By shooting in black-and-white and concentrating on details, Pishnery got some great shots of the Great Wall of China.

My trip to China sets an example for less than ideal lighting conditions. While in Beijing during the early summer, I shot many rolls of color film at all times of the day and some at night. Night offers many opportunities for artificial light to make an otherwise dull scene come to life. (See Judith Pishnery’s story entitled Jewels in the Night, in the May 2004 issue of Photographic). In China, the light was imperfectly perfect. Although sunny, the sky appeared somewhat hazy and overcast, with the light being softly filtered by the summer smog, created from coal-generated power and dust blown in from the Gobi desert.

Normally high-contrast midday summer light was softly filtered (through the smog) and created great lighting conditions all day long, as long as I didn’t include too much of the sky. A polarizing filter and an 81B warming filter improved the overall appearance of my photos, reducing summer glare and adding some warm color to the light. I was able to adjust for this by having some film processed while I was in Beijing, just to see how it looked. For any trip or project, I highly recommend having some of your film processed wherever you are. It’s a good way to review your progress and make any corrections or adjustments to film, camera techniques, exposure, subjects, etc.

You can take pictures of details on a sunny day, no matter what time it is. Just study how the light strikes your subject.

During the same China trip, I ended up at the Great Wall after lunch. My first thought while looking over the terrain—the dusty grayish brown colors of the stone wall, the trees and dirt seemingly running together, and blanketed in a dreadful, hazy, midday summer sky—was that of despair. It wasn’t my first choice for lighting conditions, but it’s what I was faced with. Fortunately, I had lots of black-and-white Tri-X film and a red filter. By minimizing the amount of sky and concentrating on the details and angles of the wall, I came away with amazing photographs. I am not disillusioned with the midday light in the middle of the summer; I view it as another perfect light situation.

Various Types of Light
Several trips to Cumberland Island, Georgia, provided ample opportunity to take advantage of many types of light, all different, and all beautiful. Staying at the inn on the island made it easy to take advantage of dawn and dusk lighting. Forcing myself out of bed each morning, hours before breakfast, and dressing warm to ward off the cold January air, our small group of photographers made our way to the beach. We walked on sandy paths covered by a canopy of live oaks draped in Spanish moss, only to be rewarded with pristine, deserted beaches just beginning to awaken under the soft blue light of dawn. With only six photographers on the beach and no one else in sight, it was glorious.

One cloudy morning provided soft blue and pink tones in the sky and across the dunes, another offered up crisp sunlight raking the textures of the plants, beach and dunes with rich golden tones. In the early morning and late afternoon, the low angle of the sun creates wonderful shadows, and the sidelight gives dimension to subjects. Look for viewpoints that include the lighted and shadow sides of the subject—this greatly enhances three-dimensionality.

Early morning light rakes across the sand at Cumberland, Island, Georgia.

Cumberland Island is a National Seashore and is protected from development. The daily visitor rate is limited, ensuring a tranquil setting for the wild horses, deer, bobcat, boar, armadillos, and birds, along with beautiful landscape opportunities.

One of the key items in finding the perfect light is being aware of all types of light, evaluating its qualities, its color, and determining the best way to work with it. Being prepared for a variety of situations is helpful. I always take several types of film (color and black-and-white) and several favorite filters to make the best of each location. I look at the weather reports when traveling and make some key decisions on film and gear based on that info (keeping in mind that the weather will probably change during the day, and I bring some rain gear).

I have learned that any light can be the perfect light—it’s how you choose to photograph your subject. If you go out to create images without any preconceived idea and respond to the subject, the moment and the light, you will create images unique to you and to that moment, not a copy of anything else. So get ready: Don’t wait, shoot now, and don’t go back (unless you want to). The light will be perfect.

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.”—Ansel Adams

Some of My Favorite Filters
• Polarizing filter (B/W or Color): Great for eliminating glare and saturating color. Think of a polarizer as sunglasses for your camera.



• Warming filter (81A or 81B, -Color): This filter is great for adding a little warmth to the image. Warms up skin tones and warms up the cool tones of light on an overcast day or cool tones in the shade.

• Yellow, Orange and Red filters (B/W): Ideal for adjusting the contrast in a scene when shooting in black-and-white. I use a Yellow #12 filter for nearly all black-and-white photography, but when I want more contrast, I use an orange filter and for even greater contrast, I use a red one. What the filters actually do is lighten the warm tones (yellows, oranges, reds) and darken the cool tones (blues, cool greens) and add contrast this way. Yellow is great for brightening skin tones and darkening the blue sky a bit, while orange creates a more-noticeable effect, and red produces very dramatic results.