Do you struggle with how to use light in photography? Or find yourself using the same “safe light” over and over again because you don’t know how to control or work with more challenging light? If you do, then you’re not alone!

When you think about it, it makes sense that photographers would struggle with it, because it literally is the single most important element in any photograph! Photography literally means “painting with light” so it’s so incredibly important that we, as photographers, understand how light behaves, and how to manipulate it.

But much of the time, it’s our mindset that holds us back more than anything! We believe certain things, and because we do, we fail to see and exploit the opportunities around us.

For myself, breaking free of always having “perfect” light, and forcing myself to work with what’s available, has allowed me to be more creative, feel more inspired and confident, and create images that are better than ever!

All light may not be equal, and some light is better than others, but if you approach light with the right mentality, it will reward you with some of your best images :)

Here’s some of the ways that I used to hold myself back - check them out and see if you recognise any of these!!

Being able to identify, understand and modify light is one of the most important skills you can master in photography.

Why, I hear you ask?!

Because knowing how to use light effectively will allow you to turn everyday, mundane scenes into something magical and awe-inspiring, help you feel confident shooting in ANY type of light at any time of day, allow you to get more creative images AND make you feel inspired to pick up your camera every waking moment.

Not bad for something that is essentially free 😉

Of course, light is fundamentally important in photography (since without it we would only have a black frame!) but going beyond simply seeing light for the sake of exposure is what allows us to convey depth, mood and emotion in our photos.

In short, it’s that magic missing ingredient that lifts up every single image, and makes it look “otherworldly”.

Which is why, once you have mastered the fundamentals of photography (such as shooting in manual mode, getting sharp focus and using composition and ideally, knowing how to edit those images!) then then next thing I recommend is learning more about LIGHT.

So here’s 4 big reasons why learning about light will have a big impact on your images….