In the Language of Light concept, Available Light is everything; it is our day light, our night light, our sunrises and sunsets – without some light there are no photographs. No rocket science here so far.
I believe something that allows accomplished photographers to stand out is their understanding of a few definite properties of light and subjects, and of course, the technical knowledge of how to deal with them.
Photography is a pursuit of transferable skills. In 2003, when I got serious enough about photography to consider making it a profession (that took another 8 years!) – bird photography was my passion, but I was probably a generalist. I took as much pleasure from stalking a colourful bird in the rain forests of Malaysia, as I did taking architectural images of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Slowly, over the years I began to specialise more and more, and now, although I still take images of architecture, culture and birds, it is landscapes that inspire me the most and motivate me to grow my database of knowledge, experience and tools that allow me to be expressive about what I spend my life doing.
But the principles of exposure that I learned in the dark forests of the tropics are more or less the same as when I am shooting landscapes. The ideas I had then about composition and subjects allowed me to create a langscape style that I felt represented what I had to say about my surroundings. Let’s face it, shooting a bird, is much the same as shooting a wedding portrait.
The Language of Light principle is this – use your images to articulate to others the messages you intend, based on your interaction and experiences with the subjects of those images.
Photography is a fine balancing act between Art & Craft, Vision and Technique and it takes time to develop these skills, both the ability to “see” and to express that vision in a communicative manner through an image.
In the Seeing the Unseen eBook I repeatedly discuss the very concept that gave the book its name – visualising things that are not actually there and how they will interact with the final composition. Of course this takes time, but a counterpoint learning point is to see things that are there, but perhaps need a bit more “looking” to appreciate them.
The Art of Composition is to articulate a meaning, a mood, to tell a story. Photographs have most impact when the subject is clear, the emphasis we put on it is called Visual Weight. If your primary subject is well separated in the frame, the viewer should be left in no doubt as to our intention.
Let us look at this example of a monk standing in Durbar Square in Kathmandu, Nepal; the figure and his shadow are the only subjects in the frame. Notice how I say SUBJECTS, because most people would say there is only ONE Subject, the Monk – but in fact, his shadow is also a subject, and the point of this article is to consider the Visual Weight of ALL elements within the frame.
