If you want to excel in photography, you must understand how to manipulate and control the light. You must understand the fundamental principle how light affect your image.

Pro photographers use diffusers, snoot, reflectors, etc. to control how the light pass thru /hit your subject. Mostly those items I’ve mentioned are expensive and inadequate for budding photographers who are just starting up.

The photo below: I took this last Saturday at a theatre, it was dark, but I had my flash gun with me. I inserted my DIY snoot made out of a black oslow paper. The snoot basically created a circular shape light towards my subject.

How you lit your subject creates an atmosphere, a mood or a drama. My most favourite lighting technique is called chiaroscuro lighting or Rembrandt lighting. Chiaroscuro is an Italian artistic term used to describe the dramatic effect of contrasting areas of light and dark in an artwork, particularly paintings.

To know more about this technique, click this link.

Click this link to get more lighting techniques.