Light Utilization

Natural Light Techniques

Master the Charm of Different Time Periods

Golden Hour:

  • The hour after sunrise and before sunset, when light is soft and warm, adding dreamy colors to photos.
  • Shooting technique: Side lighting creates dimensionality, soft light reduces shadows, warm tones add emotion.

Blue Hour:

  • The brief period after sunset or before sunrise when the sky is deep blue and city lights begin to shine.
  • Shooting technique: Capture the color contrast between city and sky, extend exposure time for more details

Midday Light:

  • Though often considered non-ideal, it still has creative uses.
  • Shooting technique: Find naturally shaded areas; use strong contrast for black and white photos; shoot interesting shadow patterns under direct light.

Overcast Soft Light:

  • Clouds scatter sunlight, creating soft and even lighting.
  • Shooting technique: Ideal for portraits and details; colors appear more saturated; no need to worry about harsh shadows.

Avoiding Backlight Issues

Turning Challenges into Creative Opportunities

What is backlighting?

  • When the light source (usually the sun) is behind the subject, causing the subject to become a silhouette with lost details.

Common backlight problems:

  • Subject too dark or becomes a silhouette
  • Photo contrast too high
  • Lens flare and light spots
  • Automatic exposure mode fails

Creative solutions:

  • Use HDR mode - most modern phones have HDR functionality to balance bright and dark areas
  • Use flash fill - flash can be turned on even in bright daylight to add foreground light
  • Manually adjust exposure - tap on the dark area of your phone screen, then swipe up to increase exposure
  • Change shooting angle - slightly adjust position so the light source doesn't directly enter the lens
  • Creative silhouettes - deliberately expose for the background, letting the subject become a silhouette for dramatic effect