Photography is an art that contains a synonym for light, ‘Photo’ in its very name. Photography is like painting on a canvas with light. Hence it is necessary to have the right kind of lighting on your subject to get the perfect picture. Here are a few tips to light up your subject.

Use reflectors in outdoors- while you are shooting outdoors, use reflectors to reflect the natural light on the subject rather than throwing artificial light that makes your picture look unnatural.

Manipulate aperture and Shutter for outdoors- when you are shooting outdoors, since you can not play much with the light source, instead manipulate your aperture and your shutter speed to get the right exposure for your picture. A number of high end cameras, such as the Nikon D3 Camera for instance, also have in-built light meters that can help you know if you have the right exposure for your photograph. In case you need high speed aperture to capture a moving object then open the aperture or close it to get the right exposure and do vice versa if you can’t afford to change your depth of field.

Give a Fill Light in Studio photography- Unless you want to give a dramatic effect, always give a fill light in your frame to light it up fully and avoid any harsh shadows.

Throw angular light, not from behind the camera- Always throw light on your subject from an angle of 45 degree to the line of camera and subject or from behind the subject. Never throw light from behind the camera as it leads to a very blunt picture. Angular light creates a mood and texture in your frame whereas backlight is used to highlight your subject and prevent your frame from looking flat.

Use lights of the same temperature- Avoid using lights of different colour temperatures as white balancing for different temperatures can prove to be a confusing task for your camera.