still life ~ the light

Orange with "hard" light • click to embiggen
Orange with "soft" light • click to embiggenMuch has been said, IMO ad nauseum, about "perfect" light. As far as I'm concerned, there is just light. However, that said, there is such a thing as the "right" light, but, the "right" light is dependent upon your picturing intent.

That is to say, depending upon your referent and how you wish to portray it, a particular type of light - soft / hard / warm / cold / back light / front light / strong directional light or some combination thereof - might be employed to best convey your feelings about your referent.

George Eastman said it best when he stated ...

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.

Of course, there are those who have made a fetish of certain kinds of light. In the landscape picture making world, many picture makers limit their picturing to a short window, morning or evening, of warm romantic light. Their view of the natural world is a truncated vision, all warm and cuddly and devoid of nature's many other moods. For them, high noon and other times of day are dead zones where, apparently, nothing ever happens.

IMO, light chasers (as many label themselves) have a limited knowing of light. They love "the light" and, in all too many cases, their pictures are about "the light". Their referent seems to be a just a prop for "the light". But, of course, good pictures are more than just about the light.

In my experience, those who know light best are often studio based picture makers. In their picturing world, they make/control the light. In doing so, they come to understand light in all its many facets and very often, when (or, if) they venture out from the studio, they make the best landscape picture makers.

For them light is a many-splendored thing to be embraced in all its various manifestations. They tend to make the best of what light they encounter - light is just light and consequently they know the key to photography.