Photography & Lighting

Series Summary

Photography is the practice of making images by exposing film or another medium to a timed flash of light. The basic equipment used for photography has changed dramatically in the last decades, many people finding digital photography an inexpensive and creative hobby. We use photography as a means of communication worldwide: to sell things, to tell stories, capture memories, evoke passions, fight for causes, make new meanings, and inspire the imagination. Mastering the art of photography is a technical and challenging experience. Even with an automatic, digital camera, one has to learn how to frame a shot, choose a background, interact with the subject, use natural light, and select the right supplies and tools.

In this free video series, expert photographer James Flint gives you a crash course in pro photography. James will teach you about lighting, focus, and composition. You will find out how to measure for light, strategies for controlling the light in your photos, and tips for overcoming limited lighting. You will get advice on perspective and point of view as well. James gives info on focusing, when to choose manual over automatic, tricks and effects, and how to set up your depth of field. A full photographer's tutorial, all here.

Video Transcript

"One of the most important things in taking a photograph is determining your light. There's natural light versus artificial light, and there's also using your light as a subject, or using the light to accentuate your subject. As you can see in this photograph that I've taken here, the light is partially the subject, but the light is also used to accentuate the subject. Obviously, it's a wood scene with a path and some trees on the sides, but the way that the light is coming in from behind really shows, it brings out the trees, it has them standing as silhouettes, and it also accents the path in the back possibly giving the viewer the idea of what it might be like to walk down its path. You can also take photographs and use light as your subject. In this image here, you can see that I noticed how the light was crawling across the wall, and I wanted to make an image out of that. Again, I just want to show an example of how the light not only can be used to accentuate your subject, but it can be used as a subject. The light, like we said, it the most important thing when determining your photograph because it will depict if the image even comes through. It will depict what things you want to have the most priority on. So say you're shooting a subject in a dimly lit room, you're going to have to be very conscious of where your light is coming from, if it's artificial, light coming through a window or if it's a controlled light such as one of our strobes here in the background. It's just very important to think about the light. Honestly, it's the first thing I think about when taking a photograph, and I encourage you to do the same."