There are three basic principles of relevant to all photographers, these are. Size of Light source, Types of reflection, Family of anglesOne of the most important things of a good light source is its size. This determines what type of shadows you are going to have and also affects the type of reflectionSmall light sources will produce a hard edged shadow, large light sources will produce a soft edged shadow.Take as an example the most important light source in our life, the SUN. In a nice bright day with no clouds the sun will act as a small light source. On the other hand when it is a cloudy day the clouds will act as diffuser and the light source will not arrive from a direct single point but will be diffused through the clouds thus becoming a large light source and therefore producing soft edged shadows.Types of reflectionDiffuse reflectionDirect reflectionPolarized Direct reflectionDiffuse reflection will have the same brightness irillevant from the direction you are observing the object. The light from the sources is reflected equally in all direction.Direct reflection is the mirror image of a light source. This means that the light ray hits the object and then reflects ... [more..]