How I see natural light

I have always heard that a good photographer can read the light. When I read this first, my mind was looking for the technical aspects of "reading light" and for this reason I believe I couldn't read it at all. But now, that I am relaxed and that technique has taken its place and I can play more with freedom and expression, I think I kind of grasp the concept.

I will try to put it simple...

Many times I have said I don't like strong, direct sun. Because the strong sun projects sharp shadows and that confuses the camera and often lead to a less then optimal result. Of course, you can always use this on your favor and work it as part of the composition, but for general photography, I don't like it.

This same strong direct light, can also be taken into consideration, when used on your favor at the end of the day (the last hour before sun sets) or during the early hours. Even being direct, at those times light is not so strong and makes the colors pop-up and get vibrant. This is the kind of light I like.

Also, this strong light can be used on your favor if you diffuse it partially by using an UV reflector as I did here down during a study. Also the image on the beginning of the post, with the hats, has this technique. On that image the tent where the hats were exposed worked as a reflector, diffusing the light and showing the product very well: its texture and form. I love this kind of light and the way it surrounds and softens everything. The colors are still vibrant and the white balance is quite good.

Another very good kind of light, on my opinion, is the one that comes through a thin veil of clouds but is still bright. It gets diffused as described on the sample above and also brings some contrast and enriches the colors on the image. I don't really need a lot of open sun, but if I can get a bit of a shadow then I will be fine.

But there is one kind of light I really don't like and this is the one we are having here now, for the past few months. Is a kind of hazy, ugly light. It sucks all the colors and life of everything around. It takes out any vibrance from the images. You can try to correct it, pump the contrast and brilliance, but sucked is sucked: the sensor of the camera didn't capture enough luminosity on the dark parts, the sky if overexposed and often blown up. And if you tweak to much, you might end up with lots of digital noise (small points on your image). The gray skies don't give any mercy and subtract all light and luminosity from everything. Better to fully avoid them and cut them 100% out of your sensor by pointing your camera down.

I think those gray skies also subtract light from me.

Hoping for better sunny days,

S.