Camera secrets of Hollywood : simplified photography for the home picture maker (1931)

Chapter III HERE COMES THE SUN m ne of the most important points in all photography — second only to the proper exposure — is lighting. As was mentioned in the previous chapter, cross and back lighting is always preferable to flat or direct lighting, because the former, by the addition of shadows, gives roundness and results often in a stereoscopic effect. A good example of this may be seen on page 19, Scene 14, showing direct or flat lighting. Two minutes later, under the same conditions except that a back light is used, the yacht is again photographed, the result being a marine with far more pictorial value and striking effect than contained in the previous shot (Scene 15). One is a striking study, the other just a plain picture of a boat. If you follow the kodak instructions which came with your first Brownie and photograph everything with your back to the sun, you will be quite limited in the scenes you can get. The other method of securing effective cross and back lights widens your scope of angles, which will also be extremely helpful Avhen you later consider the composition of the picture itself. In picture1 19, page 21, we have an odd example of the use of shadows, but with the main subject in a flat light. Because of the cloudy conditions of the sky, the cameraman was unable to use either cross or back light, but still wishing to make a picture, he stepped back into the timber so that he might bring the branches of the surrounding trees well into the scope of his lens, and by photographing them in silhouette thus added the necessary shadows to an otherwise flat and uninteresting pic [18]