The shaft of light

Posted by on Jul 10, 2011 | Comments Off

Light isn’t just light.

Light has certain characteristics. Light may be warm, soft, cold or harsh.

Light has directionality – side light, back light and front light and so forth.

Light can make or break a photograph. Bad light can destroy an otherwise-good photo. Conversely, good light can transform a boring photograph into a memorable image.

There’s no definitive “good light” or “bad light.” What’s good light for one photo may be bad light for another image. It all depends on what the photographer hopes to accomplish with his photography.

Then there’s the “shaft of light.” It’s elusive and almost always makes a photograph better.

Fermin Salomon herds sheep on the slopes of Cleman Mountain. The Martinez family has grazing sheep in this area for 50 years but recently bighorn sheep have come into the area raising concerns the domestic sheep could infect the wild sheep with a pathogen which would decimate the wild sheep herd.(GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Sheepherder Fermin Salomon is illuminated by an early-morning shaft of light. A shaft of light, when it falls just right, emphasizes the subject of the photo. It separates the subject from the background.. A shaft of light can also add a graphic element to the photo and make it more visually appealing.

Another example of a shaft of light:

Just-made requeson cheese cools in a strainer as Jorge Tirado continues making more requeson at the Queseria Bendita. Requeson, which tastes like ricotta cheese, is made in four 18-gallon pots at the Yakima cheese factory. Tirado often eats the requeson and it's his favorite cheese of all the varieties made at Queseria Bendita. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Here, an opportune shaft of light emphasizes numerous elements in the photo – the cheese (the main subject) as well as the steam rising from hot water. The shaft of light also lights a small portion of the cheesemaker’s face. Sort of a “three-fer.”

–Gordon King