One of the sweetest way to grab a viewer’s attention to our photograph is a kiss of light. Also known as dapple light, I offer up these two photos as examples of what I’m talking about. The top one is a favorite of our recent K&M Adventure to The Smokies. Both were takin on the Roaring Forks road where you drive for a forest just chuck full of this kind of light. But stopping at the right spot to make the shot takes a critical eye. Here’s some thoughts on what to look for.
These were shot with the D750 / 14-24AFS cause lots of detail while going wide was important to me. Taking that all in, you have to be careful and watch the “spots” of light in the viewfinder. The mind’s eye goes to light and bright. If you have more than one “spotlight” of light in this type of scene, they all need to lead the eye to one thing and not multiple. “The” spotlight of light needs to be what the mind’s eye goes to first and then, led through the rest of the frame and back again. This is where the critical eye is so important because often emotions grab as, as they should, but more dabble light confuses the eye and that’s not good for our photograph. Does this mean you should only have one spotlight of light? No! It means you have to have a critical eye and “feel” the light as much as measure it. They are special when you find them. Make them special in your photograph.