by Jason Elias Here's How to Use 'Lighting' (Part 1 of 6)
“Light is a principal beauty in building.” - Thomas Fuller
“There is nothing ugly…light, shade and perspective will always make it beautiful.” - John Constable
“She may well have (beauty)…in the dusk with a light behind her.” – W. Gilbert>
You and I, we are the photographers. And whether we just snap a shot or two when on vacation or spend the equivalent of Ecuador’s GDP every year on film and gear, we are the same - the people who smell the film when we first open it, the crackpots with the wide-eyed enthusiasm in the photo section of the book store, the chaps who riffle obsessively through all our shots from the lab checking for any winners. We have the passion for this expressive art form so easy to find we can buy it in line at the drug store. Of course, that passion that runs in us us, like so many creative forms, often veers towards madness and its most endearing manifestation, obsession. So we find ourselves saving teetering stacks of photo magazines, pulling the car over on vacation to get the shot of “that weird-looking dog”, and inevitably racking up the credit cards on lenses, tripods, scanners, film, lights, bags, processing and prints. It’s a passion that we don’t expect many to understand, much less tolerate (there are only so many times a girlfriend will allow a camera shoved in her face before there are major repercussions).
Subject, Composition & Lighting.
The difference between a 'good shot' and a 'great shot' can be found using these three important elements.
Now, as the photographers, we usually have a camera stashed somewhere close and so we’re like people who own pick-up trucks around moving time. Drunken Dutch exchange-student Mary wants a shot of the new quilt square she hacked together out of semaphore flags? We get the call. Our friend Phil wants a promo shot for his new “sausages-of-the-world” juggling show? Yeah, we’ll do it. Great Aunt Josepha (from the old country) has a burn on her tortilla that resembles the face of Jesus? We’ll be over later.
The thing is, as much we like to complain about it (who doesn’t love to justifiably complain?), once we finally get over to Aunt Josepha’s, not only do we shoot the immaculate tortilla but we prop some candles in back to add the “right touch of mysticism”. Because you see, we’re part of a special community made up of everyone from the most famous fashion shooter to the pimple-faced kid behind the counter at the photo-mat - that creatively exhilarating club where we are able to construct and express how we personally perceive the world.
We also know because of our shooting that there is a huge difference between a good shot and a great shot. Take a look at one of Steve McCurry’s photo books. Check out James Nachtwey’s work. Ever seen Irving Penn’s stuff? It’s pretty damn impressive. And if Great-Aunt Josepha called them (if perhaps you were unavailable due to concert tickets), how might they do it differently? Well, you’ve already established your creative credentials by manipulating elements that make up a great shot. First you found a good subject (who doesn’t like tortillas?) Then you moved stuff around to get a good composition (ahh, the symbolism of the candle). Is there anything we missed?
Yes. There’s a third and final element that is just as important as Subject and Composition but seems to get less airtime than Michael Dukakis. And it’s what this monthly column is going to concentrate on. So what is it, this magic bullet, this wizard behind the curtain? So glad you asked (‘cause it’s how I suckered TGP into paying for a few extra sushi dinners a month). It’s Lighting, and whether you realize it or not, you use it in every shot you’ll ever take.
