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Originally published March 10, 2009

Chiaroscuro lighting is sometimes called Rembrandt lighting. It is very moody and works by putting light onto the focal point of the scene and gently leaving the area surrounding the focal point darker.

The Italian word chiaroscuro means light and dark and beyond highlighting the focal point, the contrast between light and dark areas accentuates the three-dimensional appearance of the subject.

The alternative name of Rembrandt lighting comes from the fact that Rembrandt used that lighting effect in a lot of his paintings. He may be the finest artist to have used the technique.

In photography chiaroscuro lighting effect is easily achieved with window light because window light is directional.

In the northern hemisphere the ideal window is one that faces north, away from the direction of the sun, because the light is less contrasty.

But if the subject is placed very near the window, the light fall-off will be rapid because light always falls off most rapidly nearest the light source and there is a dramatic decrease in the intensity of the light with each step back into the shadows.

If the subject is situated further from the window, say twenty feet, and is then moved another a step further away from the window, the fall off of light will not be great because the light has already spent its power penetrating that first twenty feet.

While placing a subject close to a light source can be very atmospheric, it may be too much for the film or camera sensor to deal with. And yet there may be too little contrast and too little light if the subject is placed deeper into the room.

A common way to overcome this problem is to place the subject near the window and use a reflector to bounce some light back into its darker side and so reduce the contrast across it.

But that’s not all that Rembrandt lighting is, because he used it to colour the scene to create mood. By warming the light he created a specific mood. And if he cooled the light, the effect would be different.

Originally published February 22, 2009

The nearer one gets to the North and South Poles, the quicker it gets lighter, day by day, as winter turns to spring. And spring arrives there so quickly that the buds on the trees can burst and open fully in a day.

This accelerated growth is needed because the plants and trees have to cram everything into a short season, before the sun travels towards the other Pole.

Thinking of the northern hemisphere as spring approaches, the rapid increase in the length of the day as the sun moves further away from the equator, and heads north towards the tropic of Cancer sees its light galloping north around the curve of the Earth at an ever-increasing rate.

It is as though the light has climbed up the steep slope leading from the equator, and now it is speeding across the gentle slope towards the top of the world.

There is something of that in every curve. In one direction it is an easy downhill ski slope, becoming steeper as it progresses. Looked at the other way, it is like a tough climb that tops out in an easy clamber over a grassy slope.

Now that the days are already becoming lighter, things look brighter. In the depths of winter. In Roundly Park in Leeds at 52° north, it seemed just a couple of short weeks ago that the dreary darkness would last forever. Now the bare tree branches have a tinge of green. Soon the buds will open.

Originally published February 1, 2009 by Tamara Colloff-Bennett

An ornate white dress is what most people in the West associate with weddings. This isn’t surprising since white is universally regarded as the color of purity, and weddings are all about celebrating and cementing a monogamous, loving relationship.

However, the tradition of wearing white wedding dresses in fact only started in the mid-19th century when Queen Victoria of England wore a white wedding gown when she married her consort Albert in 1840.

Before then, in previous centuries in the West, other colours were chosen for wedding gowns. For example, before Queen Victoria popularised white, brides may well have been thinking of the proverb, “Marry in blue, lover be true.”

Because Christianity generally portrayed the Virgin Mary in blue, purity was also associated with this colour just as it is these days with white.

And outside of the West, a range of colours has always dominated the wedding day. For example, in ancient Rome, brides wore blue to symbolise love, modesty, and fidelity. And in ancient Israel a blue border on a wedding dress symbolised those same virtues.

In other countries, red is popular. It is the colour that brides wear in China.

Some brides also wore red in the United States during the Revolutionary War in the 18th century to symbolise the independence the Colonists were fighting for. And to pay tribute to the dead, some American brides during the Civil War wore purple because it represents honour and courage.

In Korea, brides have two types of dresses to choose from, including a simple lime-green gown called a wonsam. It is embroidered with flowers and butterflies and worn over the hanbok, the doll-like traditional wedding dress made of patterned silk. The other type of dress that brides wear in Korea is the more elaborate gown called a hwarrot, or “flower robe.”

Because it is the colour of nature, Moroccan brides there wear green gowns thinking it brings good luck. They might also wear yellow instead of green because yellow is said to scare away the evil eye.

During the 16th century, Roman Catholic brides in Spain wore black gowns and lacy mantillas to show their devotion to their spouse until death.

In Japan, women wear two colours; a white, silk kimono lined with red that symbolises happiness and a new beginning. While women in Japan begin their wedding wearing a white kimono lined with red, they often wear gowns of silver or gold as the special event progresses.