Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
Reading light is asking about four qualities systematically before shooting: quality is understood from the sharpness of the shadow edge falling on your palm; direction is named on a light clock imagined around the subject, with the nose's shadow and the glint in the eye. Color includes, besides the source, the secondary light coming from grass, a wall or the sky, and this reflection reads differently on every skin; intensity is measured by the stop difference between the lit and shaded sides of the face. Turning these four observations into a one-sentence light note lets you decide before shooting where to stand and how to change the light.
Learning goal
When you walk into a place, you will be able to read the light there systematically by its four qualities, before raising the camera. You will use the hand test to understand the quality of light from the edge of the shadow falling on your palm, tie the sharpness of the shadow edge to the hardness of the light, name the direction of light on a light clock you imagine around the subject, judge its color together with the secondary light coming from the sky, the sun and the surrounding surfaces, measure its intensity by the stop difference between the lit and shaded sides of the face, and turn all of this into a one-sentence light note and decide where to shoot by looking at this note. You will also see how the color that grass or a wall reflects onto a face reads on different skin tones.
The question
The portrait at the fountain became the most loved frame of the selection; now you want to catch the same soft light in the city park, in a new portrait of your friend. In the park you try four spots: under a big plane tree, a sunny walking path, under the eaves of an open-air tea garden and in front of a red brick wall. You shoot all four with the same settings, and the four frames look nothing alike: in one the face is slightly greenish, in one the eyes are dark hollows, in one the skin is warm and reddish, in one everything is soft and balanced.
You understand which one worked and why only after shooting, by looking at the screen. How do you "read" a light? Is it possible to see light before shooting, to name it and to decide where to stand accordingly? In this lesson we will talk about a way of reading light by its four qualities.
Context
A weather observer asks the same questions in order every morning: how much cloud, where is the wind coming from, what is the temperature, how far is the visibility? These questions, simple when looked at one by one, together tell the weather of a day. Reading light is like this too: asking four questions in order turns a scene's light from guesswork into something known.
In Lesson 5.1 we met the amount, direction, quality and color of light. This level aims not only to recognize natural light, but to read, direct, soften and strengthen it. The first lesson of this module teaches measuring those four qualities in the field: with the eye, with the hand and with the camera's metering, before shooting.
Simple explanation
How is quality read?
The quality of light is whether it is hard or soft, and it is read most reliably from the shadow. The shadow edge is the border where the shadow an object casts meets the lit area. A small, distant source like the sun leaves a sharp, line-like shadow edge; a large source like a cloudy sky or a wide window gives a soft edge that passes slowly from light to dark.
The hand test is holding your palm right in front of your face, where the subject stands, and looking at the edge of the shadow your fingers cast on your palm. If the edge is a sharp line, the light is hard; if it is a blurry transition, it is soft. When you slowly turn your palm, where the shadow falls roughly shows the direction of the light, and how brightly your palm is lit shows its intensity. This small test lets you read a place in a few seconds and starts the decision before raising the camera.
How is direction read?
The light clock is placing the subject in the middle of a clock face seen from above, putting the camera at six o'clock, and naming the direction of light with the hours of the clock. Light coming from six o'clock comes straight from the front and flattens the face; light coming from three or nine o'clock comes straight from the side and leaves half the face in shadow; light coming from twelve o'clock is from behind and draws an edge around the hair. The direction many portrait photographers love is between four and five, or seven and eight o'clock, that is, light coming from the front and a little to the side; but which direction is chosen depends on what you want to say.
Direction also has a height: is the light coming from eye level, or from above? Light coming from overhead darkens under the eyebrows and the eye sockets. The fastest way to read direction is to look at the shadow of the nose and the small glint in the eyes: on which side of the cheek and how far down does the nose's shadow fall, in which corner of the eye does the glint sit? If the glint is in the upper part of the pupil and to the side, the light is coming from the front, from the side and a little from above.
How are color and intensity read?
The color of light comes not only from its source but also from its surroundings. Secondary light is the part of the main light that reflects off the surrounding surfaces and reaches the subject, carrying the color of those surfaces. The leaves of a plane tree reflect green onto a face, a red brick wall a warm reddishness, an open sky a bluish coolness in the shade. This secondary light reads differently on every skin: a green reflection can make light skin look sickly pale and dark skin muddy and dull; the reflection of a warm wall, on the other hand, can bring light skin closer to red, and dark skin closer to a deep, glowing copper. Holding a white sheet of paper next to the subject and looking at its color is the easy way to notice secondary light.
Intensity is how strong the light is; but in a portrait what really matters is the difference between the lit side and the shaded side of the face. Measuring first the lit cheek, then the shaded cheek with the camera's spot metering gives this difference in stops: one stop is a soft and open look, two stops a distinct one, three stops and above a dramatic one. There is no right answer to what this difference should be; but knowing it in advance spares you surprises on the screen.
How is a light note written?
A light note is summarizing a place's light by its four qualities in a single sentence: for example "soft, from four o'clock and a little above, slightly cool from the sky, one stop difference on the face." This sentence is a decision tool in the field: you write the light you are looking for and compare it with the light you see, and you close the gap either by changing places, by turning the person, or with the reflectors and diffusers you will see in the coming lessons.
Keeping light notes for a while trains the eye. Writing a note before every shoot for a week and comparing it with the frame after the shoot, over time lets you read light at a glance, without a hand test. Reading light is the step that comes before changing it: someone who doesn't know what is missing can't know what to add either. In a portrait, adding the face's response to the note helps too: which way is the secondary light pulling the skin, does detail remain on the shaded cheek? When the detail of the shadow side on dark skin, or the shine of the lit side on light skin, enters this sentence, the choice of spot is made not only by the light, but also by the person in front of you.
Visual evidence
The next day you go back to the same park, and this time you read the four spots before shooting. Under the plane tree the hand test shows a soft shadow edge, but the white paper you hold beside it is greenish: your light note is "soft, from six o'clock, green from the leaves." On the sunny path the shadow on your palm is a sharp line, and the nose's shadow comes down to the lip: "hard, from overhead, neutral, more than three stops difference on the face." In front of the brick wall the note is "soft, from nine o'clock, warm red from the wall."
Under the tea garden's eaves the hand test gives a soft edge, and the white paper stays neutral; the open sky beyond the eaves brings the light from four o'clock and a little above. You measure your friend's lit cheek and shaded cheek: the difference between them is one stop. Your friend is dark-skinned; the green reflection under the plane tree was dulling the warm brown of their skin, while under the eaves their skin returns to its own color, and a small glint of the sky appears in the upper corner of their eyes. This time you chose the spot by looking at the light before shooting.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeJudging light only after shooting, by looking at the screen.
You search every spot by trial and error. The fix: before shooting, do the hand test, name the direction on the clock and write a light note.
Common mistakeLooking only at the source of light and not noticing the color the surrounding surfaces reflect.
Grass or a wall gives the face a color and the skin moves away from its own color. The fix: hold a white sheet of paper next to the subject and look at the color of the secondary light.
Common mistakeShooting without measuring the difference between the lit and shaded sides of the face.
Contrast creates surprises on the screen. The fix: measure the two cheeks separately with spot metering and note the difference in stops.
Summary
Reading light is asking about four qualities systematically before shooting: quality is understood from the sharpness of the shadow edge falling on your palm; direction is named on a light clock imagined around the subject, with the nose's shadow and the glint in the eye. Color includes, besides the source, the secondary light coming from grass, a wall or the sky, and this reflection reads differently on every skin; intensity is measured by the stop difference between the lit and shaded sides of the face. Turning these four observations into a one-sentence light note lets you decide before shooting where to stand and how to change the light.
Mini assignment
For seven days you will read the light and keep notes before every shoot.
- Do the hand test at four different spots where you are, and note whether the light is hard or soft by looking at the shadow edge.
- At the same four spots, name the direction of light on the light clock, together with its height.
- At each spot, hold a white sheet of paper next to the subject and look at the color of the secondary light; measure the lit and shaded sides of a friend's face with spot metering and write the difference in stops.
- Write a one-sentence light note for each spot, then shoot and compare the frame with your note.
Check yourself
- Did your light note correctly describe the light you see in the frame you shot?
- At which spot did the secondary light change the color of the face?
- At the spot you chose, does the person's skin stand in its own color, without being carried away by the reflection from the surroundings?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Hand test | Holding the palm where the subject is and reading the quality and direction of light from the shadow the fingers cast. |
| Shadow edge | The border where a shadow meets the lit area; its sharpness shows the hardness of the light. |
| Light clock | Placing the subject in the middle of a clock face and the camera at six o'clock to name the direction of light with the hours. |
| Secondary light | The part of the main light that reflects off surrounding surfaces and reaches the subject, carrying the color of those surfaces. |
| Light note | Summarizing a place's light by its quality, direction, color and intensity in a single sentence. |
Mini quiz
1. In the hand test, if the edge of the shadow falling on your palm is a sharp line, what is the light like?
- A) Soft
- B) Hard
- C) Colored
- D) From behind
2. On the light clock, if the camera is at six o'clock, where does light coming from twelve o'clock come from?
- A) Straight from the front
- B) Straight from the side
- C) From behind the subject
- D) From below
3. What is the reason the face looks greenish in a portrait shot under a plane tree?
- A) The color of the lens
- B) The camera's ISO setting
- C) High contrast
- D) The secondary light the leaves reflect
4. You measured the lit and shaded sides of the face with spot metering and found a one-stop difference. What does this tell you?
- A) That the light gives a soft and open contrast
- B) That the light is very hard
- C) That the exposure is wrong
- D) That the light comes from behind
Answers
- B — A sharp shadow edge is the sign of a small, distant source, that is, hard light.
- C — Twelve o'clock is straight opposite the camera, that is, behind the subject.
- D — Surrounding surfaces add their own color to the light they reflect.
- A — A one-stop difference means a soft transition between the two sides of the face.
Summary card
- Quality: hand test, is the shadow edge sharp or blurry.
- Direction: light clock; the nose's shadow and the glint in the eye; don't forget height.
- Color: source + secondary light; check with white paper.
- Intensity: measure the lit and shaded cheek separately; write the difference in stops.
- Light note: four qualities, one sentence, then the decision.
Bridge to the next lesson
While you were shooting the portrait under the eaves, your friend walked one step forward, toward the edge of the eaves, and their face suddenly lit up noticeably; when they stepped back one step, it darkened again. The source of the light was the same, only the distance had changed a little; but the difference in brightness was much bigger than you would expect from the step they took. Why does light weaken so fast as it moves away? The next lesson talks about the inverse square law and how distance shapes light.