National Geographic Masters of Photography

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overhead. This light often gives you nice detail in the foreground. Because
it provides more contrast than diffuse light, side lighting can lend a kind of
chiaroscuro effect to your images.


Side lighting is excellent for photographing people and animals. When
you’re shooting people and you can control the situation, try to have the light
come across part of their faces, if possible.


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light in the atmosphere, eliminating the scattering. They cut glare in your
images and enhance colors, particularly of the sky or water.


Backlight
Backlight is also interesting to work with, but it’s a little tricky because
you’re looking at the source of light. This type of lighting gives you
interesting shadows and silhouettes. Keep in mind, though, that when you’re
photographing backlit people or animals, you may need to open the exposure
a bit to get detail.


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the camera. To eliminate this, cover up the sun with your hand as it falls on
the front lens element. If you use a tripod, you can step out in front of your
lens so that your shadow falls on it. You might also try hiding the sun behind
something, such as a tree. When the sun is just coming up or going down,
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and you can actually shoot right into the sun.


Backlighting sometimes results in a situation where the sky is much brighter
than the foreground. Again, your eye can see the difference between the
highlights and the shadows, but the camera, in general, cannot. In these
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you can actually record it in the camera and avoid having to adjust it later
with software.

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