x Introduction
and in the telling we hope to help you improve the photographs
you make using available light.Dick Stolley, who was by many reports the best managing editor
at Time-Life, once told People magazine’s contributing photo-
graphers that a successful photograph elicited a “Gasp Factor”
from the viewer. These photographs can literally take your breath
away. They tug at your heart or hit you in the gut, stirring emo-
tions of joy, love, hate, sadness, or anger. Take a few minutes to
visualize one or more of the iconic images in our recent history:
fl ag raising at Iwo Jima, the Hindenburg explosion, sailor kissing
a nurse in Times Square as World War II ended, Lee Harvey
Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby, John Kennedy, Jr., saluting at
his father’s funeral, the handgun execution in Saigon, or one of
the Twin Towers in mid-collapse. Specifi cally, recall in your
mind’s eye any Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph. These images
stop us in our tracks as we react on an emotional level to their
content. The reaction to most Pulitzers is usually on the serious
side of the spectrum—anger and sadness—because it’s often the
nature of the news business. Is it possible to get these kinds of
emotional reactions to our everyday photography? You bet it is!
Our premise is that the proper use of lighting is one of the main
ingredients to successful, eye-catching photography. In this
book, we’ll show you how to improve your use of lighting.Mr. Stolley went on to say that if the image stopped the reader,
forced them to take a second look at it, to read the story’s head-
line and then perhaps the rest of the story, the photograph passed
his “Gasp Factor” test. After all, the goal at all publications is
getting people to read the content and Stolley believed that the
process was led by great photography. Our goal is simplifi ed,
because we’re not writing headlines and stories, just wanting our
images to rise above the overcrowded snapshot maze. Often the
best photographs—the “Gasp Factor” ones—are taken under
less than ideal conditions. These images are made on dark,
cloudy, stormy days; at the crack of dawn; at sunset; or in the
dark of the night.Available light, unavailable light, available darkness, or low
light—it doesn’t matter what you call it, but the truth is that the
most rewarding photographs can be produced when you are
working under the most challenging lighting conditions. There
are several reasons for this.First, there is the thrill of overcoming the technical obstacles that
might normally prevent you from producing a well-exposed
image.Second, photographs made under conditions different from the
“f/16 and the sun over your right shoulder” instruction-sheet
standard have a more eye-catching look.