qualities of light

Watch this introduction to hard vs soft light for beginners

Feb 6, 2020 by John Aldred 2 Comments

Understanding light, how it works, and the effect it can have on your subject is one of the fundamental principles of photography. It basically determines how everything in every photograph you will ever shoot appears to the camera. One of the basic foundations of light is understanding its “quality”.

Part of that quality is the hardness or softness of light. In this video, Matt from the A-Team walks us through the differences between hard and soft light and the different ways we can soften the light blasting into our scene.

Natural Light Photography – Not Just For Uncle Bob and Moms on Maternity Leave Any More

May 22, 2014 by JP Danko 9 Comments

I will admit that I am a little snobby when it comes to anyone who proclaims to be a “natural light photographer”. To me “natural light photographer” essentially equals “beginner that doesn’t know how to use light”.

However, with a little influence from a certain ruthless stock editor ;) some of my work has been evolving into a more natural and organic look, and I have to admit I am really starting to enjoy the simplicity!

In this article, I am going to describe how I used natural light to photograph this series of photos of a woman practicing the cello and discuss some of the characteristics of natural light photography.

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

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