The Emotion of Light

Bring all the feels to your photography with this lighting masterclass.

George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, once said:

“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.”

A knowledge of light is fundamental to our understanding of photography but it goes beyond that. Light isn’t just a physical property of transmission, reflection or refraction, it is also an ‘emotion’ and by that I mean it induces emotion in a similar way to music.

How does it do this? Well part of it is imprinting, in that we become familiar through culture to certain styles or moods that light conveys and part of it is actual science in that the human brain is pre-programmed to perceive visual stimuli in a certain ways for survival reasons.

The bottom line of all of this is how can this influence our photography? How can we use this knowledge to harness the power of light to create better images?

In this workshop, recorded LIVE, Karl answers those questions and more, through a series of presentations and practical lighting demonstrations.

In this photography workshop:

  •  Human visual response to light
  •  Theory of color — juxtposing & complimentary colors and their effects
  •  Directional light and its impact
  •  How to control shadows
  •  Using negative fill to control light
  •  Simulating sunlight with a single light
  •  How to control light in small studio spaces
  •  Using reflectors and flags
  •  Lighting modifiers & their effects
  •  The best modifiers for soft light
  •  How to work with & balance multiple lights
  •  Four different lighting setups for effective portrait photography

This photography class is a must-watch for those wanting to understand the emotion of light and how to use it to best effect. More information on the theory of light can be found in Chapter One of our portrait photography section.

Questions? Please use the comments section below.

Comments

  1. Thank you so much for this tutorial, there is an important point you mentioned when someone asked a question regarding the histogram. Karl said that he brings us the value points to measure the exposure on the skin or on the clothes.

    This is something I never tried before. Is there a turorial about this points?
    I have some experience in studio photoshoot but I had never used these before.

    Would you make a turorial please about this? If there is none of course

    1. Hi, could you direct me to the time in this video so I can check what I said and was referring to please?

        1. Hi, so these are RGB values which you can measure in Capture One, PS, Phocus and LR. Each value is a colour channel so RED, GREEN and BLUE. if you have R0, G0 and B0 then that is black, if you have R255, G255, B255 then that is white or it may be above pure white but obviously we can only measure as far as pure white as that’s the display limit. Therefore somewhere around R130, G130, B130 is mid gray and completely neutral so if it read 130, 130, 135 then you grey is a little bit bias to blue and so on. This is useful for measuring near white values to see if the whites are clean (or blacks etc) and it’s useful in your post processing so you can decide which bit to fix, neutralise etc. There is no specific skin value but you can just reference values as you work if you change lighting if you want the skin to remain the same exposure. As the values represent about 1/30th of an fstop then they are much more accurate than a light meter. I don’t really bother with the histogram, I just measure values if I have any concerns but to be honest with a high quality calibrated monitor such as a Colour Edge Eizo then I just look at the results of the image on screen.

  2. Hi Karl, Gabriel here. I have just two continuous lights (a 300W & a 200W) and two circular softboxes. Is it possible to replicate your style of lighting with those? If so, which camera settings should I use?

    1. Hi, I have a tin of red paint and I need to paint my car green is this possible? I’m afraid not. Lighting is much more complicated than you are indicating and that’s why you’re here on this platform to learn about light, as you progress through the other videos on this platform especially the ones in this section https://visualeducation.com/lighting-theory-and-equipment/ then you will understand what I mean.

  4. Softbox question

    In the lighting certification course, Karl is doing a portrait and is using a large softbox next to the models head. I only have a 60cmx60cm softbox, how do I get the same effect as Karl . Also I am using a Godox flash TT865.

    I dont get the same wraparound soft light, and I’m assuming its because of having a smaller softbox?

  5. The most informative video on the platform. Amazing. One small question.
    What is the best way to control the ambient light in relation to light from the flash? I was thinking about your hero and supporting cast rule.

    1. Hi, ambient light is controlled by cutting it out with the shutter speed or with a neutral density filter over the lens. If you use an ND filter over the lens then you would need to increase flash power to compensate for the ND filter.

  7. GuillermoEstudio

    HELLO FROM DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.

    I HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO THE CLASSES FOR A FEW MONTHS AND I HAVE WATCHED SOMETHING VERY PARTICULAR. WHEN YOU TAKE A PHOTO AND IT IS UNDEREXPOSED INSTEAD OF OPENING THE DIAPHRAGM MORE OR CHANGING THE SPEED, YOU ALWAYS CHANGE THE POWER OF THE FLASH, WHY IS THAT ESPECIALLY DUE OR IF THERE IS A VIDEO WHERE YOU EXPLAIN WHY.

    1. Hi, this is very simple. The diaphram (or aperture) controls the depth of field look of your image and that should be decided first. Once you have made that creative choice of which aperture to use then it is better to change the power of the lights only.

      1. GuillermoEstudio

        Thank you very much, I had not looked at it from that point of view. Always what I did was change everything if the exposure was not right, but from now on I will do it that way.

        You are a very good teacher and I have learned a lot from you.

        Greetings from the Dominican Republic

  8. What would I search for to find the floor support stands your used to hold your 2″ thick poly boards up?
    Keith

    1. Hi Keith, most studios get them custom made by a metal work shop (as I did with mine). I’ve seen some studios use bike stands that hold the front wheel of a bike.

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