The Gunny Sack

How To Add Light When Taking Photographs

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Blue Ice by Tonia @The Gunny Sack
February 14, 2011 at 8:59 am with heavy fog
 
If you are like me, you don’t have the money to create an in home photography studio complete with professional lighting.  There are several easy ways to add light to your pictures.  The ones I will talk about today can be done without manually changing your camera’s settings.

Last week, I talked about taking a picture using natural light from a window.  That is great if you can move your subject near a window but what if you can’t move it or if you want a certain background that isn’t near a window?  First, I open any curtains and blinds.  I even open the doors in the area that will let light into the room.  Next, I turn on all available lights in the room.

Sometimes just doing these two things will add all of the light I need but often I still need more light on the subject.  This is where everyone turns to their flash.  The problem with the flash on most cameras is that it a direct, blinding light that leads to dark shadows and blown out areas.  If you must use your pop up flash, try moving further away from the subject and zooming in to get closer.  But not so far away that the flash won’t light the subject or you can’t get a close, clear shot.

You can also try putting a diffuser over your camera’s flash.  You can buy a diffuser specifically for this purpose or tape a small piece of translucent material, such as white tissue paper, over the flash.


A couple of weeks ago, I showed you the external flash (also called a “hot shoe” flash unit) I use by mounting it to my camera.  It can swivel and tilt so that I can bounce the light off the ceiling or a wall.  My Nikon Speedlight can also be used as a remote flash (not mounted on the camera ~ you can put it anyplace) with a remote cord accessory, which I do not own.

I can also bounce my flash off a reflector.  My reflector comes with a white side (for adding light), gold (for a warm glow), silver (for adding brighter light), translucent (diffuse light), black (block light).  At times I use a piece of white poster board or tag board as a reflector.  I just tip the reflector so that the flash will bounce off of the reflector and onto the subject.  This is hard to do without someone helping me but I’m often taking pictures when I am at home alone.

You can also add light with a…well…light!  I’ve used my family room lamps, desk lamps and floor lamps.  The light can be shown directly at the subject if far enough back and a diffuser can be placed in front of the lamp.  If you are taking pictures by yourself this can get really tricky and it helps to have a tripod.  With a tripod, you can set your camera on self timer and then hold the diffuser (or reflector) while the camera takes the picture.

Lamps can also be directed at a reflector (or piece of white tag board) and the light will be reflected at the subject.  This is great for adding light to one side of the subject and can be used in conjunction with a light source that is directed toward the subject.  You want to make sure the reflector is close enough to the subject and the light fills the reflector.  This isn’t the best picture of how to do it but I was trying to take it with one hand while holding the reflector.  Just play around with it until you get the light the way you want it.

You can also make or buy a light box.  A light box is basically a large cube of translucent material that is open at one end.  Several years ago my husband made one for us but we never really used it so we ended up getting rid of it.  With a light box, you shine lights on the outside of the box and since the material is translucent the light is diffused on the subject in the box.

Here are the 6 different rose pictures that are in this post.  Isn’t is interesting how different the roses look with the various lights?
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Comments

  3. Katie says

    This is really great! I am going to play around with some of these ideas and my flash/lights to see what I can do! Thank you 🙂

    Reply

  5. Youaretalkingtoomuch.com says

    Such great tips! Getting ready to pin it on Pinterest, so that others can appreciate! Love, Me www.youaretalkingtoomuch.com

    Reply

  6. Anne @ Domesblissity says

    Wow Tonia. Where on earth were you to take that top photo? The North Pole? That’s fantastic! This is such great advice Tonia. As you know most of my evening meals I blog about and need to take the pictures after dark. I don’t really have any choice but to use the flash but I’ll certainly be trying these options from now on. Ive also been using natural light every chance possible and I’ve been a lot happier with my photos. Thanks so much Tonia! Anne xx

    Reply

  7. Stephanie @ henry happened says

    I feel like such a photo novice so thank you! this is muy helpful. I’ve never thought of the tissue diffuser!

    Reply

  8. Lindsay says

    Wow, you photography skills are amazing me. 🙂 I love this post, a lot easier to understand that I thought it would be. Thanks Tonia!

    Reply

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