- Jermz Photography -

I wrote this nice little write up about lighting a few days ago, with every intention on posting it... Something to go along with our lighting theme...

However... Today I was thrown a curve ball and want to address this.

I try to infuse some humor into this blog - but this is not one of those posts.

Today I learned that a woman in our church passed away unexpectedly. It was a shock to everyone that knew her. I knew her name. I knew her face. She was always kind and said "hello" to us.

One of the first few posts I put on this blog was about an opportunity I had to shoot people at our church for their directory.

In the two months I've been shooting - every Sunday... I've had two different people pass away (unexpectedly!) that I've had the honor and privilege to shoot!

Through my simple quick head shots I've been taking every Sunday - I met Marion. I took her picture multiple times... all with her eyes closed! We joked about it. She went out of her way to say hello to my wife and I from there on out! It was only a few short weeks ago... but that small gesture left a big impact on our lives!

I mention all this because you never know how your pictures will impact someone... or better yet, how they'll impact you!

Marion and Tim will not be forgotten. They touched people's lives beyond what I'll ever know. I was blessed enough to capture their faces, if ever so briefly. Even if Marion blinked for all my shots of her.

Never underestimate the impact that shooting someone has!

- jermz

www.jermzphotography.zenfolio.com

Light: noun

Something that makes things visible or affords illumination: All colors depend on light.

Pretty important, huh? ALL colors depend on light.

pho·tog·ra·phy: noun

The process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemicalaction of light or of other forms of radiant energy, as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmicrays.

Why do I make a deal about this? Simple... without light you don't have a picture. You have darkness. Light is the single most important aspect of a picture.

You need to understand light if you want to succeed at photography. There is natural light, artificial light, a mixture of both...

It's kind of a big deal...

Light has three primary aspects about it, that as a photographer, you need to understand.

Direction, Quantity, Quality...

They are each important. Each can make or break a picture... and they work in harmony!

For this post we'll talk about DIRECTION. We'll cover the other two topics later.

Direction... Where's it coming from? This isn't like driving around with your dad, husband, brother, or other male that won't ask for them... no, no... Where is that light coming from?

This is Michelle. I shot her a few weeks ago. She is gorgeous; very defined features that really make her a great model. She also has a great personality that helps too!

For this picture I used one (BIG) soft box at camera right. It was about 45 degrees off the center of her face. This is probably classified as a Rembrandt light (the small "triangle" of light on her cheek, camera left, helps classify it).

See where the light is coming from? Camera right. There is a subtle shadow on her right (our left) cheek. This also gave a nice highlight to her hair (which had a tint of red in it by the way).

This is my wife. She is pretty. I love her. She looks good in pictures.

For this shot it was almost as simple as it could be - a Nikon SB900 flash on top of my Nikon D80 camera. I pointed the flash head upward and used the bounce card that comes with the flash. I shot it TTL. Straight on simple light. Notice her face is evenly lit, with only a small drop off (shadow) on her right side (our left). This wasn't a beauty shot, in fact it was a quick "Hey I wonder if my camera is setup right" -type shot. It was ;-)

Direction... It's important. It's where your light is coming from.

Think about a sunset picture for a minute... where is the light coming from? Yeah - directly in front of you!

Our subject (Rodney) in this one is just a silhouette. The direction of the light causes this. It's important, and not just when using flash or other artificial light sources!

Understanding where your light is coming from can add drama to a picture. Look back up at the picture of Michelle. That slightly darker shadow on breaking her face almost into two pieces. Drama. Emotion. Beauty! It can take a picture and put it on the edge of chaos.

This has been a very over simplification of the direction of light. There are books and books dedicated to light. If you want a good read, let me know, I can point a few out to you!