Photographic lighting

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Photographic lighting refers to how a light source, artificial or natural, illuminates the scene or subject that is photographed. Photographers can manipulate the positioning and the quality of a light source to create visual effects, potentially changing aspects of the photograph such as clarity, tone and saturation to create an accurate rendition of the scene.^[1]

Lighting determines exposure and can be used to create effects such as low-key and high-key lighting, both of which involve the contrast between darker and lighter elements in a scene.^[2] Lighting is especially important for monochrome photography, where there is limited to no color information, and exclusively includes the interplay of highlights and shadows.