A Better Way To Use Light In Your Street Photography

Have you ever wondered why some people can take incredible photos with their phones whilst others can’t seem to produce anything using their top of the range cameras?Or perhaps you have seen a beautiful almost 3d render like photo on instagram, found out exactly where the spot is, what time the shot was taken and even the exact settings that person used. However your identical photo just seemed flat, lifeless and even somewhat boring in comparison. In this blog we will talk about the single most important aspect of photography. If you can get your head around this, you will never look at things in the same way again. How do I know this, well because from the countless workshops I have done, this has been the single biggest aha moment for most people.

Your Eyes & Your Camera Sensor

Have you ever been walking down the street and in the distance you see the best subject. It could be a city worker in an immaculate suit or a classic car. You can see the subject from a mile away and it stands out like a sore thumb. There is absolutely no way anyone can miss this and it will make for an amazing photo. You open up your lens to get a bit more of a separation, take the perfect photo and are excited to get home and edit it. Well, you get home, load it up on your screen and all of the sudden end up somewhat deflated because the photo looks flat as pancake. The subject is lost within the image and the whole thing looks like a 2D cartoon even with the blurry f1.4 background. You try to rescue it by adding contrast, heavy colour grading, masking and doing everything you can to bring some life into this photo but to no avail. Why does this happen? Well when you were looking at the subject with your eyes, you see everything in 3D because you have 2 eyes and can easily see how the subject is clearly standing out from the background because you have perspective. A camera sensor does not see it this way and sees everything as a flat 2D snapshot. This is one of the reasons why a scene can look really good to you but not translate into a good photo. 

Understanding Light

Whenever you watch your favourite films, especially films that are well known to have amazing cinematic such as Joker or the Irishman, pay close attention to the lighting. Specifically pause at any scene where you think “oh wow this looks amazing” and take note of where the source of light is coming from and how the subject is lit. For the most part, you will find that the light source is coming from either behind the subject or from the side of the subject. Whichever direction the light is coming from, it is highly unlikely that it will be coming from in front of the subject.

The reason for this, is that unless there is a clear visual difference between the subject and the background, for example colour contrast or tonal contrast, you will find the subject blending in with the background. Furthermore, if the light and the camera angle on the subject is the same, then you will in most cases end up with a flat 2D result because the light has nothing to wrap around. If the light has nothing to wrap around, you will not get texture and graduation from highlights to shadows…. You will not get a 3D result. So to summarise in order to create more dramatic, 3D, cinematic light and ensure separation between your subject and your background, you need to ensure that your source of light is coming from either the side of the subject or behind the subject. 

Understanding Contrast

Once we get good lighting in place, we would also start to introduce a lot of natural contrast into the image because we will now be working with a bigger tonal range. This contrast will give your image a cleaner and sharper look while ultimately just looking much nicer than something flat and washed out. This also means that you don’t really need to add any extra contrast in editing. If anything you might even take some away. Furthermore If we take photos outside on a bright sunny day, we would also introduce natural colour contrast into the image. With the sunlit areas having a warmer tone and the shadow areas having a cooler tone. I do want to add that don’t be too afraid if slightly blowing out a small portion of your highlights or shadows. The whole notion of exposing down the middle and having the histogram perfectly bunched up in the centre is…. I’m not gonna get into that but let’s just say it’s not the best advice. You need natural contrast. Natural contrast is your friend. 

Summary 

So I hope you found this useful. To summarise, lighting is the most important part of your photography. You can have the best composition, the best subject and the best story but if it’s badly lit, it just won’t work. Any time you’re about to take photo, just take a step back and observe where the light is coming from and how it is interacting with your subject. Good back or side light will give you a more 3D like photo, it will give you good separation and contrast. Bad flat or head on light will give you a 2D photo and less contrast. This doesn’t mean flat light does not always work…. Now and then you will have scenarios were a flat lit image actually works better, but those scenarios are few and far between from my experience.