Lighting is an important part of photography as it allows for different moods to be created through using different warm and cool tones. Changing the colour and tones of a photo is called  the quality of light and it is important in photography as it can make photographs much better and more pleasing.

A studio is a good place for photographers to get photos of a subject/subjects that needs to be contained as they can keep it all in one place rather than being outside where the subject(s) could go missing.

There are three different types of light:

• Directional
• Reflected
• Diffused

Directional lighting is usually a harsh light that travels in a specific direction and allows for darker shadows and brighter highlights. The closer to the subject the photographer gets, the more intense the highlights get and the darker the shadows are. The further away the subject is from the photographer, the softer the highlights and shadows will be on the subject.

Reflected lighting is where light bounces or reflects off an object and onto a subject to create a softer light. To create a balanced light across the subject, a white object such as polystyrene or a bed sheet can be used on the other side of the subject. The light from the reflected light will bounce off of the white object to create a soft light on the other side of the subject.

Diffused light is a type of light that is not harsh or direct, it is a much softer light that directional light is. To create a diffused light, soft boxes can be put over the light. This will create a much softer, less harsh light and will create less shadow on the subject which makes it great for portrait photography.

In order to take photographs with better quality light, a sync lead can be used. This creates a communication between the camera and the flash meaning when the shutter is pressed, the lights will flash, just like the flash on a normal camera. This is usually used with reflected light and diffused light instead of direct light as it will still be a much softer light that is created

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Below are a few images I took when experimenting with different lighting.

For these photos, diffused lighting and reflected lighted were used. It has created a softer light that has a slight shadow on one side which creates a better looking photo overall as it looks more natural and less artificial. Due to the lighting that has been used, the white backdrop has turned grey which again, creates a softer, less artificial look to the photographs. The combination of reflected lighting an diffused lighting allows for a better looking photo as the lighting isn’t as intense as using directional light. When directional light is used, an image can appear more 2D rather than 3D as the highlights are a lot more intense than the other types of lighting that can be used.