I’ve always been a fan of artificial light, but it wasn’t until I began preparing this section of the course that I fully realized its impact on my photography.
As I’ve mentioned before, I live in Hong Kong—a city of over 7 million people, so it doesn’t exactly make me unique. However, it has undeniably shaped my photographic style. In my notes for Assignment 3, I highlighted how I often shoot in black and white to avoid the non-descript, flat light of the city. But when I do shoot in color, it’s almost always in the evening or at night, under the glow of neon signs, street lamps, and the artificial light from buildings. This is due to the complex nature of artificial light in the city.
This course has made me realize how the streets are bathed in a mix of lighting sources—street lamps, neon signs, shop windows, even car headlights. This combination of different light temperatures creates a sophisticated effect. While our eyes and brains process these varying sources of light seamlessly, a photograph, without extensive post-processing, can only focus on one color temperature at a time. The result is a variety of visual effects, depending on which light source is emphasized in the shot.
Below is a sequence of shots I’ve taken around Hong Kong, each capturing different situations and types of artificial light
Image 1
Taken in a building entrance, lit by I think florescent tubes. Auto White balance on the camera has given, excellent realistic tone. The light is bathing the subjects evenly and much like early or late in the day and is wrapping the subjects.
Image 2
Taken at 10:10 pm in the street, the subject is bathed in light from signs, windows and the white balance was set using the Lightroom eyedropper on the grey road. Where is a distinct cool tone to the light but it is not harsh it still bathes the subject.
Image 3
Shot indoors, but it is the mixture of tungsten and daylight as there is massive glass roof to this building. Setting the white balance for the daylight has exaggerated the orange glow of the tungsten lights. This what I like to play with; mixing temperatures isn’t possible in pure daylight.
Image 4
Shot in the evening using auto-white balance and setting in post-production to the cooler tones coming from the shops and restaurants. This allows me to use the light to give a sense that it is close to midnight although it is only around 6 pm.
Image 5
The same image as above with the white balance warmed to, pick up on the streetlights and reflect the scene more how the eye and brain processed the scene.
Overall, as mentioned above, ambient artificial light often mirrors the softer qualities of sunrise or sunset light, but with a more complex shift in color temperatures.
