Front lighting is a great way to spotlight subjects and ignite colors.
Spotlight Subjects with Front Lighting
Late-afternoon light is a great source of front lighting. In this case the last rays of light are spotlighting Nubble Light near York, Maine. You really get the sense of the spotlighting effect in this shot.
In this shot the light is coming from the right side of the frame but is effectively spotlighting this life-saving station with a broad front light.
The Beauty of Front Lighting
There's
a funny shift in the value (or lack thereof) of front lighting in still
photos that's taken place during the years that I've been writing photo
books. When I first started writing about photography the general rule
was "keep the sun over your shoulder," which meant in essence, always
use front lighting. Then as consumers became more hip to the value of
different lighting directions in "creative" photography, front lighting
somehow got shoved to the back of the lighting bus.
Early on, I
was as guilty as anyone in describing light that fell on the front of a
scene as mostly a utilitarian lighting direction for getting a good
exposure and keeping pesky shadows at bay (hidden behind subjects).
Today though, partly because our audience has grown more sophisticated,
most photo teachers and writers acknowledge that any light is good
light if it works with the subject you're shooting. In fact, since many
digital cameras produce somewhat flat and unsaturated colors, the use
of front lighting is actually a great way to put some snap into
ordinary outdoor scenes.
And let's face it, sometimes you're
stuck with the light that you're stuck with and unless you want to
linger your vacation away waiting for the earth to spin a bit more, you
play the cards your dealt. In the case of this antique-sign display in
Greenville, Maine, front lighting (also slightly from above) was not
only the only option (unless I wanted to wait a few hours for the signs
to fall into shade) but the spotlighting effect really ignited the
colors and added a nice crisp sharpness to the scene. While I normally
saturate most digital images at least a tiny bit (especially for the
web), this shot is exactly as it came out of my Nikon D70.
So if
your dad always told you to keep the sun over your shoulder, he was
actually giving you pretty good advice. Unless, of course, backlighting
or sidelighting works better for a particular shot!
I photographed these trail riders in Mexican Hat, Utah using a bold late-afternoon front light. You can see that the white sweaters are a blown out, but that's a small price, I think, for such a colorful dynamic light.
