Controlling Available Light

Your camera might have a built-in flash or a hot shoe for connecting an external flash (or multiple flashes). Later in this chapter, we’ll explore electronic flashes in detail, but it’s very important to understand that you can often achieve all of the lighting control you need by simply working with available light and simple reflectors and diffusers.

It’s hard to beat the sun as a light source. It’s bright, it’s there half the time, it produces a strong even light, and it’s a great color that both your eyes and camera are well adapted to. The problem with sunlight is that there are times when there’s too much of it. When shooting in bright sunlight, one of your biggest problems will be to reduce the amount of light hitting your subject.