I've seen the Light! (Page 2): Nice topic, Cat, and your comments are so true. Back in 2011 I really was a novice, still am, but was quite proud of these taken in Holland just with...

craggycrossers Loc: Robin Hood Country, UK

CatMarley wrote:

This forum, like so many others seems focused on g... (show quote)

Nice topic, Cat, and your comments are so true. Back in 2011 I really was a novice, still am, but was quite proud of these taken in Holland just with available light .......

(Download)

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Bill_de wrote:

A friend of mine who is a nature photographer named his business, "Shoot the Light". Needless to say it is an important topic at his workshops and seminars.

As said above, it is a topic that should be revisited from time to time. Maybe, this is a stretch, but maybe even more often than, 'which camera should I buy?'.

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Or "which lens is the best" or "which lens is sharper" or "Crop or FF?" or "DSLR v. mirrorless". All of which are irrelevant if all they produce is flat, uninteresting, unoriginal pictures. Technology is not photography. It is only a tool. We never discuss the real subject, or try to dissect it. Perhaps because it is too difficult to discuss?

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

CatMarley wrote:

Or "which lens is the best" or "which lens is sharper" or "Crop or FF?" or "DSLR v. mirrorless". All of which are irrelevant if all they produce is flat, uninteresting, unoriginal pictures. Technology is not photography. It is only a tool. We never discuss the real subject, or try to dissect it. Perhaps because it is too difficult to discuss?

The most important tool is what's between your ears.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

GoofyNewfie wrote:

The most important tool is what's between your ears.

I think it is more transcendental than that even. It is how what you see inspires your mind - how open your mind is to the beauty around you and how capable you are of arranging everything so that you translate that into something that registers that emotion on your camera's sensor, and can communicate it to your viewer. Imagination, cognition, evaluation, communication. But mostly - vision.

TheDman Loc: USA

But but... Zone System! lp/mm! Mirrorless!! These are the things that matter, right?

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

craggycrossers wrote:

Nice topic, Cat, and your comments are so true. Back in 2011 I really was a novice, still am, but was quite proud of these taken in Holland just with available light .......

Yes, I particularly like the portrait of the lady - not particularly flattering but very warm and real - she has a very bright expression, as if you caught her at a very congenial moment. That smile makes you want to smile - it tells a story.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

TheDman wrote:

But but... Zone System! lp/mm! Mirrorless!! These are the things that matter, right?

LOL. For professors and wonks maybe. Things that matter usually are discussed before a fire with a glass of wine.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Catching interesting light is such an elusive thing, for most of us it usually comes down to grabbing opportunist shots when circumstances present themselves. If we thought more about it - or possibly discussed it a bit more - we might become more aware of the circumstances that are most likely to produce interesting light. That in turn might increase our chances of successfully predicting when interesting light will occur, as opposed to being dependent on things happening by accident.

Another benefit of thinking about and/or discussing the subject may be an increased appreciation of it - and therefore an increased success rate in spotting it in the first place.

Bill_de Loc: US

R.G. wrote:

Catching interesting light is such an elusive thin... (show quote)

It is a big topic! There is of course how bright the light is, but also the color of the light, the amount of contrast, and let's not forget the shadows it creates. There is no bad light, just light that is harder to deal with. On the other hand there is light that looks good no matter what you do ... almost.

Some say never shoot mid day when the sun is out. Very often you can under expose (according to the meter) the ambient light and make up for it with artificial (flash) light. Done correctly very few will know the difference.

The key is to look at the light and learn how to deal with it. Not my preference, but we have seen right here on UHH where the photographer exposed with post processing in mind. The original was an over exposed, washed out nothing and the end product a masterpiece.

I, like others, have a lot to learn. Then we have to put that knowledge to work.

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kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I totally agree. In focus flat images are way too common. I suffer from this malady myself. I also tend to shoot in harsh light. I am trying to get better, though.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

CatMarley wrote:

This forum, like so many others seems focused on g... (show quote)

I think your close. But good photography has good light and better shadows. My favorite quote on the subject of lighting comes from 19th Century artist Howard Pyle:

“Paint your picture by means of the lights. Lights define texture and color – shadows define form.”

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

kpmac wrote:

... I suffer from this malady myself. I also tend to shoot in harsh light. I am trying to get better, though.

Please forgive my unsolicited suggestion

In looking at several of your flower and insect photos, it seems like they may be over-exposed. Try exposure compensation, or if shooting in manual just increasing shutter speed or lowering ISO in order to produce darker images. Then compare those to your normal metering to see how you like the result.

edit - right after I posted this, I saw your very eye-catching black background leaf and fly!
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-526208-1.html

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craggycrossers Loc: Robin Hood Country, UK

CatMarley wrote:

Yes, I particularly like the portrait of the lady - not particularly flattering but very warm and real - she has a very bright expression, as if you caught her at a very congenial moment. That smile makes you want to smile - it tells a story.

Well, the "portrait" was never intended to be a portrait, Cat ....... simply a quick snap by a total amateur who "liked the light", which is why I posted it. Taken with a Nikon D300 which, in comparison to my X-T2, was shockingly poor in low light. But yes, it was a very congenial moment, a 50th birthday party, and both supplied pics were taken within moments of each other. I seem to remember the lady, a close friend, being quite flattered on seeing it. Ah, as I've mentioned before on this forum "perception is everything" !!

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Bill_de wrote:

It is a big topic! There is of course how bright t... (show quote)

That really brings up another topic, doesn't it? Whether computer manipulation of digital data is photography. Some of the manipulation I have seen results in images that have a rather bizarre unreality to them. - Rather like modern art, which I neither understand nor appreciate. I am spooked by things that are of ordinary scenes, but just a bit too weird to exist on this planet - those images that look like they came from a similar but alternate universe. I am too much of a humanist! I want my world in its natural best light.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

craggycrossers wrote:

Well, the "portrait" was never intended ... (show quote)

But it IS a portrait. The expression you captured gives us information about this lady: it tells of a bit of surprise, that she evidently was having an enjoyable time. The eyes are very alive. The portrait says, I am alive, I am with friends, I feel good, I am having fun. It says something. So many pictures of people say nothing about them - they are flat and static. They don't "portray" anything. And I think lighting has got a lot to do with whether or not a photo of a person tells anything about them or is just a "mug shot".