The importance of light in photography

Even the rookie photographer knows light is crucial to capturing a beautiful image. So here are a few of the things I’ve learnt about the best times and ways to photograph with light and the importance of light in photography.

1. The most common tip is to photograph in the golden hour. This is an hour before sunset or the hour after sunrise. It truly is a magical time for photography. The sun is soft and casts such a flattering light whether you are taking landscapes or portraits. The photo below is an example of photography at the golden hour. The backyard was beautifully done, but you cannot capture it completely until that perfect moment.

As you can see you get a lot of detail in the sky. It is not over blown as it would have been if the photo was taken in the middle of the day. This not only works in commercial photography but family photography as well. The photo below is one I took of my family. when shot at the golden hour the result is a highly dynamic image. The detail in the sky is beautiful and interesting and in my opinion it really makes the subjects pop. Though it is not a natural photographic image it is much closer to what you would see if you were standing there.

2. My favourite time to shoot would have to be blue hour. This is the period of time directly before sunrise or after sunset. It is commonly known as dusk. It is a great time to shoot cityscapes or architecture with night lighting. As the sky gets darker the lights really coming to life and start to glow.

This image I took for a customer of a landscape job they did. As you can see the lights really come to life with the darkening sky. I made sure the homeowner turned on every light possible including the ones in the house. This prevents any areas from looking dead. Instead the image glows. The reflection in the pool definitely adds to this effect as well.

This truly is just the beginning of using light in photography, I do have plans to expand on this in future posts. If you have any questions please comment below, I’d love to hear from you!