Photography Tips: Lighting

Digital photography tips: quick tips on lighting
Using lighting techniques properly can be the determinant factor in whether or not a photograph comes out looking incredible, or like garbage. Most digital cameras have built in flash mechanisms for lighting, but there is a lot more to properly lighting your photograph than simply using the built in flash mechanism.

Here are some quick tips on lighting for digital camera photography.

1) Angle of Light 
Take the current angle of light into careful consideration if you are planning to create a specific kind of effect with your lighting. Casting shadow over someone's face is an example of how powerful shadows can really be when used correctly. By paying attention to the angle of light, you can take advantage of other effects including depth, coloring and shadow. The angle of light can make the difference between a washed out front-lit photograph or a silhouetted back-lit photograph.

2) Sun Rays and Lighting Effects 
You can take advantage of rays of sunlight both indoors and outdoors to produce some spectacular results. Some great photography may even allow the actual rays of sunlight to be seen. The way to obtain an impressive sunlight picture is with a narrow aperture, which means a high flash coupled with a slow shutter speed.

3) Indoor vs. Outdoor
Indoor lighting and outdoor lighting are two very different things. Not only is outdoor lighting naturally much brighter in the right circumstances, but it also produces a much more natural feel in photographs. Indoor lighting has its purposes, but the yellow tint from the light bulbs can alter the desired lighting effects in your photograph and can produce something much different from what you expected. If you are looking for calm, natural all around lighting, outdoor lighting is ideal for most photography.

4) Silhouettes and Lighting 
Another excellent way to use lighting is to create a silhouette by using a significantly brighter light from behind the subject of the photograph than whatever is pointing at it head on. In other words, using a lighting source that is brighter than the flash of your camera and you should be fine. This way your camera is reading off the background rather than the subject, automatically adjusting its exposure level accordingly to create an outstanding silhouette of the photo's subject.

5) Know your flash settings
Regardless of whether you are shooting indoors or out, it is vital that you understand each of your camera's flash settings so that you can utilize them properly. For example, using flash outdoors is not going to benefit you much, but using a flash designed for areas with too much light, you may produce better results. Indoors, flash is almost always a necessity because it drowns out the yellow light from indoor lighting. Keep in mind that different flash types produce completely different results. When in doubt, take a picture using each different flash setting to see which is going to produce the most advantageous results.