It gives photographers consistent lighting through the room/space without being affected by other lighting sources. Ambient LightingĪlso known as general lighting, ambient lighting serves to light up a room entirely. Sometimes people use it to ‘accentuate’ an architectural feature, such as an indoor layout, expensive statues/sculptures, or an artist’s masterpiece.Ī common use of accent lighting that you may have seen is at a concert.Īs a rule of thumb, accent lighting needs three times more light on the focal point than ambient lighting.įixtures that provide accent lighting include (but are not limited to) track light, tape and extrusion light, downlighting, and wall-mounted fixtures. Frequent use of accent lighting is to highlight important and interesting objects that become the center of attention. The accent lighting will make a room look larger than it is. Photographers will often use accent lighting for specific points of interest to achieve the viewer’s desired effect. There are three common types of lighting: accent lighting, task lighting, and ambient lighting. Experimenting and combining multiple types of lighting is but one way to use ambient light.īefore diving more into ambient light, let’s briefly touch on the other types of lighting so you know how they differ from ambient lighting. Indoor photography, such as inside a studio, can utilize ambient lighting and a flash to get the best of both worlds.Īlthough some people may not agree with photographers that tamper/modify natural light and still call it natural light, every photographer has their way to achieve their artistic goals. They can use natural light when shooting nature views at noon or night.Īrtificial light coming from the buildings’ lamps can also be optimized to get a striking cityscape picture. People who shoot landscape photography are essentially using ambient lighting. You will get ambient lighting when shooting outdoors since there will be sunlight, moonlight, or city lights. It also comes back to your original concept, needs, and equipment possessed. Photographers can use ambient lighting pretty much anywhere. You can mix and match light fixtures to add a dimension of warmth to your scene too. It is even called mood lighting because of its ability to create a specific atmosphere.įor example, ambient lighting is often used to make a home shine and look more beautiful. Proper ambient light will help your subject or atmosphere to look more relaxed. Not too high that makes your eyes uncomfortable and not too little that it doesn’t create any effects. It is essentially a soft light that envelops your scene/room perfectly. To avoid confusion or unnecessary debate when working on a project, it is in your best interest to explain your scene’s lighting in detail.Īmbient light from the window How Does Ambient Lighting Work?Īmbient lighting works by providing you with a sufficient amount of exposure without much glare on the camera. While the term ambient light commonly refers to any available light around us, a few photographers also refer to the term “natural light” specifically for the sunlight and moonlight. I should also mention the grey area between the terms “natural” and “ambient.” Sometimes, we need to modify the ambient light to match the object or mood we wish to create, especially when performing an outdoor shoot. Some photographers refer to it as “modified” ambient lighting. Artificial ambient lighting examples would mostly depend on the surroundings, such as streetlights, light bulbs, track lights, or even car headlights.Īlthough it does translate as “natural” light, you are still allowed to modify it using reflectors, scrims, or other modifiers. It’s either a fixed or a highly uncontrollable light source. Natural ambient lighting is something like sunlight, moonlight, fireflies, etc.
#Ambient light room how to#
How to Use Ambient Light in Photography?Īmbient light is a source of light that a photographer or videographer did not bring to the session that can be either artificial or natural.
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