# Outdoor Lighting Comparison



## Daniel (Jun 2, 2004)

These are the outdoor light comparison photos I had mentioned in a previous post.
although the subject has changed somewhat from one photo to the next. I think that it makes a good comparison for outdoor lighting conditions and what that light does to how a camera records an image.
neither photo was touched up except to resize it for posting in this message. and the overcast photo was cropped so that the area viewed more closely matched the sunny photo.
Please fill free to add comments about the exposures and just what it is that causes one to look different than the other.
it is obvious to our eye that these photos do not look the same. but the ability to identify just what causes them to look different is something that is learned. it has to do with terms like, wash out, contrast, shadows, and exposure. believe it or not with the right equipment and understanding of my camera I could have made the sunny picture look just like the overcast one. 



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this is the overcast light picture. I am going to assume that everyone will agree that it looks better than the one below. it is generally a rule that overcast light is better for takng pictures then bright sunny light. many photo guides call it Harsh light but that term has a negative tone to it so I will stick with sunny or bright. Just what is it that makes this photo look better? 
plainly put it looks like our eye and mind have been trained to expect it to look. the color and detail are right. this is known as contrast and tint. when colors look faded or to bright the tint is "OFF" when detail are hard to make out contrast is not right. although photo editing software can correct for these to some degree it has it's limits. and it is always better to get a good photo to start with and then improve it just a touch with software than try to salvage a poor photo.


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in this photo, the shadows are harsh. but just what doesn't register right with our eye and mind is that the detail in the sunny spots are not there. this is known as wash out. this is the main cause of poor photos of our pens if you use a flash pointed straight at the pen.
also the colors are not right. the camera exposing for the bright light has to compensate at the expense of tint. this coupled with the fact that bright light has different colors in it than overcast light cause the colors to be recorded differently. 
the recreation of the overcast light conditions is important in getting good photos of our pens. I will put up some photos and comments on how to accomplish this later. for now please fill free to add to this comparison. i am not an expert I have just learned a couple of things over many years of 35mm photography. these types of posts are intended to help everyone get on the same page with terms so that we can have more beneficial conversations.
look at other photos and see if you can start identifying issues with Tint, Contrast, Shadow, and Washout and Exposure.


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