when you come upon good light, take it

As photographers, we ought to be obsessed with light. Observe light, see what it's doing to the scene. Is it hard? Soft? Warm? Cool? Where is it coming from? Where is it going? Look at the edges of shadows, are they clearly defined, or are they soft and indistinct? What light brings out texture? How do you light water or glass? How does metal reflect light? Everything is a mirror, you know. When you come upon good light, take it.

Sometimes people want to know exactly how big your lights are and how far away they are from the subject. Just tell them, "well, it's kinda relative." You see, the sun is anything but small, but it's also really far away.

Someone once said, "Photography is all about the light," to which his friend countered, "Photography is all about the shadows."

Yes.

This one afternoon little Miss K came over for a play date. As the kids were playing in the room, I came upon some magical light. Not sure if I could recreate this in the studio even. The late afternoon sun flowed through the window that was halfway shaded with translucent Hunter Douglas. The other half allowed direct sun to come in, caressing the floor while diffusing reflected light all over the room, bouncing off the walls. The pool of sunlight on the carpet created wonderful catch lights in Miss K's eyes. Oh, there were a couple of skylights up on the ceiling too.  200mm and click. Ahh....

 1/160 sec @ f/2.8, Nikon D700, 200mm