CodyPuyallup, Washington

The most important element of photography is one that has intrigued scientists for hundreds of years; that element being, of course, light.  Many early philosophers pondered the subject of light, some declaring it to be a particle stream while others argued that it was composed of waves.  Isaac Newton championed the corpuscular theory of light which asserts that light composed of tiny particles or "corpuscles," which travel in a straight line with a finite velocity, and that their properties include impetus. 

Recall that Newton performed 17th century experiments including his famous sunlight and prism demonstrations which proved that white light is actually composed of many colors.  Some of you may recall those experiments in grade school.

All fascinating of course, but the science of light for photographers is broken down into more easily understandable and appreciable components.  Visible light is the spectrum a photographer pays heed to when setting up a shot.  You need proper lighting to make sure that your subject is illuminated in the best possible fashion.  Highlights on the hair, a golden illuminated backdrop, lovely skin tones – these virtues are all defined by what is known as visible light, and any shooter worth their salt will pay substantial attention to the light that is present for a shoot.  In short, it’s the stuff great photos are made of.

For those of you who love science, here’s a meatier tidbit:  light– or visible light– is simply this:   electromagnetic radiation within the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometers, or 4.00 × 10⁻⁷ to 7.00 × 10⁻⁷ m.

Judy Ann