Picture This

Great Light Photos: Our 6 Favorite Images from the Gorgeous Lighting Assignment

The Editors | Oct 6, 2017

Two People Walking

“I took the picture of these two people while visiting a remote mountain location in Central Italy,” Marco Rocca notes. “I liked the contrast between the sunny strip of land and the dark imposing mountain in the background.” He shot it with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G lens at 105mm, f/8, 1/640 second, ISO 400. © Marco Rocca

Although this assignment might have seemed pretty straightforward, it really touched on the key to all great photography, which is great lighting. In terms of the light source, we weren’t picky: your images could have been of a completely naturally lit scene or something you shot in the studio with 100 percent artificial light. We left the subject matter completely up to you as well.

What we wanted to see were photos with gorgeous lighting that make the subject shine and that’s what we got. Here are our six favorite images from the Gorgeous Lighting assignment.

The Sun That Never Rises

“This was the perfect end to a perfect camera club field trip to the Palouse,” Dan Mottaz says about this image. He shot it with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and a Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6L lens on a Really Right Stuff tripod. © Dan Mottaz

The Master Potter

“Traditional pottery making in Myanmar provides a glimpse into the traditional pottery methods of workers fastidiously molding traditional clay pots,” Eduardo S. Seastres writes about this image. © Eduardo S. Seastres

Manarola By Moonlight

“A moonlit evening in the amazing Cinque Terre town of Manarola, Italy, produced this tranquil image,” Rob Santeramo explains. He shot the image with a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 lens. It’s a 30-second exposure shot at 24mm, f/8, ISO 64. © Rob Santeramo

Our Barn the Night Before Christmas

“It was Christmas Eve 2015 and I knew it was going to be a large full moon that night but had no idea how bright,” Michael Irving writes. “We had had a light snow earlier in the day but by the time night had fallen the sky was clear. I looked out the window and it was as bright as day. I decided to take my camera out to see what I could capture.” Irving used a Canon EOS Rebel T3i with a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens on a tripod. The image is a two-second exposure shot at 22mm, f/4, ISO 3200. © Michael Irving

Morning Granite

“During a rainstorm, the clouds cleared just enough to let the morning light hit the pure granite of El Capitan at Yosemite National Park, California,” Martin Hamm says about this shot. He captured it with a Nikon D4 and a Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 lens at 250mm, f/8, 1/125 second, ISO 50. © Martin Hamm

To enter your photos in our Picture This assignments, visit Shutterbug’s Galleries.