Drawing with Light

The Magic Behind Every Photograph

The morning light shines in through the kitchen window and is filtered through my hair, giving it a warm tone and making it seem like a golden lens flare dancing in my peripheral vision. It puts a smile on my face.

Light

I love it. Hunt it. Crave it. Both as a human being and as a photographer. Like a moth, I am drawn to it—I can’t stop myself. It makes me feel energized and alive, and it is a strong driving factor in my decision to take a photo.

The word “photography” literally means “drawing with light”. The word was supposedly first coined by the British scientist Sir John Herschel in 1839 from the Greek words phos, (genitive: phōtós) meaning “light”, and graphê meaning “drawing or writing”.

As photographers we are drawing with light.

This is why light is perhaps the most important aspect of photography. You can have the most stunning scenery, model, or subject in front of you, but if the light is, quote-unquote, “bad,” it won’t be a good photo. On the other hand, good light (we’ll get into what that means) can turn the most mundane scene or object into something stunning.

All the individual settings of a camera—shutter speed, aperture, and ISO—control the amount of light we let into our cameras. As creators, we can set the mood and feeling of a photo with the help of light.¹

What is good and bad light?

I guess this is partly subjective, and in a sense, really hard to explain—unless you’re going down the very technical route of a perfectly exposed photograph and analyzing histograms. But that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I mean light in a more abstract, yet tangible and visible—perhaps creative—way.

Personally, I love warm, golden backlight and lens flares, while others use lens hoods and work their hardest to avoid flares in their shots. And shadow play on a wall for portraiture? That makes me giggle and jump up and down with excitement.

To me, good light is what helps a subject truly be seen in a photograph. It tells a story and adds that extra bit of magic. I suppose I feel that way because, in our day-to-day lives, we don’t often see the world bathed in golden light and shimmering lens flares. That’s why I love it so much.

Something as simple as spreading butter onto freshly baked bread (magic in itself) is elevated when captured in that first golden light of the morning. And yes, with lens flares, of course.

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Objectively speaking, I suppose “bad” light would be when there’s simply not enough of it to properly capture what you want to photograph. But dark images aren’t automatically bad.

In fact, I love dark and moody images with very little light. It’s an effective way to tell a story and create a different mood in a photograph.

there is very little light in these images, but what is there is enough

So, where does that leave us?

Well, in a more abstract sense, I would argue that “bad light” is when it’s not the right light for the story you want to tell or the feeling you want to convey.

Take this photo of these glass cabins in northern Finland as an example. I was there on a tourism job and took this first photo during the day. The light is strong, and the shadows are harsh. Yes, it shows the landscape and the cabins quite well. But I don’t feel anything when looking at it.

It’s mostly an informational photograph.

Just after the sun had set, as blue hour crept in, I decided to take another photo. In this one, I can feel how cozy and quiet these cabins were—how they let you sleep among the trees and become one with the stillness of nature.

So I suppose it comes down to finding the right light for the right subject and the story we want to tell. I’m sorry I can’t just say, “this is the right light,” and be done with it. But that’s also why I love photography so much. It comes back to the hunt—the excitement of chasing good light, or the joy when it just… happens.²

I guess this post is an ode to light. Because dang, nothing makes me feel more alive. Just like nature literally needs light in order to live (photosynthesis for the win!), I need light in order to create.

But most of all, I hope this post taught you something and inspired you to really see light and capture it. Go chase it!

Live slow and stay wild / Rania

Oh and hop over to my chat, I would love to see a photo
of yours where you absolutely love the light.

1. And color, which I will talk about in a different post.

2. Incidentally this is also why I love foraging for mushrooms.