Seeing photographically: viewpoint, timing and light

The first eight lessons covered the camera's controls. Knowing them is necessary but not sufficient: technically perfect photographs of uninteresting subjects in flat light, taken from the first spot the photographer stood, are common. The difference between a record and a photograph lies in decisions made before the shutter is pressed: where to stand, what to include and leave out, when to press the button, and what the light is doing. VIS-101 covered the principles of composition in detail. This lesson is about applying them in the field as a photographer: working a scene, choosing viewpoint and background, layering, anticipating the decisive moment, and above all seeing and using light, its direction, quality, color and timing, with practical exercises to build the habit.

Working the scene

Experienced photographers rarely take one picture of a subject. They work the scene: they arrive, look, take an initial picture, then move, change lenses, wait, and refine, often making dozens of frames of which one is the keeper. Contact sheets of famous photographers show this process: the celebrated image is usually the culmination of a sequence, not a lucky single shot.

A useful routine when you find a promising subject:

• Take the obvious picture first, so you have it.
• Walk around the subject and look from every side.
• Change height: crouch, lie down, climb steps, hold the camera high.
• Move closer, then closer again. The war photographer Robert Capa's advice, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough", applies far beyond war.
• Change the focal length and step back or forward to change perspective (Lesson 2).
• Simplify: remove everything that does not help, by moving, cropping in camera or using depth of field.
• Wait: for the light to change, a person to walk into the frame, a cloud to move, an expression to happen.

Viewpoint and background

Camera position decides the relationships between everything in the frame (Lesson 2). A step to the left can separate a head from a tree that seemed to grow out of it; dropping half a meter can put a subject against the sky instead of a cluttered street. Most people photograph from standing eye height, so pictures from other heights immediately look different: a low viewpoint makes children, pets and flowers look like the subjects of their own world and can make a person look powerful; a high viewpoint maps a scene and shows patterns.

The background is half of most photographs. Before pressing the shutter, scan the edges and the background deliberately: poles and branches growing from heads, bright patches that pull the eye, horizons cutting through necks, signs with readable text, bins and parked cars. Fixing them usually takes a small move rather than editing. Ask whether the background supports the subject, by giving context or a clean field, or competes with it.

Layering and depth

Pictures with something interesting in the foreground, middle ground and background draw the viewer into the frame, creating depth on a flat surface (VIS-101). Street and documentary photographers build complex layered images in which several subjects at different distances each contribute, which requires patience and careful positioning. Landscape photographers often place a strong foreground element, a rock, a flower or a line in the sand, close to a wide lens, leading toward the distant subject, and use the hyperfocal distance (Lesson 3) to keep all layers sharp. Frames within the frame, such as doorways and arches, add another layer.

Timing and the decisive moment

The French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson described "the decisive moment": the instant when the elements of a scene, its shapes, gestures and expressions, come together in a meaningful arrangement. A fraction of a second earlier or later, the picture is ordinary. Capturing such moments depends less on fast reactions than on anticipation:

• Find a good stage, a place with interesting light and background, and wait for the actors to enter it.
• Watch for the build-up to a peak: the top of a jump, the moment before a ball is struck, the laugh after a joke, the glance between two people.
• Know your camera well enough that settings never get in the way: pre-set exposure and focus (zone focusing, Lesson 7), and keep the camera ready.
• Use burst mode as a supplement to timing, not a replacement (Lesson 4).

Timing applies to still subjects too: the moment a cloud's shadow lifts off a field, when a street light comes on at dusk, when the tide reaches a rock.

Seeing light

Photography means "drawing with light", and light is often what turns an ordinary subject into a memorable picture. Learning to see light, before thinking about the subject, is the most important habit a photographer can develop. Look at light in terms of four qualities:

• Direction: where the light comes from relative to the camera.
• Quality: hard (from a small or distant source, with crisp, dark shadows) or soft (from a large source, with gentle, gradual shadows).
• Color: warm or cool, and how it changes through the day (Lesson 8).
• Intensity and contrast: how bright, and how much difference between lit and shadowed areas.

Direction of light

Front light, from behind the camera, illuminates the subject evenly and shows color well, but casts shadows behind the subject where the camera cannot see them, so it flattens shape and texture. Side light, from 45° to 90° to one side, creates shadows across the subject that reveal form and texture: the best light for showing the shape of a face, the texture of bark or the relief of a landscape. Back light, from behind the subject toward the camera, outlines subjects with a glowing rim, makes translucent things such as leaves and hair glow, and creates silhouettes and atmosphere, but needs care with exposure (Lesson 6) and flare (Lesson 2). Top light, the high midday sun, creates short, deep shadows, dark eye sockets on faces, and flat landscapes; it is usually the least flattering, though strong graphic shadows can make it work.

Quality of light

The quality of light depends on the apparent size of the source as seen from the subject. The sun is huge, but so far away that it looks small, so direct sun is hard light. An overcast sky is a vast source covering the whole sky, so it gives soft, shadowless light. Light from a window is soft when the subject is close to the window and becomes harder farther away. Soft light flatters faces and suits product and nature details; hard light suits dramatic portraits, graphic architecture and strong textures. PHOT-102 shows how to create and modify both with diffusers, reflectors and flash.

Time of day and weather

The sun's height changes everything about outdoor light. Shadow length depends on the sun's elevation angle: a vertical object of height h casts a shadow of length h/tan(elevation).

Photographers speak of the golden hour, roughly the time when the sun is less than about 6° above the horizon, shortly after sunrise and before sunset, when light is warm, directional and soft-edged; and the blue hour, the period of twilight when the sun is a few degrees below the horizon and the sky glows deep blue, balancing beautifully with city lights. The length of these periods depends on latitude and season: near the equator the sun rises and sets steeply and golden hour is brief; at high latitudes in summer it can last for hours. Apps that show the sun's position and times for any place and date make planning easy.

Weather is an ally. Overcast days give soft light for portraits, forests and waterfalls; mist and fog simplify backgrounds and add depth through aerial perspective; storms bring dramatic skies and spots of light breaking through; rain adds reflections and color on city streets at night; snow simplifies and brightens. The worst photographic light is often a clear, cloudless midday sky.

Light indoors

Indoors, the most useful light is often a window. Placing a subject beside a window, facing slightly toward it, gives soft side light, the light of countless classic portraits and still-life paintings. Turning off mixed room lights avoids color casts (Lesson 8). Moving the subject closer to the window softens the light and brightens it; moving away darkens and hardens it and increases contrast. A white card or wall opposite the window fills the shadows (PHOT-102).

Each genre has its favorite light. Portrait photographers seek soft, directional light, such as open shade, overcast days and windows. Landscape photographers chase the low sun, storms and mist. Architectural photographers study when the sun strikes each facade, and often photograph interiors at dusk when interior and exterior light balance. Street photographers use hard light and long shadows to build graphic compositions, and reflections at night. Food and product photographers favor soft side or back light that reveals texture and makes liquids glow. Knowing the light your genre needs tells you when to be in the field.

Practice: building the habit

Seeing improves with deliberate practice. Exercises used in photography courses include:

• One subject, twenty pictures: photograph one ordinary object or scene in twenty genuinely different ways, by viewpoint, distance, focal length, light and timing.
• One focal length for a week: use only a single prime (or tape your zoom) to learn its view and to move your feet.
• Light diary: photograph the same place at different times of day and in different weather, and compare.
• Waiting for the actor: find a stage with good light and background, and wait until someone enters it at the right moment.
• Self-critique: at the end of each shoot, select your best three images and write one sentence about why each works and what you would change (Lesson 12).