How does lighting and backgrounds affect your Final image?

Sometimes people confuse editing style with lighting. How you edit is dictated by the light and the background and will affect the final image. If I photograph a session mid day verses in the evening, the light will dramatically affect how the final image will look. Or if I photograph a session in the forest verses the prairie, the background will affect how the final image will look as well!

Warm Glow

Photographers can edit their photos to have more of that warm glow, but the real star is the golden hour glow! One hour before the sun sets, it’s at its furthest point away from us which gives us beautiful soft golden light!

During mid June, the sun sets in Moose Jaw around 9:15pm which means the softest light is about an hour before then. During mid July in Moose Jaw, the sun sets around 9:10pm. In mid August, the sun sets around 8:20pm. Then in mid September, the sun sets around 7:15pm. So you can see that if you want that golden hour glow you need about an hour before sunset.

Here is a great example of the three lighting options taken within hours of each other with editing the similar type settings to get proper exposure.

For an example, this session was in mid June. The left photo was taken around 4 in the afternoon. Notice the more neon colors, harsher shadows and the background is really washed out in that photo. We had to be very careful not to get the sun on the couples faces because then they would be so squinty! The middle photo was taken during golden hour between 6 and 8 pm. This is my fav lighting! That pretty glow, soft colors and even shadows. The right photo was taken just after sunset. Super even skin tones and colors with no shadows. But this window is super short before it gets too dark.

Lighting Example During a Session

Here is an example of during your session the lighting can change. (This example is straight out of the camera – no editing.) This was only an hour difference during the summer months. You can see how the left photo is has brighter highlight areas (the bright part on the road) and the greens in the background are a more neon in color. The left photo was taken an hour later and you can see how the over all image the colors don’t have as much contrast and the over all lighting is more even and softer. (My fav!)

Here is the final edited images below. You can see how the end photos, while nothing is wrong with either, my eye is drawn to the right photo because it’s over all more even in the contrast and coloring.

Cloudy Day VS Sunny Day

Cloudy days verses sunny days will also play into account when achieving the final look. If you have a session on a cloudy day, you will tend to get more the moody look verses bright and sunny days.

Background Matters

Your background will also play a part with how your final image will feel. If you have a dark forest background verses a bright prairie location, that forest feel will have more of a moody feel verses the bright feel.

Here is an example from Aubrey and Jesse’s couples session where I took them to a variety of locations. You can see how the different location backgrounds really affect the “mood” of the photo. It was also cloudy and sunny during this session so you can see the differences that can make too with the “mood” of the photo.

Golden Light and Kids Bed Times

If you have younger kids and want that golden glow, you will need to push their bed time back for a day. I know that may not work for every family, so if you want to get that golden glow book your session in the spring or fall when the sun sets earlier.

If you want extra golden glow, have a session in the fall. It will give the most glow because of the golden hues so it will give the illusion of extra glow.

If you want more examples, you can check out this blog post.

So you know how lighting and backgrounds affect your final image. There is some food for thought when you are booking those sessions this year!