Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography

Description

All good photographers eventually come to the con-clusion that the quality of light is one of the single most important “secrets” of great photography. Great landscapes depend on the combination of unique points of view and interesting natural light. Compelling portraits depend on lighting that reveals the human face in a unique way. Product photography is made alluring when imaginative lighting is used skillfully. In many instances, photographers need to add light to a photograph to make it pleasing. The methods photographers use to add light to an image have evolved over the years, and that evolu-tion has accelerated over the past ten years. When I started my career as a professional studio pho-tographer, we needed to use lights for every single shot we created. Our days in the studio revolved around de-signing lighting that emulated, and hopefully improved upon, the light found in the real world. We accumulated large collections of specialty lights, light modifying ac-cessories, and yards and yards of various fabrics meant to diffuse light rays. As my career progressed and changed, we started doing more and more photographs on location around the town and across the country. It was only natural to pack and carry all of the heavy-duty accessories we used in the studio out to these locations. After twenty some years, my back was aching and I no longer looked forward to taking the show on the road. Photography had become more about packing and port-ing and less about designing beautiful light.