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Whitewater Photography Tutorial #6: Basic Lighting
Bad Lighting. Nikon D200, Nikkor 20mm 1.8 @ 1/1000 F7.1 ISO 200.
Once you have the basic hard skills of exposure and focus down,
lighting is the next step that will make or break the shot.
Understanding light is a few basic rules mixed with experience. The
largest mistake people make is to choose their angle for the rapid, not
the light. Shooting for the rapid, heavy shadows, glare and poor color
saturation.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 18-200 @ 105mm 1/800 F8 ISO 100.
The
most basic rule of thumb for whitewater lighting is to shoot with the
sun behind you. It's as simple as checking where your shadow is. This
reduces glare and if the sun is low enough, lights up the paddlers
face. On the west coast this means shooting from behind in the morning
and upstream in the afternoon. Vice Versa on the right coast. Of course
at mid-day this means that for good lighting you are more or less
limited to an overhead shot, which works well for some rapids.
Shooting for the light at mid-day. Nikon D200, Sigma 10-20 @ 20mm 1/1250 F9 ISO 200
An
age old photography rule is that the lighting is best at sunrise and
sunset. This poses some problems when applied to kayaking, because we
can't put on before light and certainly don't want to take off after
dark. If you want to shoot a certain angle of a rapid it's well worth
your time to note the suns position relative to it at different times
in the day. It's still generally the "best light" early or late in the
day.
Early on I thought that sunny days were best for shooting action, since
they allow medium apertures, fast shutters and low ISO speeds.
Unfortunately they also limit your ability to shoot the angle you want.
I get a little tired of people on the East Coast saying that shooting
in California is easy. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it can take years
to get a shot, because you have to camp at a certain location to shoot
a rapid in the morning on a run that flows once a year....each location
has its own challenges.
My personal favorite condition is when a high
cloud cover causes the light to naturally "lightbox". Lightboxes are
used for studio and product shoots, and disperse the light so it's even
from all angles. You will need faster lenses or a camera with good high
ISO performance to maximize the light on these days, but you can shoot
from the angle of choice with nice even lighting.
Lightbox day! Nikon D200, Nikkor 200mm F4 @ 1/800 F4 ISO 125.
Experience
comes into play in understanding what style of photographs to go for
under the lighting conditions, and packing the right equipment for the
conditions.
Two more examples of the same exact waterfall. Same time of day on
different days only a few weeks apart, the angle and lighting make all
the difference.
Being lazy and not willing to walk downstream.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm 1.8 @ 1/1000 F8 ISO 100
Putting in some hiking effort often pays off. Nikon D200, Nikon 75-150mm "E" @ 1/1000 F5.6 ISO 100
As a beginning photographer I hated mixed light days. They
make it tough for the camera to meter, and I just assumed all sunlight
was the ideal lighting conditions. Then I had a motivational poster, an
old Pyranha ad shot by Charlie Munsey on Rodgers Creek. Mixed lighting
left the bottom of the falls in the shade, giving the feeling that
Charlie Beavers was dropping into the unknown. I have the lowest ratio
of keepers in mixed lighting, but the ones worth saving make the effort
worthwhile. In short, just because the lighting may seem bad, don't
write it off.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 18-200 @ 18mm 1/640 F6.3 ISO 400.
Next Up: Composition
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #1: Intro
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #2: What is the right exposure?
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #3: Getting the right exposure.
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #4: Low Light Action
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #5: Focus
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #6: Basic Lighting
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #7: Composition
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #8: Gear Picks
Whitewater Photography Tutorial #9: Post Processing
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