Direction of light source

This is a little experiment I did and the results were so drastic, I thought I would share it.

THE most important thing in photography is lighting. Good light...good pictures, bad light...bad pictures, no light...no pictures. One thing you can start to think about is the direction the light is hitting your subject.

Here is my subject. A little clover flower.

Here is the little flower with the light (the sun) hitting it straight on. The sun was directly behind me. Results...pretty boring, flat picture (and a bit out of focus, but that is a different lesson).

Here is the same little flower. This time the sun is hitting the flower from the right side. The sun didn't move...I did :) This gives some dimension to the flower, showing more detail through shadows.

I moved one more time so the light was hitting the flower from behind (the sun was right in front of me). I love the dramatic effect of this light.

When you are taking pictures of your children, flowers, a building, ... anything... think about how the light is hitting your subject. In a nutshell, direct light will generally produce flat, boring pictures. Side light gives good depth. Back lighting is dramatic.