Destination Wedding & Portrait Photographer | Sabah

In today’s age of high dynamic range cameras and increased knowledge of postproduction software, photographers are beginning to less on the fundamentals of lighting. Lighting, in my opinion, is the first thing that we should learn as professional photographers. Lighting will dictate the location that you shoot in as well as the overall style that you are trying to achieve.

Our studio is in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the “natural light photographer, bright and airy, creamy and dreamy hipster shooter.”

So, with all that being said, let me give you five different reasons why I believe you should understand the use of artificial light in the most creative way possible.

1. Creative lighting will help you stand out

My market is not unique; no matter where you live, I guarantee that any market has many photographers. We are in an industry that is creative and fun, and has very little barrier to entry. Lighting by itself is going to give you that differentiation, but it will at least open the door through your portfolio for clients to find you and start a further conversation.

By utilizing creative lighting to bring attention to your subject within a composition, you can direct the viewer anywhere you need them to go. Light shaping gives you much more creative freedom to tell the stories that you want to tell.

2. Bring out excellence in your craft by Lighting

No matter what type of photography you shoot, you will rarely have control over the scenarios that you shoot in without being able to craft light. Let’s take the natural light as an example. Relying on natural light to photograph family portraits outside in a park, generally there will be very little reflective light to create directionality on subjects. To create a three-dimensional look in a two-dimensional medium, by using even a small amount of flash, you can help to create that three-dimensional appearance, bring light into your subject’s eyes and saturation into their skin.

3. Being able to shape light

Our job is to inspire confidence in our subjects. Our goal is to make our clients love the way they look. Using light creatively with direction allows you to create shadows, and shadows help to slim down our subjects and create texture in their clothing or body. The highlights created by directional light will also bring attention to their face, which will help the viewer of your image get to the subject much quicker.

By utilizing creative lighting, you can also photograph your subjects within larger scenes because you’re able to darken your background and brighten your subject independently of each other. This allows you to create sellable portraits that show off the location you are currently shooting with them. Creative lighting is especially useful for wedding photographers, because often people spend a lot of money to book their venue, so taking scenic portraits allows you to show that.

4. Understanding how to use lighting

If you are a natural light photographer, you’re going to have a very hard time photographing a reception that is outdoors at night. Furthermore, if you don’t understand how to use color, you’re going to be dealing with mixed lighting that pollutes your subject’s skin tones. By understanding how to place and shape light, you will be able to either mimic natural lighting when appropriate or craft lighting that looks cinematic or theatrical.

I photographed a wedding inside a warehouse lookalike, where the couple utilized advanced projection mapping to create a moving enchanted decorations on all four walls of the space. Any flash that we could have utilized would have washed out the scenery, but without light, the subjects had patterns projected onto them.

We placed very controlled light patterns on our subjects during creative portraits. This allowed us to eliminate the issue without the light spilling upon the background. This was one of the most difficult weddings I have ever photographed. However, I can guarantee that we will have a situation like this again in the future, just as you will eventually if you are photographing weddings.

5. Creative lighting enhances your client’s experience

Utilizing creative lighting will allow you to overdeliver on your client’s expectations by taking a scene that looks one way in real life and transforming it into something that looks theatrical in photos. Every single one of your clients will usually start their dialogue with you by telling you that they are not photogenic. This usually means that the photos they view of themselves do not represent the way that they believe they look. However, if you can take a scene and transform it utilizing creative lighting by creating highlight and shadow, you will be able to take that self-perception and meet the standards that many people hold themselves to.

It’s important to remember that we are not selling photographs. If we deliver on our clients’ expectations by offering them beautiful photos, a great experience, and a lifetime of memories, we will create customers for life who will be more than happy to refer us to their friends and family.

At the end of the day, photographic style is not the same thing as creative lighting. Lighting itself is not a style, but rather a technique that every photographer should learn to master. Once you understand the technique, then you can apply that technique to your style however you see fit. I love brighter images as much as I like the dark and dramatic stuff. Learning how to master lighting to shape it around your subjects and your scene will give you the creative freedom to go bring your vision to life.

Thank you for reading! now go explore this lighting technique at home.