Many photographers at one time or another come across this issue; which light is better to use for photography - natural or artificial? There is no definite answer, and you, as a photographer, probably have your own opinion on this matter. In this article, we will consider the key differences between natural and artificial light sources, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of their use.
A look at the natural environment and daylight were decisive factors for the survival and development of an individual. The effects of poor quality of light on health and performance can now be quantified. Studies show that people who have low daylight in their workplace complain of numerous mood disorders after a while. The farther the workplace is inside the room and, thus, away from the windows, the stronger these disturbances. Even in children who are in predominantly artificially lit classes, psychomotor disturbances are more common.
Definition of natural and artificial light
First, let's clarify what is natural light and artificial. To keep things simple, natural light refers to the available light produced by the sun or moon. Artificial light is produced using other sources, such as a studio flash, LED, built-in on-camera flash, or even a street lamp or lamp.
These are not just opinions and opinions that describe daylight as an important factor in architecture, but scientific knowledge, which serves as the basis for architectural expression. The technical term is epigenetic design. The most important task at the moment is to transfer knowledge about the importance of daylight from laboratories to practice, ”says American interior designer Deborah Burnett, describing the situation in architecture.
One consequence of the previous findings is the adaptation of standards. In the future, illumination will no longer be planned only for lux and lumen, but based on biologically assessed exposure. The goal is mainly to stabilize the "internal clock" of a person and, therefore, to increase the capacity and ability to concentrate in the active phases. At the same time, the planning and application of biologically effective light should provide a sustainable improvement in the regeneration stages of recovery.
Benefits use of natural sveta
The biggest advantage of natural light is that it is free, abundant and easy to find. There is no need to make large investments in lighting equipment to find beautiful natural light and take brilliant pictures. All you need is a camera and a little sunlight or moonlight, and you can start taking pictures immediately! If you once decide to renew your approach to using natural light, the necessary tools will also be inexpensive, as these are mainly reflectors and diffusers for redirecting or manipulating available light. Due to its ease of use and ease of development, as a rule, novice photographers are encouraged to start experimenting with natural light before getting acquainted with artificial light, in order to better understand how it works.
At the European level, an international standard is being developed. The discussion experience in the German industry standard is included in the discussion. In the near future, architects and lighting designers, as well as manufacturers of lighting fixtures and fixtures, will gain knowledge of daylight as the possibility of providing more focused advice to customers and clients. For this reason, modern architecture can be described as daylighting in the future: buildings in which users feel more comfortable, office buildings in which employees work more productively, schools where children study more efficiently, and hospitals from which patients are discharged faster, because a professional planner understands the connection between light and health.
disadvantages use of natural sveta
While natural light is plentiful and easy to use in photography, the difficulty may be that it varies greatly. Depending on the place, time of year, weather and time of day, natural light may create different colors and contrasts in your pictures. For example, the midday sun tends to give a neutral white color and extremely high contrast. And in the golden hours of dawn and sunset it gives very soft colors and medium contrast. Thus, the image that you want to get will be determined by the time and place of your shooting, if you do not use such additional tools as reflectors, diffusers and filters.
And, most importantly, nature offers us all these benefits for free and in abundance - we just have to use them! Each room has different lighting requirements. Proper lighting plays an important role in order to enjoy pleasant lighting. Good lighting of the room contributes to high visual productivity and increases visual comfort, which leads to a feeling of well-being or comfort. Here, the main factors are the illumination and reflections of illuminated objects.
The disadvantage of artificial light compared to daylight is that it does not cover all color spectra. For example, colored objects look better in daylight than in artificial lighting, and daylight has the advantage of providing solar energy for free. Artificial light is always needed when rooms cannot be adequately lit with daylight. This fact depends on the weather, time of day and seasons, and illumination varies between 000 lux in winter and up to 000 lux in summer.
The benefits of using artificial light
If you prefer to manage and control every aspect of photography, artificial light is more suitable for you. Since artificial light has nothing to do with natural light, it is a continuous light source that is available at any time of the day, which means that you do not have to plan a photo shoot depending on the weather or the availability of sunlight. Depending on what type of artificial light you have chosen, you can simulate sunlight or moonlight, and create images that look like they were shot in natural light, but at a time convenient for you.
The selection of suitable lamps is critical due to limitations in representing the color spectra of the application. The corresponding visual task to be completed is crucial. In general, one light is not enough, from two to three lights and in large rooms more, almost always the right decision. B. in lighting with the included space, the environment is not in the dark. The brightness throughout the room relieves the eye of debilitating light dark contrasts. In addition, the light should not dazzle.
Interior lighting, as well as the location of windows should be planned at the planning stage or at the construction stage. This suggests that the installation should take place with respect to the later lighting of the room, since the later lighting design is always a compromise. Living space is best for warm white light. “Warm White” refers to the light color of the bulbs. Incandescent and halogen lamps have warm white light or extra warm light, and fluorescent and energy-saving lamps should be light in color.
Artificial light has a reputation for being complex and expensive, but there is a wide range of lighting products for photographers; It starts with cheap home-made solutions and ends with top-end professional-level flashes with many options between them. Some fixtures have complex settings, but many of them are relatively simple, especially for continuous light sources, such as LED lamps, which have simple switches.
For example, do not distribute the light evenly throughout the room, or the light should be dimmed. Stretch ceilings or lighted ceilings are also available in all rooms. Lighting is a very important aspect of interior design, since it enhances the aesthetic appearance of spaces and allows you to turn the floor into a house, a place to live and be happy.
Elements that illuminate the room are very important for creating a pleasant and comfortable atmosphere, and are also the main elements of decoration. Light is the element that allows us to appreciate all the details that visually enrich every room and every corner of the apartment, either after a comprehensive reform, or after a partial reform of part of our house. In addition to its simple functional role, light creates the visual dynamics of space and changes the environment of each region of the house. That is why adequate lighting is such an important element in any interior design or renovation project.
Portrait made from external flash
disadvantages use of artificial sveta
Even if an artificial light source offers you more control over photography, this is accompanied by the need to have more equipment and time to install it. Unlike the sun, artificial light costs money, even if you are staying on such simple solutions as candles or a table lamp. Artificial light sources of a professional level should be installed on special racks, perhaps even equipped with umbrellas, portrait plates and soft boxes.
Sunlight is not just another element of the interior design of the floor. The natural light of the sun is something necessary for a healthy life. Sunlight also affects the conformation of rest cycles: if we are not exposed to the sun, we will not sleep at night. It is a free source of light and heat. And it is rather a renewable source of energy. According to European standards regarding energy efficiency, the floor or house must have a certain amount in square meters from the glassy surface facing south.
This allows them to have a level of energy efficiency that is assessed in a positive way and evaluates gender. But, in addition, floors that have such a level of exposure to sunlight are comfortable and pleasant. There is no light source that bathes the room, as soon as a large and well-located window. All elements of the decoration will also glow in the presence of sunlight. The heat with which sunlight heats in winter is also unparalleled. The orientation of the design, the type of windows and the way they are integrated into the interior design of each room will maximize the use of the unique and wonderful benefits of sunlight.
Depending on what kind of photo you have in mind, you may need several sources of artificial light to balance the picture. You will need accessories such as batteries or cables and connectors, as well as a separate studio or the place where you install the equipment. In short, artificial lighting can add many additional parts that cost time and money, not to mention the necessary practice.
Artificial lighting: types of decoration lights
There is a huge variety of shapes and designs for the implementation of artificial light in the room, so you can create beautiful and unique interiors. Ambient lighting can not only provide lighting and improve the brightness of any room, but also fill it with light to make it practical and convenient. For example, applications on the wall can change and completely change what is conveyed by each of the elements that we have chosen for the room. This effect is even more dramatic if we add an adjustable lighting switch, with which we can decide how much light we want at each moment and depending on the situation.
When to use natural and artificial light?
What type of lighting to use will ultimately depend on your personal preferences and experience as a photographer, as well as your budget and the image you want to create. Artificial light usually takes some time and practice to learn how to use it correctly; while natural light is easier to get started. Of course, there are exceptions to these rules, but in general, natural light is easy to use in reporting, street photography or the run-and-gun technique when you do not have time to create a controlled photo shoot. On the other hand, artificial light is preferable for commercial, subject and fashion photography, when there is a budget and ample resources for creating photographs.
This type of light should set aside space. To give more light than the rest of the room. This allows you to highlight architectural or decorative elements. These lights, known by the English term “stain,” are exactly small lights that direct attention and help direct your eyes to a part of the room.
In fact, large central lights need not be ugly or unattractive. What would a living room be without beautiful light that allows dinners to eat well and be well lit? The idea is to combine different types of lighting: central, utilitarian, focal. These combinations allow you to create beautiful and unique interiors.
The need to continue working with the onset of darkness at certain times of the year led to the need for the use of artificial light sources. In practice, this issue was resolved only with the advent of electric incandescent lamps, which still remain the most common light sources.
What effect does light have on other design elements?
Being the coverage of a key element, so that the things and elements that we put together to give a beautiful look to any room or part of the house, there are certain things that are very influenced by the decisions that we make when carrying out any reforms. The use of light adds or decreases the brightness and presence in the colors of the room, and not just in those walls or objects that need to be improved or highlighted. Dark colors give a feeling of a small and cozy room, and light colors create a feeling of spaciousness and space.
Incandescent lamps are heat emitters. In them, the conversion of electrical energy into light occurs through thermal energy as a result of heating of n and t to the temperature of the glow. An increase in the temperature of the radiating body leads to an increase in the light efficiency of the lamps, which, however, in modern lamps does not exceed 3-3.5%.
The illusion of space is determined by the light reflected on the surface of the walls. Some types of lights help increase this illusion in lighting and make the walls clearer. Another type of lighting can soften colors. There is also another type of light; soft light bathes floors, not walls. The lighting that we choose as central is also very important. The play between light and color can create a completely different look at a part of your home.
The aforementioned spotlights, which focus directly on one decorative element, allow you to highlight the focus of each room. If there is no focus, any interior design project can become a chaotic set of things that do not harmonize with each other. The fact that there is a central element allows everything to adapt and take its proper place, and this adds to the beauty, not distracting. Whether it's a beautiful vase, piece of furniture or painting, a trick can always benefit from spotted lights.
Incandescent lamps have a tungsten filament of a spiral or bispiral shape. The filament of the lamp is placed in a vacuum flask or a flask filled with an inert gas (a mixture of argon with nitrogen or krypton). When filling the flask with an inert gas, evaporation of the filament of the lamp slows down, which makes it possible to increase the filament temperature and extend the life her service.
In the kitchen they can be sent to the countertop or to the central island. In the bedrooms they can be sent to the headboard or to the side tables, and also be able to serve as reading lamps before bedtime. This type of lights designed to illuminate the focus is suitable for installation on the painting or directly on the panel and is interesting from a decorative point of view in all parts of the house.
If the lighting in the house is set arbitrarily and does not follow any specific purpose, then, in short, waste electrical energy. Every light and every light source must have a function. Central lighting is not intended only for aesthetics, but is usually used in places such as a room or entrance, which require a lot of light to adequately perform their functions. All decisions regarding the type of lamps that we will use in each part of the house take into account what function it performs in order to be able to perform without problems.
The filament temperature in high-power lamps reaches 3000 ° K. The luminous efficiency of modern incandescent lamps rarely exceeds 20 lm / W. Incandescent lamps give a continuous spectrum of radiation, richer in yellow and red rays compared to the spectrum of natural daylight. It should be noted that the light output, which characterizes the efficiency of incandescent lamps, increases with increasing power: 40 W / 127 - 9.5 lm / W, 100 W / 127-12.75 lm / W.
At the same time, the luminous efficiency of lamps of the same power is higher in the case of a lower voltage: 100W / 127 V -12.75 lm / W, 100 W / 220 V - 10 Lm / W.
The increased light output of high power lamps and lower rated voltage is explained by the fact that these lamps have a tungsten filament of a larger diameter, which allows a higher heating temperature compared to the filament of low power lamps and lamps designed for a higher rated voltage. To illuminate industrial enterprises, vacuum lamps (HB), gas-filled with a mixture of argon with nitrogen (NG), and gas-filled bi-spiral lamps were most widely used. The latter as more economical are recommended to be applied first of all, especially with a power of up to 100 W.
Krypton filled spiral tubes are smaller and have a slightly higher luminous efficiency. They have the shape of a mushroom. Krypton lamps are likely to be quite widespread.
Mirror lamps have a flask of a peculiar shape, the inner surface of which is covered with a mirror layer from the base of the cap, the rest of the bulb is frosted. It is advisable to use them in high rooms, the width of which does not exceed the height of the lamp suspension. Such lamps can also be used for enhanced illumination of individual sections of the room and for indirect lighting in light cornices and chandeliers. Outside the building, these lamps can be used as short-range floodlights. The service life of incandescent lamps is 800-1000 hours. The relatively small light output, along with the predominant red light in the spectrum and the high brightness of the filaments, led to the search for more advanced light sources. Currently, the most favorable from a hygienic point of view and more economical are gas discharge fluorescent lamps.
During luminescence, various types of energy (electrical, chemical, etc.) are directly converted into light radiation, bypassing the stage of transition to thermal radiation.
Fluorescent lamps are hollow glass tubes of various lengths and diameters depending on the power of the lamps inside which there are mercury vapor. At the ends of the tube are soldered electrodes from a bispiral tungsten wire. ЛР And when the lamp is turned on, the current must first pass both electrodes and warm them up, since for igniting the lamp it is necessary that the temperature on the electrodes reaches 800-1000 ° C. For this purpose, a starter (miniature gas-discharge relay) is used, which automatically closes the circuit, and after Once the electrodes are heated to the desired temperature, it opens.
When electric current passes, mercury vapor causes invisible ultraviolet radiation. The inner surface of the tube is covered with a special substance - a phosphor, which converts invisible ultraviolet radiation into a visible glow. It should be noted that ordinary glass, from which tubes of fluorescent lamps are made, practically does not transmit ultraviolet rays and therefore, the radiant flux of fluorescent lamps does not have a harmful effect on the human body.
The radiation intensity of fluorescent lamps in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum is insignificant and its effect on the working organism is of no practical importance. It is estimated that to obtain erythema (redness of the skin) from ultraviolet rays from fluorescent lamps, it will take from 100 to 2000 days of continuous exposure from a distance of one meter.
Depending on the substance covering the surface of the tubes, it is possible to create visible radiation of various colors. In the USSR * mass production of several types of fluorescent lamps is made. Daylight lamps (LD and LDC) have a bluish glow. By the nature of the spectrum (composition of light), they approach daylight, differing from it by the predominance of radiation from the blue-violet and yellow-green parts of the spectrum and lower intensity in its red part. Their color temperature is 6500 ° K. The spectrum of other types of fluorescent lamps differs significantly from the spectrum of daylight. The color of the glow of these lamps has a slightly yellowish tint. Lamps of warm white light (LTP) are characterized by radiation of a peculiar pinkish-white hue, and are used for decoration purposes. Lamps of cold white light (LHB) in the spectrum of radiation occupy an intermediate place between the lamps of LD and LB.
Gas-discharge light sources have a linear spectrum. However, fluorescent lamps have great advantages both from a hygienic and from a technical and economic point of view. The spectrum of fluorescent lamps such as LD and LDC is close to the spectrum of white natural light. Their luminescence occurs from the entire surface of the tube, and therefore, their brightness per unit surface is hundreds of times less than that of incandescent lamps, so their glare is many times less. Their light output is 2 t / 2–3 times greater compared to incandescent lamps and ranges from 33 to 44 lm / W, service life up to 3000-5000 hours. Now fluorescent lamps are widely used in various industries for both general and localized lighting. It was found that fluorescent lighting has a favorable overall effect on workers, creates the conditions for more efficient eye function, especially when distinguishing between small parts and distinguishing colors.
With luminescent light sources less than with incandescent lamps, vision gets tired and labor productivity increases. Gas discharge fluorescent lamps are low pressure lamps. In the set mode, the vapor pressure of mercury in the lamp is
- 01 mmHg.
Recently, high-pressure mercury discharge lamps, DRL lamps, have become widespread. They are a quartz tube with mercury, the working vapor pressure of which is 2-4 atmospheres. The tube is enclosed in an outer glass flask, similar in shape to an incandescent lamp. The inner surface of the outer bulb is covered with a thin layer of phosphor, which complements the spectrum of radiation in the red-ray region. By their ability to transmit colors, these lamps are significantly inferior not only to fluorescent lamps, but also to incandescent lamps. They can only be used where color discrimination is not practical.
DRL lamps are much more economical than incandescent lamps, their light output is 40-43 lm / W. The main advantage of these lamps is the combination of high light output with a long service life. The concentration in a small volume of significant light power allows, when used in lighting systems, to create high illuminances with a relatively small number of light points. To turn on the lamps, ballast control devices (PRA) are used, consisting of a throttle and an ignition device.
It is advisable to use DRL lamps when lighting rooms with a height of 6 m or more, if the work performed in them does not require the correct
color rendition, as well as when lighting streets and open spaces, when it is necessary to provide increased illumination. These lamps should be used, for example, in high workshops of the metallurgical industry, etc.
A significant drawback of discharge lamps is a significant fluctuation in the luminous flux due to the low inertia of the phosphor luminescence. As a result of this, with each change in the direction of the current in the mains, the luminous flux from one lamp decreases to 55%. In this case, the perception of moving or rotating parts of machine tools with a corresponding speed is distorted. This phenomenon is called the strobe effect and can cause injuries. In addition, the pulsation of the light flux has an adverse effect on the central nervous system of a person, contributes to the development of fatigue. Therefore, to reduce this fluctuation in the luminous flux of the lamp, it is necessary to connect to different phases of the power supply network or to provide ballasts in two-lamp luminaires with advanced ignition of one of the lamps.
Modern work in the field of light sources is aimed at creating light sources with a spectral composition approaching natural light. These sources have recently been arc quartz lamps - DCST. Lamp bulbs are made of quartz glass and filled with xeonon under high pressure. The radiation from these lamps is a continuous spectrum consisting of ultraviolet, visible and infrared rays. Only individual lines in the infrared are detected. Xenon lamps have a high light output and provide the correct color rendering. The power of produced lamps ranges from 1-2 to 20,000 and even 300,000 kW. Xenon lamps can be used to illuminate industrial premises with a height of more than 10 m with an illumination of no higher than 100 lux, since with higher illumination the intensity of ultraviolet radiation can exceed the permissible irradiation rate in the room.