For starters, I’d like to open by saying anything I’m going to present is just my interpretation of this hobby. There’s only one hard and fast rule to photography: no photo is worth endangering your life or the lives of others. I’ve seen rail photographers set up tripods between the rails in front of approaching trains. If that’s how you choose to participate in this past time, please move along. I don’t want to be any part of your “hobby.”
Beyond that, everything is open for interpretation. I plan to present my views on photography and how I see and compose. Everything I post is merely what works for me! I encourage you to experiment and find your own style. If every photo followed the same “recipe,” the world would be a pretty dull place indeed!
With all that being said, I’d like to open by talking about light. Chances are that if you’ve read any photography guide books or web articles, they almost always start by talking about equipment. Equipment is important, and I’ll get to my thoughts on that soon enough, but I think any real discussion about photography as art needs to start with a solid understanding of light. The word photography comes to us from the Greek words photos meaning “light” and graphos meaning “writing.” Over the years, that has morphed into the romanticized definition of “painting with light.” If you think about any photo you plan to take in that vein, you’re going to have a leg up on most photographers.
Truly skilled photographers are masters of using light to their a
Thank you! You have settled something that has been confusing me for quite some time, but I had not really recognized the confusion… It was just something that made no sense, so I put it aside and didn’t learn because of it.
The terms “Warm” and “Cool” are backwards! Temperatures that are “Hotter” in the physical sense (>5500°K) produce light that is perceived as “Cooler” (blue) in the visual sense. And vice-versa, Temperatures that are “Cooler” in the physical sense (<5500°K) are “Warmer” (red) in the visual sense.
Even aside from photography, getting this in my head will make picking out household LED lighting a bit easier when reading the differing info on the various brands of LED bulbs where some list only temperature and others try to compare to incandescent and others just use the terms “Warm” or “Cool”.
Great lesson…thanks for taking the time in sharing this. I am looking forward to more.
Ihave always enjoyed your photos and the use of lighting and composition that you put into your work. The explanation of different types of lighting and how it effects the photo (with your examples) was great.
A question from the students…
How do you plan your photos? Do you have a finished image in mind and then wait for the proper lighting conditions? Or do you go to an area and see what is available and then use the lighting and elements?
Ditto MP 173 and his comments for me. I’m ‘OK’ with composition but your explanation of lighting and its different ‘textures’ as they shape the resulting picture really hit home. I intend to print this information and study it more. You keep the copyright!
A question (please disregard if you are planning to discuss this in future posts), but is there certain types of lighting you prefer for B&W vs. color, or is that more influenced by the subject matter/intent?
There is so much of this wrapped up in your personal experience that putting it into manageable lessons is definitely not a trivial task. Much of this understanding becomes a reflex after a time and thus becomes even more difficult to express.
I like that you started with fundamentals of light and how it varies in nature. In general, the railroad subjects do not allow much if any control of light (excepting night photography in the Link tradition) so understanding what can be done with the light you have is certainly a big first step in capturing stunning images.
Semper Vaporo - It seems a little counterintuitive at first, but if you think about flame colors in a fire, it makes a little more sense. Blue flames are hotter than red and orange flames, etc. I used to know exactly what the Kelvin numbers related to, but I’ve lost that information. If I come across it, I’ll let you know.
Don - Tint can be a little confusing. On some digital cameras, white balance can be tweaked by on a graph. For example, on my D600, minor tweaks to the color temperature fall on the x axis and tweaks to the tint fall on the y axis. Seeing the visual representation helps sometimes, although most of the time I just shoot RAW with auto-WB and worry about white balancing in post processing.
Ed - It depends. I work both ways. If I see a location that I really like, I’ll sometimes ponder lighting and think about the conditions that would really make it sing. If I see those types of conditions developing, I’ll head to that location. At the same time, if I’m just out and about, I’ll take note of the light and try to use it to the best of my abilities. The former approach really only works well for local subjects, though. Beyond a 40 or 50 mile radius of home, it’s harder to really plan a shot. There are some cool apps available for my iPhone that are changing that, though. I’ll have some thoughts on those in a future installment.
Sam - Equipment will be covered in either the next installment or the following one. I’ll have thoughts on everything from Walmart disposables to medium format digital in that one.
Charlie - Thanks for the very kind words. I was actually really excited to put this together, and I’m glad that it’s been so well received!
Tom - B&W can depend on light, but more often than not, it’s more about the color and composition of the shot. I
Many years ago one of my best engineering professors observed that until you had to teach a subject you really didn’t understand completely what was going on.
Later, I had a thesis advisor who would “play dumb” and force me to explain my results in a way that someone unschooled in the topic would understand them, which I eventually figured out was his way of getting me in the habit of clearing my thinking up on the topic.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your information! May I suggest a topic perhaps on “Developing” or maybe sparking a creative eye to recognize these things?
Justin, I’ll have some thoughts on that throughout the series, but I can give three pieces of advice now: 1) Study the work of others, especially photographers that you admire. Think critically about their shots and ask yourself why they work. 2) Shoot. A lot. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You’ll learn what works and what doesn’t for your own personal style by doing so. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. Even the best photographers in the world take a lot of bad pictures. They just have a large base to draw from and their experience gives them a better keeper ratio. But they still shoot a lot of bad photos. (I can illustrate with some of my shots if you’d really like to see). 3) In line with point number 2, be critical of your own work. When you’re reviewing shots, really analyze them and don’t present anything that you don’t feel makes “the cut.” It’s better to leave the audience wanting more than to present too many mediocre shots that leave them bored.
Amen to that! With digital capture now, the expense and time for processing shots is basically nothing. The best way to learn has always been to shoot, shoot and shoot some more. Make the mistakes. Learn from them. The ratio of tossers to keepers will fall over time, which means you are improving your technique.
I go through phases. I can shoot a lot for a few weeks or months, then lose all interest for weeks or months. I envy guys that can shoot stuff every day.
There’s an old rule of thumb in photography which posits that you’ll get one good shot out of a roll of film. Given that film usually came in 24 or 36 exposure rolls (or 12 in come cases), that means as few as one in 36 pictures that you take will be truly good, with the rest ranging down the scale to “why did I take that?” And once in a while, you’ll get a magnificent image as well.
So take lots of pictures.
Chris will be presenting many concepts on exposure and composition. As you progress, you’ll find yourself using those concepts with every shot, oftimes turning a “snapshot” into a “portrait.” And you’ll still take a lot of “dogs.”
You’ll probably start thinking of different ways to approach your shots, too.
But take lots of pictures. One of my favorite pictures - of a locomotive at Greenfield Village in Michigan - was little more than a “grab shot.” But I’m glad I “grabbed” it.
When I think of how much money I spent of film in the old days…
Back when I was considering switching to digital, I did a cost comparison; I realized that in less than six months with digital I will have saved enough on film to pay for the camera. It wasn’t an easy choice however, as digital back then kinda sucked as far as quality goes. So I used the digital for my more “casual” shots, but when I wanted to really get a good image I brought out the Fugichrome Provia 100 or the Velvia 50.
Chris, you have given us a very well-written essay that is so understandable and useful!! I am impressed with not only your photography skills, but your writing abilities as well.
