📸Photojournalism I Unit 7 – Exposure and Lighting Techniques

Key Concepts in Exposure

• Exposure refers to the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor or film
• Three main factors control exposure: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO sensitivity
• Aperture controls the size of the lens opening, affecting depth of field and the amount of light entering the camera
• Shutter speed determines how long the camera sensor is exposed to light, impacting motion blur and exposure
• ISO sensitivity adjusts the camera's sensitivity to light, with higher ISO values allowing for better low-light performance but potentially introducing noise
• The exposure triangle illustrates the interplay between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO in achieving proper exposure
• Overexposure occurs when too much light reaches the sensor, resulting in bright, washed-out images
• Underexposure happens when insufficient light reaches the sensor, leading to dark, detail-lacking images

Understanding Light Sources

• Light sources can be categorized as natural or artificial
• Natural light includes sunlight, moonlight, and starlight
• Sunlight characteristics vary depending on the time of day and weather conditions (golden hour, blue hour, overcast)
• Artificial light sources include continuous lights (LED, tungsten, fluorescent) and flash (speedlights, studio strobes)
• Each light source has a unique color temperature, measured in Kelvin (K), which affects the overall color cast of the image
  • Warm light sources have lower color temperatures (candlelight, tungsten)
  • Cool light sources have higher color temperatures (daylight, flash)
• Light direction relative to the subject impacts the appearance of shadows, texture, and depth (front, side, back, top lighting)
• Light quality, whether hard or soft, influences the transition between highlights and shadows and the overall mood of the image

Camera Settings for Exposure Control

• Manual mode allows full control over aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings
• Aperture Priority (A or Av) mode enables the photographer to set the aperture while the camera automatically adjusts shutter speed for proper exposure
• Shutter Priority (S or Tv) mode allows the photographer to set the shutter speed while the camera automatically adjusts aperture for proper exposure
• Program (P) mode provides a balance between manual control and automatic settings, with the camera selecting aperture and shutter speed combinations
• Exposure compensation allows for adjustments to the camera's metered exposure, making images brighter or darker in increments of stops or fractions of stops
• Metering modes determine how the camera measures light to calculate exposure (evaluative, center-weighted, spot)
• White balance settings help the camera adjust to different color temperatures, ensuring accurate color reproduction

Natural vs. Artificial Lighting

• Natural lighting is often preferred for its soft, even quality and natural appearance
• Sunlight direction and intensity change throughout the day, offering diverse lighting conditions (harsh midday sun, soft golden hour light)
• Overcast skies provide diffused, even lighting that minimizes harsh shadows and is ideal for portraits and evenly lit scenes
• Open shade, found under trees or structures, creates soft, directional light with reduced contrast
• Artificial lighting allows for greater control and consistency in lighting conditions
• Continuous lights provide a constant light source, enabling the photographer to preview the lighting effect before capturing the image
• Flash offers a burst of light that can freeze motion, fill in shadows, or serve as the primary light source
• Mixing natural and artificial light can create unique and creative lighting effects, balancing color temperatures and light intensities

Composition and Lighting Techniques

• The rule of thirds involves dividing the frame into a 3x3 grid and placing key elements along the lines or at their intersections to create a balanced, visually appealing composition
• Leading lines guide the viewer's eye through the image, creating depth and directing attention to the main subject (roads, fences, rivers)
• Framing uses natural or man-made elements to surround the subject, adding depth and context to the composition (doorways, windows, branches)
• Backlighting places the light source behind the subject, creating a rim light effect and separating the subject from the background
• Silhouettes are created by exposing for a bright background, rendering the subject as a dark outline without detail
• Side lighting emphasizes texture, depth, and form by casting shadows across the subject, adding dimensionality to the image
• Rembrandt lighting, a classic portrait technique, uses a single light source positioned 45 degrees above and to the side of the subject, creating a small, triangular highlight on the opposite cheek

Challenging Lighting Situations

• High contrast scenes with bright highlights and deep shadows can be difficult to expose properly, often requiring techniques like HDR (High Dynamic Range) or exposure blending
• Low light conditions, such as night photography or indoor scenes, may necessitate using higher ISO values, wider apertures, or slower shutter speeds to achieve proper exposure
• Backlit subjects can be challenging to expose correctly, often requiring exposure compensation, fill flash, or reflectors to balance the lighting
• Harsh midday sun creates strong, unflattering shadows and high contrast, making it difficult to achieve even exposure and flattering portraits
• Mixed lighting situations, where multiple light sources with different color temperatures are present, can lead to color casts and inconsistent white balance
• Reflective surfaces, such as glass or water, can cause unwanted glare or reflections, requiring the use of polarizing filters or careful angle selection
• Extreme weather conditions, like heavy rain, snow, or fog, can affect visibility, color saturation, and overall image quality, demanding adaptability and creative problem-solving

Practical Applications in Photojournalism

• News and event coverage often involves quickly adapting to changing lighting conditions and capturing candid, unposed moments
• Environmental portraits, which show subjects in their natural surroundings, rely on using available light and composition to tell a story and provide context
• Documentary photography requires the ability to capture authentic, unaltered scenes, often in challenging or low-light conditions
• Sports photography demands fast shutter speeds to freeze action, as well as an understanding of anticipating peak moments and using available light
• Street photography involves discreetly capturing candid moments in public spaces, often utilizing natural light and quick reflexes
• Photo essays tell a cohesive story through a series of images, requiring a consistent visual style and attention to lighting and composition throughout
• Ethical considerations in photojournalism include maintaining the integrity of the scene, avoiding staged or manipulated images, and respecting the privacy and dignity of subjects

Advanced Tips and Tricks

• Bracketing involves taking multiple exposures of the same scene at different settings (exposure, white balance, focus) to ensure optimal results and provide options in post-processing
• High-speed sync allows the use of flash at shutter speeds faster than the camera's sync speed, enabling the photographer to balance ambient light with flash in bright conditions
• Second curtain sync fires the flash at the end of the exposure, creating a motion blur effect that follows the subject's movement, adding a sense of dynamism to the image
• Light painting is a long exposure technique where a light source is moved through the frame during the exposure, creating unique, illuminated patterns or highlighting specific elements
• Focus stacking combines multiple images taken at different focus distances to achieve a greater depth of field than possible with a single exposure, particularly useful in macro and landscape photography
• Exposure fusion is a technique that blends multiple exposures of the same scene to create a final image with a wider dynamic range and more balanced exposure
• Color gels can be used with artificial light sources to modify the color temperature, create colorful effects, or balance mixed lighting situations
• Reflectors and diffusers help to control and shape light by bouncing, softening, or redirecting it, allowing for more flattering and even illumination of the subject