Plan for lighting

Read your environment and select the best times to shoot your location.

The one contiguous element in all images in any genre of photography is lighting. Whether you aim to shoot portraits, landscapes, wildlife or macro images, the intensity, direction, variance and controllability of light will impact on the success of your images. Unless you are working in a studio, where you have full, unlimited control over every light source and its spread, planning for changes in lighting and learning to adapt your approach to exploit that which is available to you is an essential professional skill.

When scouting locations, light should be high on your list of parameters to assess. This may be a case of working out where the sun will be in the sky at the time you intend to conduct your shoot, or when it will appear at a pre-visualised place, to illuminate the scene as you require. Furthermore, the direction of the natural light and how much of it reaches your desired shooting spot must be appraised, so you can evaluate the need for additional lighting, such as off-camera flash, and plan workable flash ratios for a natural blend with the ambient conditions. In either instance, the challenge is visualising how a scene will appear in the future – we cannot always visit a location under the same lighting, so estimating exposure and composition based on probable lighting is essential.

The first of two core lighting factors is the interaction with the environment. The angle at which it strikes the terrain, the distribution of highlights and shadows this creates, as influenced by the shape of the land, and how much light is reflected back towards the camera can all be assessed by visiting a location, either in person or by studying online maps and images. Examining multiple angles will enable you to predict if the sun will be visible in your intended composition, which may influence your exposure choices.

The second factor is timing. When choosing a location you have to be confident you can be in place to shoot when you need to be, confirming accessibility at any time of day. Furthermore, evaluate if you will be able to move with the lighting, changing your position as the sun tracks across the sky, allowing you to capture multiple image styles.

Above left: Predict the future Part of the skillset of a location photographer is being able to account for how light may change over time and how this will make a scene appear in future.

Left: Seasonal variance As well as the time of day, on a longer timescale it is worth visiting a location in each season as you may find images materialise that did not present themselves previously.