Different qualities of light - Frans Lanting

Thursday 19 April 2018, 17:34 by Michelle Peeters | 6,932 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Originally Dutch nature photographer Frans Lanting, perhaps the most famous nature photographer in the world, has put together a nice video explaining how you can photograph a landscape at any time of day.

Indirect light

When it is foggy, the fog acts as an extra layer that scatters the light, making it diffuse. Cloud cover has much the same effect. Many photographers do not like it and would rather not take photos then. But it is actually ideal, this beautifully spread, indirect light.

It also solves many of the problems you encounter when photographing in direct sunlight. You do not have to deal with large or even impossible-to-manage contrasts, such as blown highlights and blocked-up shadows, wherever you point your camera.

You also have indirect light before sunrise and after sunset. Many photographers see this as magical light. You get many more colours in the sky.

Direct light

Direct light hits your subject. Be aware of where the sun hits your subject in relation to where you are. If the sun is behind you, you have front light.

Frans Lanting uses front light when he wants to emphasise colours. However, it can also create a 'flat', two-dimensional photo due to the lack of shadows, so be careful with it.

When the sun hits the subject at an angle of 90 degrees, it emphasises texture. So if you have something with lots of interesting things to see on its surface, such as rocks covered in moss, use side lighting.

Backlighting: look at what the light looks like. You can see that warm glow across the scene. Orientate yourself while watching where the sun hits the subject.

When the sun is a little higher, Frans starts looking for side lighting. Once the sun is fully up and there is no more colour to see in the scene, he often uses backlighting to simplify the scene and create silhouettes.

Direction of light

So depending on what you want to emphasise in your photo, choose a particular direction of light:

• Emphasising colour: keep the sun behind you (front light)


• Emphasising texture: keep the sun to the side (side lighting)


• Emphasising shape: simplify the scene and photograph directly into the sun (backlighting)

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