Learning Library / Seeing in black and white
Photography lesson · 6 min
Work with the light that is already there
Turn a narrow strip of directional light into the organizing force of the frame.
I do not believe there is one kind of “good light.” There is only the light in front of me and the question of what it can do. A narrow doorway can give shape to a person, divide a room, and create the moment all at once.
What I’m looking for
In the field.
- Identify the direction before the intensity. Ask where the light begins, where it travels, and where it stops.
- Position yourself so the lit plane and the shadowed plane create a clear stage for the subject.
- Expose for the area that carries the story. Let secondary shadows deepen if that preserves the shape of the light.
- Wait for the subject to enter, leave, or turn within the light instead of chasing them with the camera.
- Make a frame just before and just after the brightest instant. Often the edge of the light is more interesting than its center.
Keep this close
What makes it work.
- Direction
- Direction creates shape; brightness alone does not.
- Threshold
- Doorways and windows naturally divide one tonal world from another.
- Timing
- A moving subject changes the geometry of the light from second to second.
At your own pace
Try it.
Find one fixed patch of light and stay with it for ten minutes, making pictures only as subjects move through.
Watch for
Do not lift every shadow simply because the camera recorded it dark. Deep shadow may be the structure that makes the light visible.
Photography lesson and photograph by Tony Shepherd (pixbyshep).