Color of Light

As I look at the images posted on-line of my family and friends it occurred to me that the color of light is the place I should start with my tips to improve your images. Since photography is about capturing and manipulating light to enhance your subject, I think this is the most important place to
start.

So what is light? According to Dictionary.com it is "something that makes things visible or affords illumination".
Light can either be
- Natural Light (the sun or moon); or
- Artificial Light (man made light including light bulbs, candles, flashlight, fire, etc.)

Start looking at your images for color. Are the clothes of your subject the color they were actually wearing? Do your images look to yellow or blue? Are they too light or too dark? Do you shadows look purple or blue? Do your shadows look the same color as your subject? What color is the snow
from your ski vacation pictures? What color is the sand from your summer beach party pictures?

Watch the color in your house through the day. Is it more blue (cooler) looking in the morning? Does it warm up and look more yellow or orange as the day progresses?

When you in your car in the morning take a moment to look at your skin color (do this before you start the car) then in the evening do the same. Does it look the same? How is the light affecting your skin color?

How does your skin color look outside versus in your house?

Let's start by noticing the color of the light.

Next time, we'll talk about how to control and maninuplate the color of your images.