Star Scout Daniel Wildman, 16, Troop 946, Casper, Wyo. tries to beat the heat at the 2005 Boy Scout National Jamboree. Photo by James Brown

A seasoned photographer once advised me that every picture is a merely a recording of light. If you think about it, that is a really good way of putting describing a photograph. The direction of light can sometime make all the difference. If light is raking across an object with texture, we see and even “feel” the texture with our eyes. If light is falling directly on the object with texture, we don’t see the texture. Strong side light can cast interesting shadows, which may become an interesting compositional element in the frame. If light is behind the subject, we can make a silhouette picture.

In this picture, the light is behind Daniel’s head as he tries to keep cool in the hot, humid July days of the National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Va. The background was not directly lit by the sun so it remains dark allowing the water droplets to sparkle and become a feature of the picture. You have to be prepared for a picture like this. I saw other Scouts doing this so I was ready when Daniel doused his head. It was a wide-mouth water bottle so that picture possibility didn’t last long.

Part of making good pictures is trying to anticipate what someone will do and then being prepared to make the picture when it happens.