Natural vs. Artificial Light

Beginner Lighting Principle

Natural, Artificial Light and/or Ambient light in photography refers to the source of illumination and how it affects your images.

Natural vs. Artificial Light in Photography

Lighting plays a huge role in how your images turn out—and understanding the difference between natural and artificial light helps you make the most of every shot.

• Natural light comes from the sun and changes throughout the day, offering a variety of moods and tones. Golden hour provides warm, soft light, midday sun creates harsh shadows, and overcast skies or the Blue Hour offer even, diffused lighting. Natural light is great for a natural, organic look and requires adapting to changing conditions.

  🕗 Golden Hour (just after sunrise or before sunset)
  → Warm, soft, and super flattering

  🌞 Midday Sun
  → Bright but harsh—expect strong shadows

  🌥️ Overcast Skies / Blue Hour (just before sunrise or after sunset)
  → Soft, even light, perfect for details and portraits

  📸 Great for an organic, natural look—but you’ll need to adapt as the light changes!

• Artificial light comes from man-made sources like lamps, LEDs, flashes, and studio lights. It provides more control over brightness, direction, and color temperature, making it ideal for consistent lighting in indoor settings or low-light situations.

• Produced by man-made sources like lamps, LEDs, flashes, or studio lights.

  Offers control over:

  • 💡 Brightness

  • 🎯 Direction

  • 🎨 Color temperature

  Ideal for indoor setups, low light, or when you want consistent, predictable lighting.

• Ambient light: Whether natural or man made, ambient light is the light all around us, often a combination of natural and made made. L

  📱 Mobile phones handle ambient light brilliantly!

  • We shoot almost exclusively with ambient light—flash is off nearly 100% of the time

  • Smartphone cameras automatically balance exposure and color, often delivering gorgeous results with zero effort

  ✨ This smart light handling is one of the most exciting parts of mobile photography!

All types of light can be used creatively—natural light for its dynamic range and realism, and artificial light for precision and control. Understanding how to balance and mix them can help you create the perfect lighting for any shot.

This dessert was taken in a kitchen galley on a cruise ship with no alteration of the ambient lighting - which was fluorescent! The Android camera’s Food Mode seems to automatically adjust colors and make for a delicious image!

The garden image above, including the flowers, benefits from natural lighting. However, direct sunlight can sometimes be too harsh, creating unwanted shadows. When photographing flowers up close, try to find ones in the shade or use your body to block the sunlight and soften the lighting on your subject.

Chattanooga, Georgia: Look for pops of sunlight in the background to create depth and highlights as shown in this walkway located in Rock City.

Move to the next Beginner Lighting Principle: Hard vs. Soft Light

Return to Lighting Overview