This past week or so, the light on the east coast, particularly NJ, has been quite awful. There has been so much cloud cover, rain and a Nor’easter this past Friday. We are expecting to be hit with yet another Nor’easter this Wednesday. March has come in like a LION!
Being a natural light photographer, you can imagine the difficulties the lack of light can cause. For the most part, during the winter months, my photography is primarily taken on the weekends, since I’m home during more of the day time hours. However, the past two weekends have been a bit difficult.
Any type of photography requires one to learn about light. Light is essential to photography, you can’t have a photo without it. The type of light you prefer is really an art, you must study how it affects the subject you are photographing, whether it’s people, things or landscapes. You MUST know how the light will affect what you are photographing, not all light is the same. The time of day and the weather play a huge role in how a photograph will turn out. That’s why it’s so very important to study the light and to learn how to use it to make for the perfect photograph.
My friend Carolyn, of Sixteen Miles Out, and I were discussing the lack of light I have been experiencing and how I had begun to use my flash to compensate for the lack of light. Now, I will say up front, I am not too versed in flash photography. Flash photography is an entire type of photography all of it’s own, and I am not very good at it. Carolyn and I decided to do an experiment and link our blogs so you can see how each of us interpret and use light in our photographs. Please take a look at her photographs here.
I decided to try and photograph the same basic setup demonstrating a few photographs each with a different lighting situation. In each of these photographs, the exposure was not touched in post editing.
In my opinion, the natural light photographs are clear winners, (I prefer the third with ISO 500). Even at ISO 500, there is no noticeable noise, the photo looks more natural, less harsh shadows, clearly my favorite. In my opening photo for today’s blog, “Be Still & Know” this photo was taken on Sunday which was quite the opposite from Saturday, just a wonderful day for natural light. Just enough diffused light which made for some absolute beautiful photography!
I hope you weren’t too bored with the technical side of photography. I’ll see you back here next week for some natural light photographs.
Until then . . .
Copyright 2021 Debra Nancy photography
A visual storyteller. I use flowers, tea cups, cake plates and various props to tell still life stories. I grew up in the city, but I have lived in the suburbs for over 30 years. Living close to the beach and a local small village has given me the opportunity to tell my story through photographs.
I like the idea of using the same setting with different ISO settings. I will have to experiment with this. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks Gerri. I would love to see your post. Have fun with it.
Beautiful and fun Debra!
Just stumbled your blog Debra. Wow you are full of inspiration!
Thanks so much. I had forgotten I wrote this and had to refresh my memory. Thank you for commenting and your kind words.