We’ve looked at both daylight/sunlight and artificial light. This month, I’d like to discuss natural light.
Natural light is sometime referred to as available light. When I mention available light, I am referring to all types of lighting that occur naturally in a scene (with the exception of direct sunlight). Preferred by many photographers, it is free and produces near true-to-life colour and excellent detail.
When one mentions natural light, most people will generally think of light from a large window, such as in the following photos.
Taken with Nikon D70 at f/4.5, 1/40 sec., ISO 200
Taken with Nikon D90 at f/1.8, 1/60 sec., ISO 200
However, it is not always necessary to have a large window, although it certainly helps! Consider the following photo:
Taken with Nikon D90 at f/1.8, 1/60 sec., ISO 200
The only available light was from an average sized kitchen window. Fortunately, directly across from the window was a stainless steel refridgerator, which acted as a natural reflector!
Of course, this is not always the case. You may have to use your own reflector, either purchased or handmade, and position it opposite your light source to reflect onto your subject.
Sometimes, it is necessary to move closer to the light source, as I have below. (Granted, this handsome little fellow graces my kitchen window all the time…) You’ll notice that I’ve opened my aperture wide to f/1.8 to overcompensate from the backlighting from the window light.
Taken with Nikon D90 at f/1.8, 1/640 sec., ISO 200.
Sometimes, your available light will not come from a window, but a door! Our french doors leading out to our deck provide perfect lighting for photographing my layouts, cards and projects. You could also use patio doors, garage doors, etc…
Taken with Nikon D300s at f/1.8, 1/2500 sec., ISO 500
You may have noticed that almost all of the photos shown here, with the exception of the first one, were shot with an aperture of f/1.8. Because using existing light sometimes results in low-light situations, your best bet for capturing a properly exposed photo is to use a faster lens, such as a f/1.8 or f/1.4. If you don’t have a fast lens, don’t despair! You can see that it is possible to achieve a properly exposed image using a smaller aperture (remember: larger f/stop number (i.e. f/4.5) = small aperture…). However, prepare to adjust your ISO and shutter speeds to allow more light into your camera. If your shutter speeds are too slow, use a tripod to avoid camera shake.
Having said that, you’ll notice that in the last photo, my shutter speed is very fast to counter balance the wide-open aperture. I could have slowed the shutter speed down and used a smaller aperture, without having to use a tripod, but I wanted a very shallow depth of field for this image. Notice that the leaf and one petal is in focus, but the remainder of the image is blurred? This is the beauty of shooting in manual mode - you can manipulate your results to suit your needs!
So grab your camera, find a subject (preferably willing!) and hunt down some available light for this assignment!
Your August assignment:
Using the August tutorial as a guide, photograph a subject or object in natural/available light. Remember to play with reflectors to see the effect they have on your lighting. Have fun and experiment!! As always, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment on this post, or email me.
Deadline: 11:59 pm EST, August 31st, 2010
Please submit your photo, using our submission form only, for a chance to be entered into our draw to win an awesome prize. A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline. Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw BEFORE submitting. Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will not be posted on the blog, or entered into the draw. PLEASE remember that your photos should be sized to 72dpi, and at least 500 pixels wide. Don’t forget to include your camera settings, including camera used, f/stop, aperture and ISO for your image in the Comments section of the submisson form! Submissions that do not include this info may not be posted on the blog.
This month’s sponsor is SEI! Check out this sweet prize pack from their Moravia line!
August 2010 Prize Pack by SEI
Thanks for playing along this month – Happy Clicking!
Sue has been behind a camera for more than 25 years, working professionally as a photographer for the last ten years. While she began the hobby of scrapbooking in 2000, as a complement to her photographer career, it soon grew into a rival passion! Sue loves to enlarge one of her favourite photos and make it the focal point of her page, using her supplies to bring the focus onto her photography. She has, in recent years, turned more to scrapbooking "moments" rather than "events", choosing to leave her children more insight into her point of view of their lives.
I just have a question, can natural light also be outdoors? Or is this a challenge for indoor photos?
I would consider natural light outdoors as daylight (not direct sunlight), as discussed in the June tutorial. For this tutorial, I’d like to see you work on using indoor natural lighting.
Great article. I love using natural light and am trying to focus on using natural reflectors on my subjects.
I love reading your blog and trying out whet I am learning from your articles.
I love using natural light for photos. Thanks for a great tutorial.
Thanks for the tips…I STILL have trouble remembering all this F-stop stuff!
I have a huge wall of south facing windows in my living room — the perfect spot for photographing my kids, my living space & all my layouts I produce.
love the photos.
Thanks for the blog hop that is highlighting all these great tutorials
I never thought of trying a reflector to reflect the natural light on my subject. I will definately have to give that a try! Thanks!
wow! I didn’t even know of the CS photography blogs!! I can’t wait until I have time to browse all the great tutorials!! this one was really informative!! thank you so much!
I love you tutorials but have not submitted a photo yet. I often mean to but then loose track of time!
I start school next week for my photography course so I can expand in that area and look forward to learning about all the iso’s and technical terms you always talk about on here. I have wished I could participate in your challenges but hopefully after this course I will be able to
Hey Sue,
I loved this article! I really love using natural light – especially outdoors. You have inspired me to get to know my camera better and play with the settings on my camera!
Thanks
Great information laid out in straight forward understandable language. At some point, apature, ISO, and shutter speed will all come naturally right?
I love using natural light as much as possible, especially enjoy the effect on lighting up my kids!
I love taking pictures out side – the only thing i always do wrong is have the sunlight in the subjects eyes. You’d think i’d learn by now.
Thanks for the tips! Although I didn’t post anything this time, I did do the assignment and thoroughly enjoyed it!
So we leave a comment here for the blog hop? Natural light – my favourite to work with!
I have been really working on this. I find that if I go below 1/500, getting crisp images is harder. even at iso 800, and then grainy is an issue. But I am working on it and love learning!!
Great tips, thanks for them
I enjoyed the challenge this month. I will have to try a reflector some time soon.
I really can’t wait to try more natural lighting pics. The sun light doesn’t seem as harsh these days
I am already experimenting….. excited to try to use a reflector.
I love taking pictures using natural light…even though I just have a point and shoot, sometimes I catch a wonderful shot that looks so professional. Thank you for the tips!
great tutorial. natural light is so much nicer!
Hey! I enjoyed the challenge this month. First time i have try a reflector and really like it.
Great tutorial on natural. Natural light is wonderful when you can use it.
If I can only get my 2 year old to stand still in front of the window long enough to get a shot
After reading this turuorial I think I should to go back and read all your tutuorials. Great tips, thanks!!
I can’t wait to make my own reflector now and play with it!!
I might actually be starting to finally understand all the f-stop and aperture stuff!! Cool! Thanks for the tutorials!
Thanks Sue for the tips! I will be letting the light in now
Oops had the wrong email posted sorry for the double post.
Awesome tutorial. Thanks!!!
This is a great tutorial!!! I’m going to have to try this with my indoor pics. I’m always taking pictures through my front window of the birds in my neighbor’s yard. I love blue jays. TFS!!!
Great tutorial! I really enjoy your coumn in CS, too.
I love using natural light at dusk. It’s such a short period of time, but produces amazing results!
Okay, so I only understood about … oh, a half (or maybe less) of that tutorial. I am still trying to figure out what all the buttons and dials on my Rebel can do! But I CAN remember the reflection trick – thank you!
I still struggle with the f stops and trying to remember, but you did clarify it for me at Scrapfest in Kitchener in April…so it is really great to read your blog and continue to play
I have so much to learn, I am just a point and click person hoping my camera will do all the work for me.
I just love all the great tips!! Now that I have moved into a new house with bigger windows I will be utilizing some of them! Thanks.
Thanks for the tutorial. there is always so much to learn, but so much happens from practice and valuable tidbits of information from photographers willing to share. Much appreciated.
I so love natural light! Thanks for the tutorial!
My favourite photos are taken with natural light. Great tutorial.
I enjoyed participating in this tutorial.
I obviously need take my Canon off the Auto setting. I’m going to play with my aperture setting and see what happens. Thanks for sharing!
Love your monthy lessons & I love natural light!
Thank you for your articles – I always look forward to something new I can learn to do with my camera, or how to do things better. I haven’t played with reflectors, but think that it will definitely be on my mental “to -do” list. By the way, loved the picture of all the teacups – what a great collection!
Awesome tips thanks!
Thanks for all the great tips! I can’t believe the difference it makes when you use a reflector.
Great tutorial! Nothing better than natural light! TFS!
Will need to think more about the placement of my items and take advantage of reflectors.
Loving that little birdie in the window. I need to start practicing with reflectors.
Great tutorial, have played around and tried many shots using what we were taught!
I rarely use flash and loved the tips on how to make my natural light even better. I find that if you use natural light its a much more rewarding picture.
Thanks so much for an informative tutorial!
will continue to check out your tutorials. love natural llight. am hoping to spend more time playing with my camera and not always use automatic.
it seems i can only leave a comment here and not on your regular blog
Wow,great tips.Natural light is so much niicer.
I love playing with light, but not so good at it. I always have trouble with taking pictures inside a large hall with florescent light especially. I bought a Balens to help me get the correct white balance. I also love taking pictures inside a church with stained glass windows. It gives the picture a very golden glow. Can be really neat.
Great tutorial, Sue!! I can definitely tell a difference between using available light and forcing it with my flash. My photos always turn out better…. One of these months I’ll get my act together and send you a photo or two
Really enjoyed the tutorial on light.
Good morning, i have to just say thank you for the last year of tutorials. i am still learning and love reading what you are teaching always
Great article. Love using natural light!
Natural light is my friend!
I always prefer natural light to flash photography. Unfortunately I have gotten away from using it as I tend to just shoot on automatic settings. This article is a kick in the pants for me to get snapping with different forms of light.
Good stuff! Maybe I’ll be able to learn how to use my awesome camera after these tutorials!
I have the hardest time with understanding aperture more than anything else – this one I bookmarked for sure!!! thanks!!
I am so glad that I took the time to read this. Also excited that I found this blog hop….photography is an area that I want to learn more about! It’s sure to enhance my scrapbooks!
I love natural light! Thanks for the GREAT tutorial!!!
Thanks for the great tutorial!
Lighting is always a challenge for me…thanks for the helpful tutorial!
Great tips! I love using natural light way better even indoors if possible!
Natural light is always best!!
Thanks for the tips!
I am glad to get tips on taking better pictures
Wow, Do I ever need these tutorials! I am so looking forward to seeing what else I can learn from you girls! Thanks so much!