COMM 242, Advanced News (Instructor: Ross Collins, North Dakota
State University) An introduction to lighting for
photojournalists Note: Many of these photos were taken by
photojournalism students in COMM 242. The three characteristics
of light: Light can vary in intensity by as much as 1,000 times.
Our eye automatically controls this intensity by opening and
closing its iris. We can see this effect as we enter a dark room
from outside, or go into a bright sunny day from inside--until
our eye adjusts objects are either too dark to see
(underexposed) or too washed out to see (overexposed). A camera
uses three adjustments to control intensity: aperture (f/stops),
shutter speeds and film/sensor speed (ISO number). The photo
below left is an example of high intensity light. Beaches and
snow reflect sunlight to add intensity (photo by Colleen
Tuckner). Below right is an example of low intensity light. The
star effect on the lights may have been enhanced by a filter
over the lens (photo by Jeremiah Utecht). Light i