Lighting

by Megan Landry

When it comes to storytelling through photography and video, lighting is key, and there are many contributing factors to consider.

It all depends on the story you are trying to tell. Art is subjective, so technically speaking, there isn’t a “wrong” way to light a shot, but there are many conducive exercises you can learn and harness in order to control the setting around you and achieve specific results.

By manipulating light via colour, angles, highlights and shadows, different moods can be accomplished. The temperature of light may suggest time, climate or location. Warm yellow-based lighting for a midday tropical summer scene at the beach, versus cool blue-based lighting for a snowy winter scene at dusk.

The absence of light can be just as informative as the presence of it. By rivaling detail against blank space, deliberate overexposure or underexposure can be framed strategically to pull the viewer’s focus towards a subject. Dark walls and surfaces will absorb light whereas bright walls and surfaces will reflect it in other directions.

The direction of light can influence the personality of a subject or scene by accentuating certain characteristics. Long, sharp shadows cast from below may suggest depth and drama. This could be as simple as indicating fear by holding a flashlight under your chin as you recite a spooky story around a campfire.

Planned lighting in a controlled environment such as an indoor studio provides stability to your expectations. Whereas shooting outdoors in natural lighting is often less reliable and unpredictable. Weather-based factors like shadows from clouds, the position of the sun and the time of day must always be considered when shooting outdoors.

“The dark and the light, they exist side by side. Sometimes overlapping, one explaining the other. The darkened path is as illuminated as the lightened…”

— Raven Davies