None of these techniques can be done without using flash and ambient together. You can underexpose the ambient light to hold the detail in skies, shoot with wide apertures to lessen distracting background elements and properly expose your subject with strobe. You can use the sun as a backlight and illuminate your subject in the foreground with flash. You can create a subtle kiss of fill light to open up the shadows in an image and add sizzle. With a powerful enough flash, you can overpower the sun for dramatic lighting. You can make up for shortcomings in the ambient lighting conditions, like overcast skies, harsh sun and dappled light. With flash in the mix, you call the shots, not just Mother Nature. Each can be balanced separately to create virtually any look desired. This is because you have two sources of light to work with. When you add flash to the ambient light, you gain control over the lighting.
It can vary from one moment to the next without notice, impacting the flow of your shoot. Ambient lighting can be anything from overcast to harsh midday sunlight. With ambient light alone, the only option at your disposal is the current lighting conditions. Keep it super simple-flash is just another light source, and you either need more or less of it. I’m guessing that if it intimidates you, you probably feel overwhelmed technically. The easiest way to do this is to simplify the way you think about flash. Let’s demystify flash and take away any of the fear or intimidation surrounding it so we can focus on its benefits. The possible effects when you’re mixing ambient and flash range from very soft and natural looking all the way to edgy, more dramatic looks.
#AMBIENT LIGHT DEFINITION PHOTOGRAPHY FREE#
Once you understand how easy it is to balance ambient and flash, you can quickly and simply create myriad lighting effects and free yourself from the constraints of ambient conditions. Fear of flash and especially flash paired with ambient light can keep people stuck shooting solely with available light. Get Rid of the Fear Factorįlash can be intimidating. Other times, Mother Nature needs a helping hand from a flash. Sometimes available light and a reflector, scrim or both get the job done. We need all the tools, techniques and creativity we can muster to tackle whatever situations we encounter when we’re crafting killer images on location. It's also important to consider how ambient light can be reflected from other objects, such as mirrors and metal.Balancing Ambient Light and Flash with Michael Corsentino For example, you can plug in a lamp or night light in the room. You can apply ambient lighting by itself, or you can add flash and other light sources to bring more focus or soften shadows. You can use soft light in a bright or dusty room.Īny combination will create different moods and emphasize different themes. You can apply a hard light from a window to make a dark room brighter. Window light can be soft or hard, depending on the day, time, and other light sources. You can focus on and change window light, shade from inside a door or awning, overhead lighting, and backlighting. When shooting at a particular location, there are a large number of creative techniques for applying ambient lighting. There are countless techniques for using ambient light to take advantage of any mood and theme you are aiming to achieve. Depending on what result you are looking for, you may need to do some editing. For example, on cloudy days it has a chance to make your image more cold or blue, while morning sunlight can make it warmer. It is likely that you will need to change the balance of white to compensate for the light.
These factors will vary depending on the intensity of the light around you. But it can also come from artificial light sources: streetlights, car headlights, street lamps, lamps, target light.Īmbient light is sometimes considered to be unintentional but by being fully aware of it and knowing how it affects your photos and videos, you can take your art to a new level! The main things to learn about it are exposure, glare, and white balance. Natural ambient light is a meaning usually used to describe sunlight, moonlight, bioluminescence, or flame. Types of ambient lightĪmbient light mostly comes from natural sources. The properties mentioned above are indispensable in some situations. A lamp with a frosted surface or a diffuser screen in front of the light source produces the same light.Īmbient light provides soft illumination, which makes pictures appear to be low-contrast. The latter is naturally created by the sun covered by clouds. In essence, the light can be hard or soft, direct or ambient.