban areas and roadways. To capture this light, you'll need to incorporate long exposure times and steadiness. A tripod is an absoulte must in these situations, because the slightest motion of the camera will give you different results. Theere are always exceptions, of course. Setting a long esposure time in your camera and moving it around wildly in an urban scene can generate stunning abstract light-forms.

"The plethora of different light sources, coupled with the environmental darkness produces a very eye-catching composition."

Windows are another very, very, very useful and superior 'sources' of light. The light diffused through windows, curtains and windowblinds makes for amazingly moody photographs. The best portraits and still-life photographs are taken in the natural light flooding through windows. The glass softens the light pouring in and makes for gentle highlights and soft shadows- the perfect setting for a portrait!

"The light between the blinds creates a pattern on the subject, and enhances the mood of the photograph."

"Here, light from the window itself is the subject. This setting leaves a lot to the imagination and creates a very sombre mood."

"The soft light from the window (not in picture) casts equally soft shadows and creates gradients on the objects. This, in turn gives off a calm, soothing ambience."

We will now move to the exposure part of this tutorial. Wikipedia defines exposure as "In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking a photograph."

Knowing how long to expose a particular image is an art, or even a science that has to be learnt by experience. We will not indulge into a lot of details here, because technical details will not be useful to beginners in any way and will most probably confuse and scare off most people.

Now, letting in exactly the right amount of light is very important in a photograph. If you expose a photograph too long, then you'll end up with blown out highlights. If you expose it less than necessary, you'll end up getting a dark and dull photograph.
"A badly exposed photograph."

Keep in mind that

more light = less exposure
less light = more exposure

Long exposure times produce better results in night-time photographs while less exposure times are essential in daylight photography.

This concludes part 2 of the series. Next time, we'll learn more about Macros!

TIPS:

1. If you're using a digital camera, always change the white balance setting according to the amount/type of light. This makes sure you get the colours in your photo right.
2. Always try and experiment with different angles to get more dynamic results.
3. Watch out for different light effects, like light streaming through canopies or reflected off clouds. Keep your camera with you at all times.

All images used are either mine or free for use for non-profit purposes, as stated by their respective owners.