Following on from my previous Wildlife Photographic tip ‘Back-Lighting’  which gives your subject a strong outline and adds a great atmosphere, with a great deal of impact to your image,it’s counterpart ‘Side Lighting’ emphasizes a great deal of texture from the use of light highlighting your subject from the side, and when put to use in your image carefully it can produce a wonderful and dramatic image again with bags of atmosphere,giving the image a three-dimensional feel.A word of warning though from my own personal experiences ‘Side Lighting’ gives you the best results when the sun is low in the sky eg. Sunset,Sunrise.

Side Lighting does not work very well if the background is really cluttered or messy with lots of detail and other things going on so keep it as clean as possible, the idea is to isolate the light against your subject with a clear background illuminating your subject from the side bringing out all the texture in the feathers or fur at the same time creating a great deal of depth to the image.Always expose for the sunlit side of your subject,even at the cost of losing some shadow detail.

The way you use light in Wildlife photography is very important for the overall effect you are wishing to capture, Side Lighting is really effective when shooting close up portraits of wild animals and birds.The contours of the face are really well revealed,the texture of the fur and feathers really stand out a great deal more due to this mode of lighting.Try when possible to use the widest aperture you can on your telephoto lens rendering the background blurred,creating a smooth backdrop to your image.

In closing remember to use’ Side Lighting’ alongside ‘Back lighting’  as a part of your everyday Wildlife Photography, from the garden to the air, creating two very different images through the use of natural light which is at it’s very best during sunrise and sunset,illuminating your chosen subject from the side or the back in the case of ‘Back Lighting’.Trying to use ‘Side Lighting’ later on in the day will add alot of contrast to your image, making accurate exposure problematic due to the extremes of shadow and highlight perfectly shown in the below image of this Kingfisher,with the sun having come up just that bit to far making the exposure difficult for me, still creates a lovely image with atmosphere but you just lose some of the effect.

I hope my photographic tips on ‘Side Lighting’ has helped you understand just how important light can be and how it will change and effect your photography,should you have any questions or queries that you need answering,then please drop me a line on my contact page or click here and I will be more than pleased to answer them.