The importance of light in photography

I didn’t realize how important light was to my vision of photography until recently – when it became apparent that I was deeply attracted by photographs using light in a powerful, meaningful way. Of course, one could argue that photography is light, and in essence it would be true. Exposure is about capturing a certain amount of light through one’s lens – and light is at the core of the making of photographs.

Beyond that technical truth, however, mastering light in one’s photography is far from being an easy task. In fact, I would argue that many photographers do not use light to their advantage, especially in street photography. But let’s start with the beginning: how does one “see” light?

Light is such a troubling concept. It can be as obvious as a source of light, whether natural (the sun), or artificial (flash), and as ephemeral as the slight contrasts in tones between a darker façade and a lighter subject. Light can be best understood in opposition to dark – with anything in between being shades of dark and shades of light. Seeing light is thus being able to see those contrasts as if you were taking pictures in black and white, not in color. When looking at a scene, ask yourself: are the contrasts of light interesting enough? Do they support my story, highlight my subject?

The human mind sees and perceives in many ways, but it is useful to understand the role of light in this regard.  Light has three major impacts on how people will perceive the components of your images, and thus of your stories:

·         The human mind is first attracted to the point of highest contrast in a photo or a painting – by that I mean, where the difference between light and dark tones is highest. Thus your subject should ideally be placed where the highest contrast occurs.

·         Light objects convey more weight than their darker counterparts. It means that smaller light objects will easily attract the eyes – and if they’re not your subject, you should be careful to not allow them to distract viewers from your story.

·         Finally, light has an impact on the overall mood. Light spaces conveys lighter mood, dark spaces will bring up feelings such as isolation, loneliness, sadness more easily. Have you ever noticed how dark negative space and light negative space can make you feel differently? Well, this is it.

Let’s test this newly acquired knowledge on the picture below. Light here plays a significant role in defining the subject of the photo: the point of highest contrast is clearly put on the subject, makes it a clear point of focus for viewers. Another point of interest is the overall mood here: the huge negative space created by the wall is lighter in tones than the subject. The overall effect is rather positive: I wanted to convey a feeling of determination, not of isolation and loneliness.

Learning to capture light in a meaningful way is tough, and by no means an easy fate. But once you understand the impact of the smallest variations in your photo, you become more apt to control and use light to your advantage. 

Determination

It is not about following or breaking the rules of composition: It is about learning to interpret them

Most of you must have heard that in order to create strong compositions in your photographs, you should be following the rules of composition. Most of you must also know that strong pictures can also be the result of breaking those very same rules – and that this is especially true in street photography.

My personal opinion about rules is not to understand whether we break or follow them, but how we interpret them.

I will explain: to me, rules are inherent to a good composition - but the mistake that we all make is to apply the rules without understanding the principles behind them, and in particular their impact on how people perceive the components within the image, and thus the story.

One example: It is being said that the photos should follow the rules of third. It is also being said that symmetry in a photo can be a strong composition element. Well, one cannot have both in fact: your picture will be either symmetric and harmonious, or asymmetrical and dynamic.

So how can we follow rules that contradict themselves? Let me answer that for you: it is not about “following” the rules, it is about knowing what effect leads to what emotions, feelings, and how you can manipulate the mind of a viewer. 

Some of you will stop at the word “manipulation”: and think that street photography should not be about manipulation! And there, you would be wrong. Every picture manipulates the viewer into seeing something. It is not a mere representation of the reality. It is a conscious construct of that very reality. Photos with no message, no stories, no conscious meaning are devoid of life and pointless. These are vacation snapshots…or worse…But the truth is: they will leave no impact on you. They will not change you, they will not make you feel anything. Showing the reality as it is, with no composition to frame this reality, is like saying nothing. No one will fight for those pictures; no one will remember them.

Now that we have agreed on the value of composition as a way to frame the reality to give it sense and meaning, we can move forward with our analysis of the rules. What are rules for? They are tools meant to better convey a story. Let’s discuss one major rule that I have broken with this picture, and the impact of breaking this rule.

First rule of composition: make people enter the frame, not exit the frame. In fact, letting people enter the frame conveys more importance to your subject. When applying that rule, the subject is seen as “owning” the story. Let’s think about what it means to break this rule: the subject is given less importance, and the overall feeling is that the subject doesn’t control the scene and the environment. On the mind of the viewer, it can have two potential effects:

The first is a feeling of unbalance: the subject is on the edge, and has almost left. Normally, with people entering the frame, the mind will simply assess the current situation, will review the path to be traveled, and will create a story around this. But when the subject is in fact leaving the frame, where else can the mind goes? It has to return to the beginning of the path – and thus assess the way the person has come, or it goes beyond the frame. In both cases, there is tension – tension in not knowing where the subject is going, tension in only seeing the way it had come (thus the past).

The second effect is to change the story being told. With a subject leaving the frame, the emphasis is put on one of two things: either the way that has already been traveled, either the unknown destination. The story is not anymore about the subject being part of a scene; it is about, for example, the fleeting essence of time and life – the fear of stepping up into the unknown,

If you ever want to use compositions in support of your stories, you need to understand all of it – not the rules for the sake of rules, but for the purpose of telling a story. This is why understanding the principles behind the rules is so important: one cannot shape a story without understanding how the form (the composition) helps create meaning (the story). They go hand in hand together. One cannot exist without the other.

Marie

View fullsize

Night dream