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Molding Ambient Light

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For this first post I thought I would go over some of the ambient lighting theory I use for my location work.  While as photographers we have no direct control over the intensity, directionality, or softness of sunlight, there are a number of techniques and products that we can use to control the intensity, directionality, and softness of the ambient light illuminating our subjects.

Full Shade and the edge of light

The first concept I want to go over is that of full shade. Full shade is essentially anywhere that direct sunlight does not hit: in a carport, under a tree, in a doorway, in a building, behind a wall, etc.  When you are in full shade, the sun itself is not illuminating you, but rather the sun’s reflection on everything in direct sunlight provides the illumination.  The pavement, buildings, trees, sky, and everything else lit by direct sunlight you can see from your position in full shade is lighting the image.

When we move into full shade we no longer have to deal with the harsh highlights and shadows which direct sun can create.  As we will see later, direct sun can provide a very pleasing light; however, in general it is much more unforgiving to less than perfect skin, improper posing, and improper exposure.

One thing a lot of photographers struggle with while shooting in full shade is a lack of depth in their photos.  Imagine you’re shooting on a clear day in the full shade of a small picnic shelter at a park.  The shelter is surrounded by a grass field and you have your model in the middle of the shelter.  The reflection of the sun off of the sky, the grass, and perhaps off the pavement around the edge of the shelter is what is illuminating the model.  You have escaped the harsh rays of direct sunlight, which may or may not be a good thing, but you have also placed your model in a location where the light has almost no directionality.  Sure, you have no light coming from above the model because of the shelter, but other than that you essentially have a 360 degree softbox surrounding him or her.  As there is no directionality to the light, this particular scenario provides unpleasing, flat images.  A lighting diagram for this hypothetical scenario can be seen below.

To create a pleasing image in full shade, we need to create some directionality to our light.  For this shot, I had Natalie pose in my garage, in full shade, just on the edge of the direct sunlight (a couple steps toward the camera and she would have been in direct sun).


Photographer: Robert McCadden

The only light for this photo came in from the direction of the garage door, directly behind the camera (in front of Natalie).  The walls of the garage subtracted light from the sides and back of the image.  A lighting diagram for this scenario can be seen below.   The softbox in this diagram represents the reflection from the surrounding environment in direct sunlight, and the black reflectors represent the walls of the garage.

For this next picture of Natalie, she was once again in full shade, underneath a covered walkway with the sun behind her. A white wall off to her side, just left of the frame, provided a directional key light for this image.  As the covered walkway extended quite a bit behind the camera, and Natalie was once again at the edge of full shade (direct sunlight behind her), there is a subtle back-lit quality to the image.  A large California Sunbounce white reflector was also placed camera right to provide just a bit of fill.


Photographer: Robert McCadden

Notice the directionality and relative intensity of the light provided by the white wall (facing out toward the water) that is just out of frame camera left; it looks a lot like the quality of light you might get from a large softbox.

An important aspect of shooting in full shade, as I mentioned, is having the model stand in the full shade toward the edge of the shade and direct sun.  Going back to the garage shot, I’m sure it isn’t hard to image that the light falls off fairly quickly as you move away from the garage door and then, ten to fifteen feet into the garage, the illumination becomes more or less constant for the last ten feet toward the back of the garage.  The reason for this can be explained by the “inverse square law,” which states that the intensity of light decreases at the inverse square as the light to subject distance increases.  Move your light twice as far away from the subject and you get 1/4 the intensity of light.

If you need more explanation google “inverse square law.”  It’s a basic law of light that every photographer should understand.

Back to my point, which is that toward the front of the garage the environment close to the garage door, and in direct sunlight, is providing a significant amount of the reflected light, and that this light falls off relatively quickly and  provides more transitions between the highlights and shadows, giving more contrast, and adding more depth.  Toward the back of the garage only reflections from the parts of the environment that are relatively far away from the garage door provide any amount of illumination.  The bottom line is that the closer to the transition between direct sunlight and full shade you place your model (while they are in full shade), the more light falloff you will have.  This is an important concept, since we are dealing with a relatively large light source while shooting in full shade.

This next shot was taken inside of a giant barn.  There was a large sliding door just right of the camera that let in a beautiful soft light. There were also windows around the edge of the barn that let in bits of light from all directions.  As the barn was huge, the light coming in from the other three sides wasn’t enough to kill the directionality of the light coming in through the sliding door and provided just enough fill for the background.


Photographer: Robert McCadden

Once again, notice the light falloff and directionality of the light, which was created by placing Talisa toward the edge of the full shadow area.

For this final image of Matt and Raven, we were working in a freight elevator.  The models were once again in full shade, but this time the reflection of the sun off the elevator wall behind me was providing the illumination.  We placed Matt and Raven relatively close to the window, which gave us a directional kicker (see the back of Ravens arm) and I included just a bit of the direct sun in the photo to give it a flared-out look.


Photographer: Robert McCadden

That’s it for now. In part two I discuss more on shooting in direct sunlight, using reflectors, using scrims, subtractive lighting, and just a bit of mixing strobe with ambient. Hopefully the post will get your creative juices flowing.

Robert McCadden

Robert McCadden is a fashion and beauty photographer based in Seattle, Washington. http://robertmccadden.tumblr.com/

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85 Responses to “Molding Ambient Light”

  1. August 23, 2017 at 3:29 pm, Bill Match Frame Ziady said:

    Well done!

    Reply

  2. February 28, 2015 at 9:53 am, Michael Moore said:

    Great article – thanks!

    Reply

  3. February 26, 2015 at 11:28 am, TP930 said:

    Nice work man. I generally never find most these articles helpful. good job!

    Reply

  4. February 26, 2015 at 6:43 am, Hetal Damania said:

    Great Plain and simple article, easy to understand and follow. Keep these kind of articles coming, Can u pls have something on “Continuous Studio lighting setup” … there are so many on strobe lighting.
    thanks again in advance.
    HD

    Reply

  5. May 29, 2014 at 7:40 am, Sam David said:

    Very well done. I often work with models in dense woods, using shafts of light and this article is very helpful in determining where to position the model depending on the illumination appropriate to the mood I want to capture.

    Reply

  6. July 19, 2013 at 11:17 am, Liz River said:

    Great article, I think I missed the credits for the models, though. Can you tell us their names and where to find more of their work?

    Reply

  7. March 05, 2012 at 7:29 pm, Men said:

    Awesome..

    Reply

  8. March 04, 2012 at 1:34 pm, Ladies said:

    Keep working ,great job!

    Reply

  9. March 01, 2012 at 7:31 pm, vintage lace blouses said:

    Hello.
    Great job, I did not expect this this week. This is a great story.
    Thanks!

    Reply

  10. February 25, 2012 at 8:16 pm, Sunnydila said:

    Fantastic article ! You havemade some very astute statements and I appreciate the the effort you have put into your writing. Its clear that you know what you are writing about. I am excited to read more of your sites content.

    Reply

  11. February 22, 2012 at 5:40 pm, Blouse said:

    I just wanna say thank you for the information that you have been shared to us readers. Thanks for posting this..

    Reply

  12. January 28, 2012 at 12:43 pm, Matt Onedayphotographic said:

    Excellent article, as a relative beginner who has concentrated on learning flash but wanting to start doing location work, this is exactly what I needed to read. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to reading your future ones

    Reply

  13. January 26, 2012 at 10:04 pm, Brent & Anna said:

    Great tips – thanks for the post!

    Reply

  14. January 19, 2012 at 11:14 am, Dana said:

    Great article, I jumped straight into small flash photography and have been looking for some tips on shooting ambient light in harsh sunny conditions. Looking forward to your subtractive lighting and mixing light.

    Cheers.

    Reply

  15. January 19, 2012 at 3:38 am, Kirk Shorte said:

    How much of the tone of these images was done in post? Was the light as it hit your models as creamy soft as it appears or was a little bit of PS magic applied to soften it even more than what you describe? They all look fantastic and I hope to be able to use your insights in my next outside shoot.

    Kirk

    Reply

  16. January 18, 2012 at 11:25 pm, Jlmiller said:

    Thanks Robert for sharing your experience and tips to natural light shooting. Great examples, clear, precise information, this is what MM has been lacking and I do hope they continue with the format. Since I like a little extra pop in my images when I shoot on location I tend to shoot with flash, however I did find this interesting and will be applying it.

    Reply

  17. January 18, 2012 at 11:03 pm, Skip Gue said:

    Nice info…..

    Reply

  18. January 18, 2012 at 10:27 pm, Jim said:

    Hi Rob, nice one . I think it will be good if you have some before and after photos in a wider angle. So we can understand a bit more about the situation?

    thanks mate

    Reply

  19. January 18, 2012 at 9:06 pm, G. Nelson Auge said:

    Excellent resource, excellent tutorial. Look forward to your next installment!
    Beautiful photos as well.

    Reply

  20. January 18, 2012 at 8:45 pm, Tom said:

    NICE JOB from a former college prof. in photography, including lighting.

    Reply

  21. January 18, 2012 at 8:34 pm, Al Fess said:

    Great basics and much needed information for photographers without structured training.

    Reply

  22. January 18, 2012 at 7:53 pm, Benernst said:

    Thanks, this is a great help

    Reply

  23. January 18, 2012 at 7:34 pm, Jtousey said:

    Really nice article. I will be re-reading this again and playing with some of the thought provocking insights from Robert.

    Reply

  24. December 26, 2011 at 6:32 am, Ecliptic Productions said:

    thank you Robert for this excellent write up. much obliged.

    Reply

  25. December 20, 2011 at 4:37 pm, Krisperry72 said:

    Fantastic!

    Reply

  26. December 02, 2011 at 10:49 pm, Bob said:

    Excellent article; recommended.

    Reply

  27. November 30, 2011 at 5:21 pm, Smithson Greg said:

    Great article. I think the examples are great. Sometimes we forget how beautiful the simple light source can be when done correct.

    Reply

  28. November 30, 2011 at 4:18 am, Mayhem #1692675 said:

    i m not a photographer but this article was so interesting that now i can t help myself reading lots of stuff about lightning, even as a model it s really good things to know i think. i ll be waiting for your next article.
    GG

    Reply

  29. November 29, 2011 at 2:30 pm, M. said:

    Great right up, will help lots of people.

    Reply

  30. November 29, 2011 at 10:42 am, GwBurns said:

    At last an EDU article that someone knows what the heck he is talking about. Well written and spot on.

    Reply

  31. November 28, 2011 at 11:52 pm, Adrian said:

    Very nice article. Very helpful, look forward to all upcoming articles.

    Reply

  32. November 28, 2011 at 6:23 pm, Maria Mylona said:

    Hi Robert! Thanks for sharing this with us! I would love to experiment more with natural light & this is a great way to start! Cheers, Maria

    Reply

  33. November 27, 2011 at 11:21 pm, Sean J Connolly said:

    Nice article and will be a big help for all. Nice work

    Reply

  34. November 27, 2011 at 12:29 am, Anonymous said:

    Good job, The edge of light concept is something every photographer should understand.
    Edge of light is as important and useful tool in the studio as well.
    Aside from depth it can add drama as exibited in a shot by Zack Arias below link.

    http://www.zarias.com/white-seamless-tutorial-part-3-from-white-to-black/

    Reply

  35. November 26, 2011 at 12:37 am, Ed duerr said:

    Thank you Robert, you really helped me solve a few problems I have been having with the nature of light and the placement of the model. Great in-depth descriptions.
    Thank you…

    Reply

  36. November 25, 2011 at 8:55 pm, Houseofcole said:

    Thanks… I have bought several books on lighting and this article is just as good (if not better)

    Reply

  37. November 25, 2011 at 6:42 pm, Donaldbrainard said:

    Thank you…I believe that experienced photographers forget to use the methods that you have pointed out..for me this is a much needed refreshing of things I have gotten to busy to remember!

    Reply

  38. November 25, 2011 at 12:12 pm, Anonymous said:

    excellent article

    Reply

  39. November 25, 2011 at 4:31 am, Amy Dunn said:

    Wonderful article! I thoroughly enjoyed it as I’m a new fan of ambient light. I thought I had to do all that fancy strobe stuff, but there’s sooo much a photographer can do with reflectors, scrims, etc. Skin looks incredible in natural light.

    Reply

  40. November 24, 2011 at 4:06 am, Maglev Yerov said:

    I would like to see the EXIF metadata for these shots.

    Reply

  41. November 23, 2011 at 11:22 pm, reuben dixon said:

    Great article! Thanks for sharing with us.

    Reply

  42. November 23, 2011 at 6:52 am, houstonryan said:

    love this article…

    Reply

  43. November 22, 2011 at 8:29 pm, Irene Nicole said:

    great article, thank-you so much for sharing. I find this very helpful as a new photographer.

    Reply

  44. November 22, 2011 at 1:43 am, Laurens said:

    This is a fabulously well written article Robert. And right on in every respect I know of! It put a lot of things in to perspective for me and I got a ton out of it.

    Thanks for taking the time 🙂

    Reply

  45. November 21, 2011 at 4:03 pm, Robertouano said:

    I agree…definitely one of the more useful articles on here. Thanks Robert.

    Reply

  46. November 20, 2011 at 10:22 pm, Bodycontourphotos said:

    Thanks for the insight. I have made a few mistakes with lighting on every shoot I’ve done, due to my lack of technical knowledge. This will help me for future shoots, so thanks.

    Reply

  47. November 20, 2011 at 8:09 pm, Dean said:

    Well done. I’m looking forward to your next article.

    Reply

  48. November 20, 2011 at 12:25 pm, Nicole Anjolie said:

    Great article! I found it very informative and your explanations with the example photos made the information easy to understand.
    Beautiful photos also! You are very talented.

    Reply

  49. November 20, 2011 at 10:37 am, Elmo Love said:

    I’m going to agree that this is probably the best article I’ve seen here. I would only add that these techniques are only learned by DOING. Going out and expecting light to behave in a consistent fashion is insane. New photographers sometimes try to copy “perfect” shots rather than moving around and experimenting for themselves. Happy accidents will embed themselves in our subconscious and become useful tools later.

    Reply

  50. November 20, 2011 at 8:46 am, Norman said:

    Fantastic!

    Reply

  51. November 20, 2011 at 8:24 am, Mattlusk said:

    Good article Robert! Really stands out among the throw away your light meter articles.

    Reply

  52. November 20, 2011 at 7:54 am, Dan Coogan said:

    Great article and examples.

    Reply

  53. November 20, 2011 at 5:56 am, gary penberthy said:

    Fantastic article, thanks for opening my eyes to new techniques

    Reply

  54. November 20, 2011 at 3:15 am, Firstfast said:

    Well written….

    Reply

  55. November 19, 2011 at 8:18 pm, Foto said:

    fantastic article Robert, Mi gusta!!

    Reply

  56. November 19, 2011 at 6:03 pm, Heather said:

    Very informative article, great explanation of the images and how you executed them. Thank you for your contribution.

    Reply

  57. November 19, 2011 at 5:57 pm, Mr. Sifuentes said:

    this is perfect. only tools I currently have is a reflector, bounce board and a grey backdrop. thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  58. November 19, 2011 at 3:47 pm, Justin Bonaparte said:

    Great writeup, this is one of my favorite lighting techniques.

    Reply

  59. November 19, 2011 at 1:36 pm, Anonymous said:

    Excellent article… thanks for adding something useful to the EDU section

    Reply

  60. November 19, 2011 at 1:17 pm, Adrian Gould said:

    Really useful, mainly because you kept it simple. If you could produce an equally clear and concise article on how to do quick calculations for balancing fill flash with strong sunlight I think people would find that equally useful. Thanks!

    Reply

  61. November 19, 2011 at 12:34 pm, Bill Work said:

    Nice job Robert! I shoot on location and many times have to deal with these light issues. You’ve done a great job addressing some of the problems and I appreciate your information and hope to read additional insights from you in the future.

    Reply

  62. November 19, 2011 at 12:32 pm, Fadepromo said:

    nice images. I wish I knew what effect was in camera and what was from post production. again nice work

    Reply

  63. November 19, 2011 at 9:49 am, Paul said:

    In image #2, you state:

    “she was once again in full shade, underneath a covered walkway with the sun behind her”

    how can she be in full shade if the sun is behind her hitting her directly, as seen in the image?

    Reply

    • November 19, 2011 at 1:56 pm, Robert McCadden said:

      Good catch Paul. She is deffinately not in full shade. Full shade started a couple of feet in front of her which is why the illumination from the white wall is so prominent in the photo.

      Reply

  64. November 19, 2011 at 7:00 am, Neil said:

    Nice , and tasteful pictures which has a purpose, and reason. Solid tips , and well explained. The first picture would have a gotcha for beginners though, as when shooting in a light filling area with an over hang as is a garage, there is a strong possibility of the sund bouncing off the ground/floor and under lighting. It works with some models yet you have to know it ( I am sure you do) and watch for it. The beauty of sun or natural light is the surprise in it’s nature , so this can be a surprise and can work. Or it can be an unwanted surprise and cast nasty upwards shadows. At least daylight is easy to watch , something flash is not. Thanks for posting this helpful post.

    Reply

    • November 19, 2011 at 2:06 pm, Robert McCadden said:

      Thanks Neil. I tried to explain that the reflection from the pavement would come into play in the begining with my hypothetical picnic shelter scenario, but I’m glad you brought it up again as it’s important. Everything that is in direct sunlight and that the model can see will be illuminating them. As the ground is lots of times the closest thing to the model thats in direct sun, it can end up providing lots of light in some situations. Luckily the driveway to my garage is asphalt (black) so it didn’t provide too much fill from below. I actually had to move my car around three times to keep it’s reflection from affecting the image.

      Reply

  65. November 19, 2011 at 6:31 am, MikeRott said:

    thank you for this. lighting stuff is always a huge help for me

    Reply

  66. November 19, 2011 at 5:52 am, Michael said:

    Excellent explanation, not just how, but why. Nice shots.

    Reply

  67. November 19, 2011 at 2:25 am, Ron said:

    As a long time photographer and a huge fan of on-location work, it’s nice to see someone write a well-conceived article that is factually correct and reflects knowledge that is clearly carried through in your fine imagery.

    Reply

  68. November 18, 2011 at 11:25 pm, Adain@ said:

    +1

    Reply

  69. November 18, 2011 at 10:57 pm, Chris Pickrell said:

    Ahhh, scientific theory and empirical evidence. THAT’S how you write an informative article 🙂

    I have a feeling, being a natural light photographer, I will be studying this one much more. Especially because many of the elements in this article, can be related to artificial light as well.

    thank you very much.

    Reply

  70. November 18, 2011 at 10:06 pm, Robert McCadden said:

    Thanks for all the possitive feedback. I’m glad you all enjoyed the article and were able to get something out of it.

    Reply

  71. November 18, 2011 at 9:16 pm, Greg said:

    Nice article Robert. This is the kind of quality info that beginners can really use. Especially if they pay attention. :):):)

    Reply

  72. November 18, 2011 at 8:42 pm, Ahamed Iqbal said:

    Thanks for sharing your insight and knowledge. I was also very happy to learn about http://www.lightingdiagrams.com

    Reply

  73. November 18, 2011 at 7:45 pm, Timothy said:

    Thanks for the great post, and also the link to your Tumblr site, where there’s even more great, useful stuff! I like how there’s short, one topic explanations that get right to the point (plus it helps to have great models and photos as the examples).

    Reply

  74. November 18, 2011 at 6:53 pm, Keith said:

    Very well written article! Your diagrams, examples and explanations really help me understand the use of ambient light. I am absolutely certain I can take a better shot with ambient light now. Thank you!

    Reply

  75. November 18, 2011 at 6:25 pm, Really? said:

    Finally a useful MMEdu article by someone that knows what they are talking about! Thank you so much for this Robert. I look forward to the nest one.

    Reply

  76. November 18, 2011 at 6:03 pm, Bill said:

    excellent and illuminating explanation – thank you

    Reply

  77. November 18, 2011 at 5:58 pm, Rolf James said:

    Robert, great detailed tutorial! You took us step-by-step through all your examples… I’m looking forward to your future posts.

    Rolfe James

    Reply

  78. November 18, 2011 at 5:57 pm, Adam Doyle said:

    Great article! Oh and I agree with what Adam said 🙂

    Reply

  79. November 18, 2011 at 5:55 pm, Jeff Fiore said:

    Finally! An article that will actually help new photographers since most start with ambient light Good job!!

    Reply

  80. November 18, 2011 at 5:54 pm, Kevin said:

    Excellent! Thank you!

    Reply

  81. November 18, 2011 at 5:43 pm, Adam Sternberg said:

    Probably one of the only photography lessons/tips articles in the Library that’s any good. Well done Robert, and nice work.

    Reply

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