Table of Contents
Indoor Natural Light Photography
The change of indoor light is complicated. Outdoor weather conditions, the height of the house, the size of doors and windows, the number and orientation of doors and windows, the distance of objects from doors and windows, the color depth of indoor walls and furniture, and whether there are tall trees and buildings outside doors and windows will affect the light receiving of the subject. The above factors should be comprehensively considered when shooting.
Characteristics of Indoor Light
- The light is soft but the illumination is uneven.
Indoor light comes from doors and windows. Although it has a certain directionality, it is scattered light rather than direct light, so it is softer than direct sunlight. The distance from the door and window, the change in the amount of light received by the scene is different, not as uniform as the light under the shadow of a sunny day outdoors.
- The difference in light ratio is large, and the contrast is extremely strong.
The light-receiving conditions of the light-receiving parts and shadow parts of the scene are quite different, sometimes exceeding the tolerance of the photosensitive film.
- The brightness changes greatly.
As the distance between the scene and the doors and windows increases, the brightness of the scene decreases sharply.
Precautions for Indoor Natural Light Photography
The above-mentioned characteristics of indoor natural light put forward special requirements for shooting.
- The contrast of the scenery should be effectively controlled. Reflectors are often used to fill in the shadows, or flashes are used as auxiliary light.
When using the flash as the auxiliary light, the brightness of the flash should be controlled, and the flash should not be too strong, which will destroy the effect of indoor natural light, and the film will be out of the atmosphere of indoor natural light.
- The brightness of indoor natural light is very different from outside light, and the naked eye sometimes cannot get the correct amount of exposure. It is best to meter the light to determine the exposure. When there is no metering equipment, the principle of exposure should be more than less, so that the photosensitive film can be fully exposed.
The human eye is very adaptable to light, and it often overestimates the brightness of indoor light.
- Effective use of tripod and slow shutter
If the shooting scene is static, you should fix the camera on a tripod and use the slow door for long-term exposure to record the strong scene atmosphere of the indoor natural light.
- Avoid direct sunlight shining on the subject through doors and windows.
The difference in brightness between direct sunlight and indoor light is too great, far beyond the latitude of the photosensitive film, and cannot accurately record the gradation and tone of the scene.
Use of Flash in Photojournalism
As early as the 1970s, electronic flashes with high luminous intensity and compact size were developed to work in sync with cameras. However, the opinion that flashing lights destroy the news scene has always existed in the photojournalism community. Many photographers try to shoot without flash.
The unreal and unnatural causes are not only related to the flash, but also related to the photojournalist’s light-using skills.
Photographers must be aware of the pros and cons of flash. In many environments, it is impossible to obtain ideal photos without flash. In addition, using flash on certain occasions can improve the visual effect of the picture and even take some interesting pictures.
Note When Using Flash:
- Guide number
It is clear that the guide number of the flash used, that is, the intensity of the light emitted by the flash in an instant, is set during the design and production of the flash.
- Flash distance
Consider the aperture size and flash distance to determine the exposure value. The light intensity of the flash changes with the distance, the distance between the flash and the subject increases, and the degree of light attenuation is the reciprocal of the square of the distance.
- Choose the shutter speed
When using flash in photojournalism, first pay attention to choosing the shutter speed.
In order to ensure that the flash fires exactly at the moment the shutter is opened, the shutter speed and the synchronization speed of the flash must be coordinated. For example, high-speed flash can freeze the athlete’s momentary actions in sports photography, and photographers don’t have to worry about shaking the camera to take unclear pictures.
Tips for Using Flash:
Correspondingly reducing the shutter speed can increase the exposure time of the film and compensate for the exposure to natural light. Combining the flash and slow shutter speed to shoot moving objects, it instantly freezes the movement of the subject while adding a sense of movement to the subject.
The second is to avoid direct light from the front. Use reflective lighting, or clip a white cardboard or diffuser that diffuses the light to make the light soft.
The flash light from the top or side of the camera will give direct light to the subject, and the strong shadows produced by the background will often ruin the picture.
The top light will produce unsightly shadows on the subject, and the use of flash as an auxiliary light source can eliminate the annoying shadows on the subject.
The flash can be used as a supplementary light source when the light is insufficient, but the shooting effect of the built-in flash or the external on-camera flash is not very good. Close-up shots of people will definitely appear to be too bright, causing overexposure of the face, and other problems.
For example, using flash for close-up portrait photography may also produce some purple fringing and red eyes, making the final photo effect unnatural.
Therefore, when shooting under bad lighting conditions, you can consider using a larger piece of white paper or foam board as a reflective fill light. The effect is much better than using the built-in flash to force the flash. Or combine the performance of the current digital camera to increase the sensitivity and shoot directly without a flash. So choose a scene with better light, and directly use the digital camera to turn off the flash to shoot, you can get a pretty good picture effect.