Using Color and Lighting to take Engaging Photographs

Combining color and lighting can be a useful tool when trying to tell a story through imagery. Knowing how to control the brightness of a subject or the overall colors within a scene is essential when trying to create visual narratives. This can be done by altering camera settings, capturing variations of a composition, using external lighting or color elements, and much more.

Definitions

“Colors are impacted in photography by various factors, including the time of day, time of year, seasons, light, weather, and camera skills and equipment. A photographer needs to understand where colors come from and how they’re viewed. They should also comprehend how light can shape and shift color.” (blog.motifphotos.com)

“Photographic lighting refers to how a light source, artificial or natural, illuminates the scene or subject that is photographed. Photographers can manipulate the positioning and the quality of a light source to create visual effects, potentially changing aspects of the photograph such as clarity, tone and saturation to create an accurate rendition of the scene.” (en.wikipedia.org)

Examples of Color and Lighting in Photography

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  • Dominant color isolates the subject
  • Color contrast focuses the viewer on the subject in the middle of the image
  • Walking paths allow adds a secondary subject to focus on

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  • The mood of a picture with the same subject changes based on color temperature
    • Warm colors may convey a more welcoming atmosphere
    • Cool colors may convey a more sterile or uninviting environment
  • Changing color temperature can be achieved through white balance or editing software

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  • Uses a variety of color schemes well
  • Warm colors of the red and orange leaves are at the focus
  • Cool colors of the evergreen leaves and blue sky are not as bright
    • Complimentary to the warm colors of the leaves
  • Grey road provides an interesting visual element in the foreground that contrasts the leaves

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  • Various portrait lighting angles illustrates how changes in lighting direction can change mood
  • Studio lighting allows for complete control of how lighting will affect the subject
    • Can be useful when trying to exaggerate drama in a photo
  • The same effect cannot always be achieved with natural light, but can be recreated similarly with the proper tools and experimentation

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  • Angle of sun or cloud cover can vary the effects of natural lighting in scenes
    • Low sun angle seen here causes long shadows and warmer colors
      • Occurs in the few hours after sunrise or before sunset
    • High sun angles will produce cooler colors and shorter shadows
      • Occurs during the midday when the sun is highest
    • Cloud cover can make scenes neutral in color and lack shadows
  • Natural light can useful or distracting depending on situation
    • Produces inviting warmth and interesting shadows here
    • Can overexpose/underexpose or make subjects look too warm or cold depending on intentions

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  • Using interesting lighting conditions may convey clearer messages
    • The other side of the subject is most-likely well lit with warm colors from sunset
      • The background from that angle may be distracting
    • “Backlighting” used instead to create a silhouette of the subject
      • Can simplify the scene separate subject from background, and convey message more easily

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  • Subjects are both well-lit despite contrasting skin tones
  • Shows importance of proper lighting when dealing with portrait shooting
    • Darker lighting would underexpose the rightmost subject
    • Brighter lighting would overexpose the leftmost subject
    • Doesn’t hide any facial features in shadows or highlights
  • Backdrop color in portraits should usually distinguish itself from the subjects