Finding the light

It is not always convenient to bring lighting equipments around every time you take photo. In many cases, we find ourselves in the situation of struggling on how to use available light at best. "Finding the light" to me is a technique (or a way of thinking) to connect the available light sources to create a good photograph.

The photograph below was taken by Admiré on my sister wedding (she is beautiful, right?). She sat near to the only window in the room, during her make-up. The only light source outside is the sunlight reflected on my neighbor's house which is painted in pink color. Single "soft-box" with "pink" gel! The background is lit by the same window light, just darker due to the "inverse-square law". The gradient in the background nicely lead my attention to the subject. Simple & nice!

(Canon 40D, 17-55mm f2.8)

I took the photo of Admiré (below) in Venice at around 5-6pm. I brought no flash, just a Canon 40D and 85mm f1.8 lenses. Hard sunlight positioned high above became hair-light & key. Reflective surface of the chair acted as fill light (well, you're right, red-cast needs to be removed). Few minutes later, the light was gone as the sun went down :)

(Canon 40D, 85mm f1.8)

Just some thoughts I have when going through our archived photos today. I would love to have your inputs in this topic, like let us see your photo where you "find the light" in the comment section ;)

Analox

-----------------------------------------------
Some other photos I found relevant to this topic. Hope the owners won't mind :)

From DoubleVirgo

From NamTP