What is the more important component to great photo? Location or light?

Many people stress over WHERE to take pictures.  Should they go down town,  in an open field, in their home,  under a tree, near a barn,  on railroad tracks,  etc.  The list is endless!  Location does play an important role in photography.  It sets the tone for the entire photo shoot and thus,  the look or “feel” of your images.  If you are going for a more intimate,  lifestyle shoot,  then your home would be a great setting!  If you want a more playful,  date type shoot,  downtown makes a great backdrop!  Going for a more natural beauty look?  Then tall grasses with a killer dress is exquisite!

Location can influence the style of your pictures!

With all of that said,  does anything trump location?  Yes!  As a matter of fact,  there is.  Lighting!  Great pictures are a result of great lighting.   Heck,  you could argue that photography itself is ALL about lighting!  You could have a mediocre background and killer lighting,  and it would more thank likely come out as a stunning picture.

you could argue that photography itself is ALL about lighting!

I remember reading a post on Katelyn James’ blog.  She was shooting a wedding in a big city and there was not a stitch of beautiful scenery around.  Just a bunch of ugly building and city “stuff”.  How was she supposed to get “romantic” pictures in the middle of chaos?  Well… she was lucky enough to find a small patch of grass behind a “sketchy” building.  But more importantly,  she was looking for the quality of light!  Professional photographers have a trained eye for lighting.  This little bit of grass was in killer light,  she recognized it,  and so she got some amazing pictures in the middle of a bunch of ugly buildings.

This one is quite obvious.  These two pictures are of the same flowers taken at almost the same time.  The only difference is the light!

Here is another example.  These two pictures were taken in the same store.  The one on the left happened to be next to a window.  The natural daylight gives this picture a sort-of an airy quality.

Again!  Same day,  different lighting!  Both have interesting backgrounds.  In fact,  the background on the left might be considered more appealing due to the color and texture.  But I feel the image on the right wins,  simply due to the lighting.

Same location,  different light,  two totally different looks!  This has more to do with direction of the light,  but you see the contrast.

Same cute girl,  same teddy bear,  same park.  But clearly the picture on the right wins!  Let’s say it together now:  LIGHT WINS!  haha.

Again,  direction of light!  The image on the right is softer,  and I think more appealing.

Same beach,  same day.  The later was taken just slightly later in the day.  Voila!  (We were starting to get into the “golden hour”)

So if I had to sacrifice location over lighting, would I do it? You bet! I would do it faster than my Canon can rattle off a 1/8000 second shot!

I will finish this blog post off with one of my favorite pictures of Tucker.  I think the lighting in this one really helps to tell the story here!