Light Science and Magic 4/e

Absorbed light turns to heat. We can feel it, but it is no longer visible to the camera.

the single most important quality of a light source is its brightness. A brighter light is almost always a better light.

For single light sources, the size of that source is the primary factor influencing its contrast. A small light source is always a hard light source, and most large sources are soft ones. We see that the sun in Figure 2.4 occupies little area in the diagram, so it is a small light source. The cloud covers a greater area in Figure 2.6, making it a l

direct transmission, in which light passes through a material in a predictable path.

Notice that the strength of the field moves from zero to its maximum-positive strengths and then back to zero; it then repeats the pattern in the negative direction. This is why the field around a beam of light does not attract metal like an iron magnet does. The field around a photon of light is positive half of the time and negative the rest of t

Because photography is the manipulation of light, the chapter defines lighting as the relationship between the light, the subject, and the viewer.

Absorption

that usually works—but not

1. The effective size of the light source is the single most important decision in lighting a photograph. It determines what types of shadows are produced and may affect the type of reflection. 2. Three types of reflections are possible from any surface. They determine why any surface looks the way it does. 3. Some of these reflections occur only if l