Lighting is Everything

Lighting is not only brightness. It’s angle, depth, strength, tone, and perspective.

I added some colored lighting to a new cupboard and it transformed the simple interior into a glowing showcase.

Interior lighting, exterior lighting, photography lighting, stage lights, there’s even lighting called mood lighting. It’s so important, but do we take it for granted? I’m such a fan of lighting, maybe I should become a photographer … or work in a lighting shop.

A street in the evening that has miniature lights strung through the trees has an immediate appeal. Warm, cozy, friendly, and just plain festive. With just some lighting. Better if they’re soft lights, maybe a yellowish tint, not too harsh of those white-blue LEDs. Compare that with most school classrooms, Chinese restaurants, and phone camera flash photos and it makes all of the difference.

In films, when they interrogate the bad guy, they don’t use soft yellows and maybe a warm lampshade. It’s bright, unfriendly and annoying. That’s how I often feel going into a restaurant where they must have received the leftover florescent ceiling lighting from the local elementary school–or insane asylum.

Please note, I actually know nothing about lighting as far as the technical aspects. I don’t know wattage or hue or any of those things that you’d actually have to study for. I just know good color and when you don’t need a flash. As all photographers know, there are two perfect times in the day when you get that naturally: when the sun is just coming up and when it’s just going down (and some time before and after). If you time it right, you don’t need additional lighting, what the sun provides is usually plenty.

I’m sure there are professional sites that talk only about lighting all day. I don’t really need all day. In fact, ha, I’ll just about it when the lighting is just right.