I’ve always found that the difficulty of using flash, or strobe, lighting in the field is that it can be difficult to achieve a look that isn’t artificial. Natural light is everything in the work that I do and I’ll base my working day around the times of day when I expect the light to be at its most favourable. All photographers who work for any time with natural light quickly learn how light changes through the course of the day and how the light can kill a potentially good image just as quickly as it can lend the vital magic required to make an image into something special.
Seeking out favourable light is what most travel photographers spend most of their time and energy pursuing. I won’t call it the “right light” as I don’t believe there’s any such thing as “bad” light, there’s simply the light that’s available at the time and place where we find ourselves. For me, nothing can beat natural light. I love the way it changes the appearance of things, how it can transform the ugliest of things into objects of beauty.
During a recent workshop in Bangkok’s Chinatown, students and I were forced to take shelter during an afternoon rain storm. It passed quickly but left a sheen of water over the streets and pavements. As the sun began to set it peeked through a gap in the clouds sending golden rays into the narrow alleys where we were photographing. The warm light bounced off the pools of water, lighting up Chinatown with a warmth that I’ve rarely seen. Suddenly, everything looked fantastic. I saw members of our group photographing rubbish in the streets. Market stalls, scruffy street dogs, taxis and tuk-tuks all took on an effervescent glow that cried out to be photographed.
It’s just not possible to replicate that kind of gorgeous, warm glow with artificial light. Without the budget of a Hollywood movie and the man-power to match, trying to light situations where the natural light just isn’t working for you is akin to trying to ski up a mountain. You’re going to waste a lot of energy and get nowhere fast.
Unless you’re Joe McNally and have 72 strobes at your disposal, you’re going to need to learn what your artificial light source can and can’t do. It’s an important lesson, especially for those of us who carry one or two flash-guns at most. If you’re a travel photographer then, by definition, you’ll need to keep the amount of gear you carry to a minimum. In that situation, you’ve got to use your light wisely. Knowing how your lights can enhance a scene without killing it is a crucial tool in your armoury and, unfortunately, it’s not a skill that many of us have managed to ompletely master, myself included.
That’s why I was delighted to get an e-mail this week from Mitchell Kanashkevich, introducing his new eBook, “Seeing the Light”. Mitchell uses his artificial light in such a way that you wouldn’t know which of his pictures are lit only by natural light and which have had the benefit of his skilled employment of artificial light. And surely that’s the point. Take a look at this image from the book of a man pouring chai from the light of a kerosene lamp. Isn’t it beautiful?
Is it artificially lit? You wouldn’t think so yet if you’ve ever tried to take pictures in a similar situation then you’ll know it would be almost impossible to get a usable image in the available light given by a single lamp. So how’s Mitchell lit this scene and managed to not only get a shot but also to make it appear natural? Well, you’ll have to buy the eBook to find out but trust me when I tell you that I’ve read all 54 pages and I’d really recommend it. It’s priced at a very reasonable $12 and if you ever step out of the door with a camera and a single flash in your bag then you really ought to read this book first. It includes a step-by-step analysis of several of Mitchell’s inspiring images and features a number of really useful lighting diagrams.
Finally, let me allow Mitchell to explain the premise of the book, with this extract from the book’s introduction.
“I’m a travel/documentary photographer whose focus always revolves around people and real life. I’m always on the move and I don’t have the man/womanpower, nor the time, nor the space in my bags for a complicated lighting setup. Nevertheless, I place tremendous value on the aesthetic appeal of my images and for that reason, to me, light is inseparable from the subject matter, it’s as important as the person in the image.
Undoubtedly a minimal lighting setup has its limitations. However, light and the way it interacts with spaces and our subject matter has been observed and depicted by image-makers much before the invention of photography or lighting equipment. There has always been a tremendous amount of creative opportunities even without artificial light, so when you use something as simple as a reflector in combination with sunlight or a single flash with light from a fire or a light bulb, our creative opportunities multiply.
The aim of this eBook is to expose photographers to some of these opportunities through examples, detailed descriptions and diagrams of setups from my own photographic experiences.”
Download Seeing the Light eBook
Mitchell Kanashkevich’s web site
PS: Mitchell and I are both going to be teaching photography classes in Indonesia in the near future. Watch this space!
Both of Mitchell’s eBook’s are excellent resources. I’m going to be recommending the participants at my upcoming lighting workshop buy this one. They will probably spend a day learning bad habits from me, then they can read Mitchell’s book to learn how it should be done
Hi Gavin, your photos of India are amazing! Let me know when you are doing courses in Indonesia as I am living in Bali now! Hopefully see you soon,
Kaylea