When it comes to light, it’s quality, not quantity, that counts. A sunny day may make you more inclined to go out and take pictures, but it doesn’t guarantee you’ll get great shots. In fact, you are just as likely to capture award-winning pictures on a dark, stormy afternoon as you are under a cloudless sky.

Your digital camera can compensate for low light by cranking up the ISO, opening up the aperture, using longer shutter speeds and getting essential support from a tripod (see our 4 quick tips for sharper shots when using a tripod). However, your camera can’t do much about the way the light falls upon your subject, and it is this that makes or breaks a picture.

Subtle differences in the position of the light, its intensity and colour can suddenly transform a mundane scene or competent composition into a breathtaking masterpiece.

The trouble is, these small differences in lighting can be hard for the human eye to see and appreciate. We have spent a lifetime learning to identify objects, shapes, textures and colours around us in whatever lighting we see them in so we can often be blind to the dramatic effect different light can have on a scene.

Here we’ll show you how to see like a photographer. You’ll learn how the angle of the sun can change things like colour and the appearance of depth and start transforming your outdoor photos, whether you shoot landscape photography (see our 10 Commandments of Landscape Photography – and how to break them), architecture, portraits or anything else.

We’ll reveal how you can use clouds and the time of day to take control of the way your shots turn out. So read on and get ready to see the world in a whole new light…

6 Portrait Lighting Patterns Every Photographer Should Know