Digital photography month is upon us, and each time you snap the shutter on your digital camera you should think about LIGHT. Why? Because light is the only reason the camera actually works. So you need to use it wisely. Let expert photographer and educator Ibarionex Perello help you
Light. It’s the most transformative tool at any photographer’s disposal. Whether the lens is turned to people, wildlife, or landscape, the creative use of light is often the difference between a snapshot and a powerful photograph.
The Color of Light Color is everywhere, and it’s a big part of virtually every photograph that I make. But the presence of color alone doesn’t mean that I’m on my way to making a great color photograph. It’s only the careful evaluation of colors in relation to each other, to the light, and to the various elements in the scene that lead me to make the conscious and creative choices that help make a good image.
Light’s Impact on Color The images of these oranges at a fruit stand reveal the amazing differences of color even within a small, confined area. The oranges illuminated by the direct sunlight have a high degree of saturation that’s lost as you move down into the shadows, where the colors become duller.
Perello brings his palpable passion and personal approach rooted in decades of experience, and reveals his honed techniques for controlling focus, exposure, white balance, and sharpness to create beautiful and impactful photographs.
Feeling Color: Color was an afterthought in many of my early images. I photographed a woman who just so happened to be wearing a red shirt. I photographed a landscape that by chance had some yellow flowers in the foreground. I was looking at the people and the objects that were within my frame, but I wasn’t really seeing what was happening with the light and, consequently, with the colors. Yes, I might have seen it and recognized it later, when I looked at the photographs onscreen or in a print, but I wasn’t seeing it when it mattered most: the moment of exposure.
In an industry so obsessed with gear, this book bridges the gap between the technical and the creative and returns to a personal, inspirational narrative about perceiving and photographing light.
This book will enlighten photographers of all levels about
the elements of exposure, metering, and ISO
light’s impact on color and controlling color balance
combining brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, and pattern enhancing portraits with available lighting
direction and quality of sunlight and shooting in rural and urban landscapes
the power of light in black and white
The lessons taught in this book cover a wide, difficult patch of knowledge seldom addressed in other photography books — yet are so essential to making good photographs. And, don’t you dare judge the book by its cover! I don’t know who selected this shot for the cover, but there are at least twenty others in the book that would have been ten-times better than this one! I urge you to download the PDF file below, which covers “White Balance” and discover that you probably should go ahead, now, and buy the whole book! I highly recommend it!
Ibarionex Perello is currently a freelance photographer and writer. His articles appear in numerous magazines including Digital Photo Pro, Rangefinder, Shutterbug, and Outdoor Photographer. He is the host and producer of the popular podcast The Candid Frame. He is also an instructor of photography at BetterPhoto.com and an adjunct professor at the Art Center College of Design.
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