As I was saying in the previous article on photography talk, Kelly and I chatted it up for hours and hours. In this article I’m going to go over”finding the light”. Finding the light is really the #1 challenge in photography as far as I’m concerned. Light is everything and that is all your camera can really capture right? After all, why els would we need a shutter if it weren’t to control the “light”.
Now as far as finding the light, that is a different issue all together. Light is everywhere and learning to read it is key. By reading I mean determining where the shadows are falling in relation to your light. Your lighting could be harsh, soft, hot, cold, good, bad, dramatic, lame, intense, etc…. Being able to identify and use the given light to your advantage is the trick though. This is a skill that needs to be learned and is constantly getting more refined as time goes on. I know when I first started I didn’t realize how important it was, but as soon as I tryied to take a portrait I was like “Uh Oh” I need to learn!! Obviously some people have a better eye than others as it relates to different thing, so be patient if you can’t quite “find the light” that easy.
Check out this leaf pic I took on Sunday. The leaf was lit up like a spotlight was on it and every thing else around it was out of range. The sun found it’s way through all the leaves in the woods and almost magically turned the leaf into a single glowing beacon of light. I set my cameras metering mode to Spot Metering in order ro expose for only the leaf. Matrix metering did not work for this image as the leaf was relativity small in the scene and the background influenced the exposure to much. More about metering modes over here: Metering Modes Explained
Lit Leaf – Finding the light – Canon 5D mark II, Canon EF 135mm f/2 L @ f/2
In this next image I had my Canon 5D Mark II armed with the Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens Michele got me from Amazon.com. I was searching for the light when the clouds suddenly shifted revealing these lit up flowers. It’s really nothing special, but the scene was dull into the flowers lit up so it kind of makes sense 
Finding the Light – 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens
In this next image I was walking around this little shopping area in Mystic and I could help but be amazed at the way the light changed from super warm inside the store to super just outside the door of the store. It’s fascinating the way light can effect the mood of a scene!!
Finding the Light – Warm and Cool – Canon 15mm fisheye
In this next image I was going for Chubs’s eyes being lit by direct sunlight. As you may no Chubs never sits stills so I had to settle for this angle, which worked out pretty good 
Head on would be nice, but man is he tuff to pose. His eyes look amazing in the sunlight though!
Finding the Light – Chubs and the 135mm f/2 Lens
