Tech Saturday – Light

The single most important ingredient to photography is stunning light for your subject. You cannot capture anything with great effect without the right light. I was editing my work for the last ten days or so, and found a number of images that simply would never have succeeded except for the light. I’m going to share some with you and make a comment about the light in each. The scene above was something I saw driving back from a sunrise shoot with Sherelene out at Dead Horse
Point State Park, near Canyonlands. The original image was color, but still very monochromatic,
so I converted it in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.0 to a good contrast range.

By contrast the image to
the right is the same kind
of condition, but the
color was much stronger,
thus I decided to leave it
as it was shot, in this case
the color works, but as
before the key is the light.

Both images below are
backlit, the trees in Bryce
and Sherelene shooting
at Balanced Rock. The
backlighting accents areas

of interest and makes the images pop. Below the sunrise at
Dead Horse Point State Park was just the right intensity to make the colors pop.

Time of day is also critical, early and late give that nice warm light that is so angular that it helps pull out all the texture, and thus sharpness. Below at Park Avenue in Arches National Park, the late afternoon light along with some nice puffy clouds did the trick…..

In your life, light is just as critical. Don’t walk in darkness, discover the one and only true source of light and life, Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

the pilgrim

*Photo Notes: D7000 and D3s.