3 Reasons I Choose Natural Light In Photography

The word pho­to actu­al­ly means “light”, and light is the most cru­cial fac­tor in your pho­tog­ra­phy. Before I get into why I choose nat­ur­al light in pho­tog­ra­phy vs arti­fi­cial light, let’s break down the two light sources.

Natural Light in Photography

Nat­ur­al light is sim­ply: “the light from the sun.” It is avail­able in most loca­tions, and you can get stun­ning results in your pho­tographs for no addi­tion­al costs. You need to learn and under­stand light to get the best results in your pho­tos and where you as the pho­tog­ra­ph­er should stand, and how to posi­tion your sub­ject for the most flat­ter­ing results.

Artificial Light in Photography

Arti­fi­cial light is any­thing exclud­ing nat­ur­al light. It is “light pro­duced by elec­tric lamps.” It is eas­i­er to con­trol than nat­ur­al light but comes at a high­er cost and requires more time and space. You need to learn how to use arti­fi­cial light­ing to cre­ate the best results as well.

The 5 Reasons I Choose Natural Light In Photography

#1 Cost

The num­ber one rea­son I chose nat­ur­al light in pho­tog­ra­phy when I first start­ed was that it was free. It’s every­where, easy to locate, and it costs noth­ing. I had my cam­era and the sun, and I was good to go. Then I fell in love with nat­ur­al light. I loved find­ing hid­den pock­ets of light and exper­i­ment­ing with light and I loved my results.

I did­n’t have to buy or trans­port expen­sive equip­ment, and I knew that I could uti­lize nat­ur­al light in most sit­u­a­tions that I would be shoot­ing in. If I want­ed to shoot out­doors, once I learned to find and shoot for the light, I had end­less loca­tions and times to shoot. If I was going to shoot inside, I knew that with the knowl­edge I had of nat­ur­al light, no arti­fi­cial light was need­ed. And, when I was ready to up my nat­ur­al light game, I could at a min­i­mal cost by adding reflec­tors or dif­fusers.

#2 Ease

The num­ber two rea­son I chose nat­ur­al light in pho­tog­ra­phy was that nat­ur­al light is sim­ple. Let’s be hon­est; there is a lot to learn in pho­tog­ra­phy. I remem­ber feel­ing real­ly over­whelmed; the set­tings on my cam­era, get­ting tack-sharp focus, com­pos­ing the image, pos­ing, and I knew that I could achieve extra­or­di­nary results with nat­ur­al light…why throw in one more thing with all of the tech­ni­cal infor­ma­tion of arti­fi­cial light?

Using nat­ur­al light means that you can focus on the sub­ject. It’s just you, the cam­era, and who­ev­er you are photographing—no need to load up equip­ment to move from loca­tion to loca­tion. Nat­ur­al light gives you the free­dom to chase your run­ning tod­dler, get on the ground and watch them play, or cap­ture an amaz­ing sun­set fam­i­ly beach shot.

#3 The Beauty

The num­ber three rea­son that I choose nat­ur­al light in pho­tog­ra­phy is that it is sim­ply gor­geous. The beau­ty of nat­ur­al light can take your images to the next lev­el and is hard to recre­ate with arti­fi­cial light sources. The look of your pho­to­graph can change with the time of day, the type of light, and the angle you choose to use, cre­at­ing any mood or style that you prefer.

Now you know the 3 Rea­sons I Choose Nat­ur­al Light in Pho­tog­ra­phy. Learn­ing to under­stand light and learn­ing to shoot for the light and not the loca­tion is key to cre­at­ing amaz­ing nat­ur­al light pho­tos! It’s an afford­able way to take your pho­tos to the next lev­el. Check out The Begin­ners Pho­tog­ra­phy Essen­tials Class if you are ready to embrace and learn more about nat­ur­al light today!