Photography lighting

Photography lighting – Lighting is a key factor in creating a successful image. We can say that light is everything in photography. The job of a photographer is to capture light into an still image. Lighting determines not only darkness and brightness, but also tone, mood and the atmosphere. Therefore it is necessary to control and manipulate light correctly in order to get the best texture, vibrancy of color and luminosity on your subjects. By distributing shadows and highlights accurately, you can create stylized professional looking photographs. As photographers all the time we spend fiddling with white balance, thinking about exposure, contrast, tone is basically all about trying to best capture the light we see that reflects back off our subject. Without good light, even the most compelling subject won’t make for an interesting photograph.

As photographers we use light to convey feeling. If we want a story to convey a feeling of romance for example we use soft, warm light. If we want to convey a story that tells of a life that has been hard, challenging and difficult, then we might use hard light with deep shadows. It’s all in the way you use light that matters. Would you photography a prison block and a wedding the same way? Of course not. Because they tell different stories.

Natural light comes in four basic varieties: soft light, front-light, sidelight and backlight. To make effective images, you must match your subject with the most appropriate illumination.

When it comes to artificial lighting, it comes in the form of continuous light, like LED lights. This light is often reminiscent of daylight conditions. Flash is also artificial light. Depending on how you use these lights (i.e. direction and the angle you fire it from) you can create different effects.

LED lights are mostly used for video lighting, but in recent years there have been some advancements in technology that allow for brighter, cheaper LEDs. Nowadays LED lights are equally often used for still photography.

Yongnuo Store team have carefully selected both Yongnuo flashes and Yongnuo LED lights which are most often used for photography lighting. If you are Canon shooter, Yongnuo’s most popular flashes are Yongnuo YN600EX-RT, YN685, YN568EX II. If you use Nikon camera, take a look at Yongnuo YN568EX or YN560 IV flashes. Of course both Canon and Nikon shooters can use Yongnuo LED lights like Yongnuo YN300, YN600L, YN900 and other…