This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Light Matters
Simply taking a properly exposed picture is only part of the equation. That’s not to say you can’t go around taking pictures all day long. However, you must be able to translate the story through that exposure as well. You have to be able to convey emotion by use of light, body language, angle of view, and so on (Figure 4.16).
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Figure 4.16. A soldier’s face is covered with sand after a 6-hour ride to the Syrian boarder. (Photo by Andy Dunaway)
Lens (mm): 70, ISO: 400, Aperture: 5.6, Shutter: 1/80, Program: Aperture Priority
My manual from the Department of Defense’s Basic Still Photography Course suggested I take pictures with the sun to my back and, when in doubt, just set my camera to f/8 and shoot. Many of the guys called it the “f/8 and be there” setting. Sure, they were good go-to settings, but I wasn’t creating meaningful pictures—I was just letting these rules dictate the look of my photography, not to mention the quality. One day I said to hell with all of the rules. My new mantra was, “Know the rules to break the rules.”
By experimentation, I came to my own conclusions. If you want to put the sun to your back, go ahead. Just remember, it takes light make an exposure, but the shadows create the dimension. Approach each scene by reading the light source first; explore the space, shift, and watch (Figure 4.17).
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Figure 4.17. Marine Lance Corporal Taylor K. Truen rides aboard a Marine Corps CH-53E helicopter near Camp Lemonier, Djibouti.
Lens (mm): 70, ISO: 200, Aperture: 11, Shutter: 1/80, Program: Manual
If you slow down enough to move through these motions, you’ll begin to see light in a whole new way. Shoot toward or into the light to create breadth and mood. When possible, use color to convey the emotion of the scene or to push your subject forward or backward; cool colors fall back and warm colors jump forward. To distinguish the importance of your subject in their environment, avoid drastic crops into their body, while perhaps cropping others. Even your lens selection should play a part in how you want to relay the story.
Light is as fundamental to photography as an understanding of aperture and shutter speed. Great lighting is a big factor in creating a great photograph. A photograph of any subject can be improved or worsened by a change in the light in which it is photographed. To best understand how this happens, you must understand the four fundamental qualities of light: intensity, color, direction, and contrast.
Light has intensity
Intensity, the first of the four qualities, is perhaps the easiest to understand. Light can be bright or it can be dim. However, the intensity can change based on your relationship to the light source. Imagine yourself in the desert on a cloudless, sunny day. The light here is, no doubt, very bright. Now imagine yourself walking into a palm grove on that same day. The deeper in you go, the less intense the light becomes. The intensity of the sun has not changed. However, by placing palms between you and the light source, you have effectively filtered or reduced the intensity (Figure 4.18).
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Figure 4.18. A U.S. Army soldier hunts down enemy forces in the palm groves in Buhriz, Iraq. This image demonstrates the theory of filtered or reduced light intensity. The sunlight has not changed overhead. However, the palms of trees over the subject’s head successfully diffuses the intensity of the existing light.
Lens (mm): 38, ISO: 400, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/500, Program: Aperture Priority
Light has color
What we consider to be white light is actually made up of equal parts of light of all colors. Again, warmer colors have a forward-moving effect, whereas the cooler colors tend to fall back. You can use this to isolate or draw attention to your subject. Figure 4.19 demonstrates how a small amount of red can pull the viewer’s eye.
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Figure 4.19. Soldiers use a corkboard to post American and European currency with their names signed on them and messages to other military units. (Photo by Andy Dunaway)
Lens (mm): 18, ISO: 100, Aperture: 4, Shutter: 1/100, Program: Manual
In the Trenches: Dark Times
It was well after midnight when I arrived at a small combat outpost located outside a highly volatile village in Diyala Province, Iraq. I’d never met, nor documented, this particular Army unit, and it was my first time at this specific location. I was assigned to photograph these lone soldiers holding ground against the enemy. From my research, I learned the village of Buhriz was the epicenter of all enemy activity, and they were the first line of defense against the trafficking of weapons and bombs into the city. Beyond that, it was up to me to find and capture the story.
I was met by a group of somber, almost morose, soldiers covered with coal soot from head to toe. They seemed happy to see a new face, but not as excited to see my camera. After we became acquainted, they were more at ease with my presence and began to give me the rundown on their daily operations. In quick summation, the soldiers lived and operated out of a private residence, whose occupants fled when the enemy fighters began their killing spree of innocent men, women, and children. The soldiers did their best to preserve the remnants of homeowner’s personal belongings and stored them on the first floor, which filled the ground-level rooms from floor to ceiling with chairs, tables, couches, cribs, and other basic household furnishings. Further illustrating the family’s hasty, courageous escape were the family portraits left behind, gathering dust on the table, and the bullet holes that riddled the wall nearby. It was obvious the soldiers were impacted by their surroundings, but my intuition said there was more to the story than a group of soldiers cooped up in a creepy house.
It was too dark to shoot pictures that night, and blackout conditions made using any white light impossible. Instead, I pulled up to an upside-down apple box the soldiers used as a card table and played a round of spades. The bitter cold night air forced me to wear every item of clothing I’d brought, and I wrapped my sleeping bag around my torso for good measure. The only source of heat was a small potbelly stove they rigged using an ammo can and some old piping. Needless to say, it leaked like a sieve, and within an hour I looked like a coal miner.
As we played cards and smoked cigarettes, the soldiers revealed to me that one of their teammates had been killed by a sniper only hours before my arrival. I was shocked, but not entirely. My intuition was correct. In essence, they were stuck in their own lightless hell with only their thoughts to pass the time. In that moment, I knew that was the story. My challenge then was to illustrate that story in one picture.
As the sun began to rise, rays of light began to peak through the sandbags that surrounded the stove’s pipe. With daylight safely upon them, the soldiers switched on a dim overhead bulb that managed to illuminate some of the caveman art they’d created with the soot on the walls. I stepped back to observe the light as the soldiers gathered around the stove to warm themselves. They began to talk about their friend they’d lost and exchanged fond memories. I picked up my camera, metered the small pool of light emitted from the outside, and waited. One soldier’s face caught the sunlight and stood out among the sea of darkness. They continued to laugh at funny anecdotes and shared what they would miss about their fallen comrade; then the room went silent. All seemingly lost in thought, they bowed their heads in remembrance. That was the critical moment (Figure 4.20).
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Figure 4.20. A short time after a member of their team was killed in action not too far from where they stand, soldiers continue to stand guard in the watch tour of an Iraqi police station in Buhriz, Iraq.
Lens (mm): 17, ISO: 800, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/13, Program: Manual
Their body language speaks volumes, but it’s the light that makes the picture so evocative and telling. Photography is subjective, but I feel the dark shadows represent their loss and the struggle they were enduring in that moment, while the small pool of light on the soldier’s face illustrated the ray of hope they had inside for the future.
Insights: Full Frontals and More
Frontal lighting is the most elemental form of lighting. Although it can be great go-to lighting for some, it can also be flat, shadowless, and featureless. I’ll only use this type of lighting if I’m stuck in press pool and have no other choice or it lends itself to the feel of the photograph. Figure 4.21 is an example of frontal lighting.
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Figure 4.21. Marine Corps recruit José Delgado stands near the obstacle course at Parris Island, South Carolina.
Lens (mm): 70, ISO: 400, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/6000, Exp. Comp.: -0.5, Program: Aperture Priority
Side lighting can be used by the photographer to show shape, texture, and form. Side-lit subjects create their own shadows and therefore a highlight side and a shadow side. This self-induced shadow allows the subject’s true shape and form to show (Figure 4.22).
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Figure 4.22. U.S. Army Sgt. Vashon Bolton waits for his squad relief at the Iraqi police station in Buhriz, Iraq.
Lens (mm): 24, ISO: 400, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/80, Program: Manual
Back lighting can reveal shape and form differently, and in some cases will make your subjects appear to glow. One interesting side effect of backlighting is what we call “rim light.” Rim light occurs when the source for the backlight is slightly above the subject and is the thin strip of highlight along the upper edge (the rim) of the subject. Rim lighting adds definition to the edges of the subject and can help to separate the subject from the background (Figure 4.23).
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Figure 4.23. U.S. Army Spec. Quinton Green looks for weapons and bomb-making materials during a cordon and house-to-house search in Sadiyah, Iraq.
Lens (mm): 30, ISO: 200, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/800, Program: Manual
Light has direction
When we express the direction of light, we always do so from the perspective of the subject. Front light is that light which strikes the front (or camera side) of the subject. Sidelight is light that strikes the subject from either the left or right sides. Back light is light that illuminates the back (opposite camera) side of the subject.
Simply because you’re shooting uncontrolled action in natural light does not mean you relinquish the power to move yourself into a better light direction. If a window lights your subject straight on with flat light, move yourself until the light is short or rimming your subject’s face. It’s that simple (Figure 4.24).
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Figure 4.24. After being relieved from guard duty, U.S. Army Spec. Orlando Garcia takes a smoke break at the Iraqi police station in Buhriz, Iraq.
Lens (mm): 55, ISO: 400, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/60, Program: Manual
Light has contrast
Observing the shadows is the easiest way to identify contrast. Distinct, deep, hard-edged shadows are evidence of harsh light. The harsh light of bright, cloudless sunshine is difficult to photograph in, especially if that harsh light is also sidelight. It can be difficult to come up with an exposure that will show detail in the shadows and not overexpose the highlights. Likewise, it can be difficult to expose for the highlights without completely losing the shadows. It’s up to you as the photographer to choose the most pleasing, and sometimes least adverse, alternative. When faced with no other choice than to shoot in high-contrast light, I try to find unique ways to work around the unattractive lighting.
For instance, Figure 4.25 was taken around one o’clock in the afternoon and not a cloud in sight. I had no choice but to shoot under terrible lighting conditions. So I opted to disguise the nasty light with the environment around my subject—in this case, bars on a window.
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Figure 4.25. A U.S. Army soldier rummages through the rubble of a bombed-out building during a cordon and search for weapons caches and anti-Iraqi forces in Old Baqubah, Iraq.
Lens (mm): 23, ISO: 200, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/2500, Exp. Comp: -0.3, Program: Aperture Priority
Soft light—the light of an overcast day for instance—is the quality of light most photographers prefer (Figure 4.26). Soft light seems to wrap around and envelop subjects. It’s great for color because there are no hot spots or overexposed areas to detract from a subject’s true color. Light, whether bright or dim, always has direction and color. Although I can appreciate soft light situations, they aren’t my favorite. I prefer more direct, contrast-laden light. Shadows are what I build my pictures around to create mood and dimension. If I choose to use a softly lit image, it’s because the moment outweighs the light.
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Figure 4.26. Marine Corps recruit David Briones stands in formation during physical training at Parris Island, South Carolina.
Lens (mm): 66, ISO: 400, Aperture: 2.8, Shutter: 1/1500, Exp. Comp.: +1.0, Program: Aperture Priority