Definition of Lighting for Photography

Light is a fundamental part of photography. Photographers use light in their photographic compositions, sometimes taking advantage of the natural light of their surroundings and other times manipulating light sources to achieve the desired lighting effect.

Photographers use several different types of lighting in order to create the desired effect they are after. The two main types of lighting that photographers use are natural and artificial light. Within the two main types of light, there are other types of light to take into consideration.

Natural light is considered by many photographers to be the best type of lighting. Because natural light encompasses the entire light spectrum, there is little to no color distortion in the photograph. However, natural light is not constant; depending on the time of day, the position of the sun and cloud cover, the look of the light changes.

Artificial light is more consistent than natural light; however, not all artificial light sources work with the entire light spectrum and can alter how the colors in the photograph look. Types of artificial lights include tungsten, florescent and flash. When using artificial light, photographers will take steps to counteract the unwanted color distortion.

Controlling the direction of light is important in photography. Direct lighting hits the subject from one direction; it can be a great way to create strong high lights and shadows. Diffused lighting takes the light source and reflects it, so it hits the subject from multiple angles.

Often photographers will use filters to manipulate light further to their needs. To help reduce glare on a sunny day, a photographer may use a polarizing filter on his lens to keep the reflections from shiny surfaces from blowing out the subject she is photographing. Some filters only work with a specific spectrum of light; for example, infrared lenses. An infrared filter only lets in light in the infrared spectrum that it is not seen by the naked eye.