How and Why Lighting affects Camera Techniques:

Lighting is a very important technique when it comes to shooting photography and moving image as it can effect both the quality and atmosphere of the scene. The three main components to consider when using a camera are the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. To gain the best quality and correct exposure, each of these settings must be in balance – if not the image/footage will be under exposed (too dark) or over exposed (too bright). In addition, using creative lighting set ups can give an image more dimension and a different appeal all together.

Under Exposed | Correctly Exposed | Over Exposed

There are a variety of different lighting styles to consider when planning a shoot, for example: using low-key lighting style adds more contrast and a darker appearance to an image, whereas using high-key lighting means there is less contrast but a brighter appearance to the image. In addition to this there are the choices to use hard light or soft light, which give the image a sharper look (hard light) or a softer look (soft light). In moving image texts, the villainous character is usually lit with a hard light – occasionally with low-key lighting as well, however it is more common for these two to be combined to light horror films. Low-key lighting and hard lighting can be achieved/created by using a smaller, dimmer light source and a darker room or area, soft lighting and high-key lighting being created in the opposite way (a larger, brighter light source in a more well lit room/area. Where lighting is usually used for visibility and to show the scene to the audience, it can also be used a more stylistic way which tends to be different for each person.

The manipulation and construction of a lighting set-up can vastly alter the look of an image/scene, and allows a person to create and encode meaning and emotion into their product. It also means that the colours, saturation and legibility of the text can be altered – creating a warmer appearance with more orangey hues or a colder and under saturated look.

Bibliography:
Earnest, A (2013) 'Lighting for Production Photography'. Buffalo: Amherst Media.

Lawrence, J (2012) 'Photographing Shadow and Lights'. Amphoto Books.