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Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPstrangelight

The assignment this weekend is to create images that use light — the most basic tool of photography — in an unconventional way. The goal is to capture moments that might often be overlooked, because they fall outside the classical lighting condition known as “golden hour.” Here are some tips to get you started:

While we’re often taught that a subject should face the light, experiment with backlit situations, or with light that illuminates the subject from an angle we don’t often see.

Explore times of the day or night that you might have avoided because they seemed too bright or too dark. While dawn and dusk are popular for the warm, soft, side lighting that they yield, try photographing in the harsh, overhead light at high noon — or venture into the darkness, to see where light emerges.

Instead of relying solely on daylight-balanced natural light, experiment with the color shifts that occur with artificial lighting from sources like computer devices and fluorescent bulbs, or with light refracted by atmospheric conditions like dust or moisture.

PROJECT RULES: Please add the #WHPstrangelight hashtag only to photos and videos taken over this weekend and only submit your own images to the project. Any tagged image taken over the weekend is eligible to be featured Monday morning.

For more examples and inspiration, check out blog.instagram.com.
Featured photo by @ian_mckay