MattPhox Loc: Rhode Island

I wish I could amplify what others have said about the artistic beauty of your work but I'm at a loss to say anything but Wow!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thank you, Matt. When I first discovered this photo op in 2014, which isn't that far from where I live but just off the main road, I took a series of pictures in different weather, including sun and fog. Here is the link, which shows you what is revealed behind that green bush if you are visiting in winter, or taking the photo from a slightly different perspective

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-264079-1.html

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Other than the tripod part, I have experienced that same "phenomenon." I have even pulled into a driveway to get out of the way of a car behind me, and it turned out to be their driveway

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Very nice example of what can be done beneath overcast skies. The same buildings in bright sun would be far less interesting.

MattPhox Loc: Rhode Island

You definitely captured the best part well.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

LOVE the little league shot. In baseball, whether little league or professional or in between, we have to work with bright sun are deep shadows. This photographer knew how to handle it as best he could at the time. The squint is part of the magic. It screams 1960, right out of Leave It To Beaver or Saturday Evening Post.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thanks Minnie. In my reply to Matt, I included a link to an older series showing several different lighting and weather conditions for comparison. What that series also demonstrates is the benefit of moving a few feet this way or that

RedArrow Loc: Coastal Louisiana

Did you go inside and make coffee too? LOL

Steve DeMott Loc: St. Louis, Missouri (Oakville area)

Here's what I think I know. I feel that a lot of photos are the right light/right time and place.

I was tired so I laid down to play with the dog and looked up. Had I not been a photographer , (I use that term loosely), I wouldn't have given it a second thought. What I saw was leaves hiding the sun which was creating a halo around the stems and leaves. Ran inside grabbed my camera with a 105 micro lens, focused, thought a little about the light and fired away with several shots. These were also heavily cropped.

Yes! A lot of luck seeing the image. Then it was Exposure/composition in camera and a little tweaking/composition in post.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Many of us learned lighting terms a little differently, about 35 to 40 years ago. We think in terms of specularity. A *specular reflection* (specular highlight) is a mirrored image of the light source. Examples might be the sun, reflected off of a chrome car bumper, or a 7-foot umbrella, reflected off of an entire human face, or a 32" umbrella, reflected off the same subject's left cheekbone. Each has a different degree of specularity.

What you have called "hard" or "point source" light yields highly specular reflections. The ratio of the specular highlight to the diffuse highlight (the rest of the light falling directly on the subject from some source) is high.

What you've called "soft" or "diffused source" light yields specular reflections that are essentially the same size as the subject. In a scene lit with only one broad source (earth on a completely overcast day, or portrait subject lit by a giant umbrella) The ratio of the specular highlight to the diffuse highlight is 1:1, or close to it. (The entire subject reflects the light source, so the specular highlight and the diffuse highlight are the same thing.)

The diffuse highlight on a subject lit with a mix of sources is that part of the scene that is NOT usually a specular highlight or a shadow. It is lit by open sky, a studio fill light, reflected light from the rest of the environment, etc.

Shadows are, of course, those parts of a scene not lit by either a main light source, or the predominant fill light source. Examples might be the side of a person lit only by ground reflections on a sunny day, when photographed from a low angle (back to sun AND sky), or the part of an egg that is mostly dark, compared to the specular highlight created by a side light.

There is also a useful term called "shadow edge acuteness", which is a measure of how stark the transition is from diffuse highlight to shadow. Those who photograph products for a living know how important this is. If you mix light sources (i.e.; point sources such as peanut strobes, and broad sources such as strobes in large soft boxes, light tents, and umbrellas), you can vary the intensity (ratio) of BOTH the diffuse highlight and specular highlight, along with the shadow edge acuteness. In all cases, distance is the key. The size of the light source, *relative to the size of the subject,* controls specularity.

A good exercise in lighting is to photograph a matte black Cross pen sitting on shiny black Plexiglass. You'll have to mix BOTH a hard source (which gives the pen an edge highlight) and a broad source (to outline the pen shaft's roundness), all the while choosing an angle that does NOT reflect either source off the black Plexiglass as a specular highlight.

Some photographers have been known to use silvered surface soft boxes with a small hole cut into the diffusion material center. This allows a small amount of "hard" light to shine through, while the surrounding diffusion material provides the fill. Put the light source on a movable shaft inside the soft box, and you can vary the ratio between the direct, diffused source, and the direct, pinpoint source, just by moving the lamp or flash tube forward or backward in the box. Having TWO light sources in the same soft box is also useful.

The sun is 1000 times bigger than the earth. But it is 93 million miles away, so it is a highly specular point source when not diffused by clouds or smog. Light sources in small reflectors (4" to 6") are highly specular at distances greater than 7' or so. Used at an angle, they reveal surface details and create harsh shadows. Kicker lights used for portraits of old, weathered faces and product photos are often point sources for this reason.

A 7-foot umbrella wraps light all around a close subject, so it hides zits, pores, and other surface imperfections on a face. It also illuminates hair extremely well, and creates large highlights on dark, shiny objects. So if you are going to photograph a black cat in a coal bin, you want that! Black objects are visible ONLY when they reflect specular highlights. So wrap them in light. The same light works well when photographing models for cosmetics ads. It hides all the imperfections in skin that the makeup doesn't conceal. I laugh every time I see a cosmetic ad with "before" and "after" photos. The "before" photo is usually made with harsh lighting, while the "after" photo is made with umbrellas and reflectors, and maybe a ring light.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Fun to picture (no pun intended) your dissecting the ads, Bill

Thank you so much for your expanding our knowledge with this comprehensive information. Your time is much appreciated!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Thanks much! I believe that anyone who sees the light and feels compelled to attempt to capture it can confidently call themselves a photographer

Pixelmaster Loc: New England

It was Winter when I crossed the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River on my way to a photo assignment in
Manhattan. The late afternoon sun was just about gone leaving a blue to a peach colored canopy in the sky. The ice flow on its way down from the north river broke up choked up the river into huge shards of ice making each one a mirror pointing up at a different angle. The colors went from where I was crossing all the way down the river. Each slab of the thick ice was a different hue of either blue, peach and variations of both in between. You cannot stop and the George Washington Bridge unless you want to be ticketed or arrested. Sometimes photographers have to deal with unavailable light. The only image that exists is the one in my memory.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

And we thank you for sharing the memory

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

In my pre dslr days, I used the camera in the iPhone for all my ideas almost exclusively. Perhaps because that was most convenient. But even though I really did not consider myself a photographer, I had an eye for the light.
I was compelled to take this photo of my nephew at the Monterey Bay Aquarium because of the way the reflected light from the display gave him a sort of aura. Plus the contrast of the jellyfish, the blue tint of the water and his dark shape was so compelling that I had to have the shot.

(Download)