Photographing shadows

Narrative and mystery – by including just the shadows of the two people, viewer are encouraged to interpret the picture in their own way. What are the two people saying? What is going on? It looks as though the larger figure is giving the smaller one a dressing down – and that the horse is joining in the conversation. All nonsense, of course, but an expample of the sort of ‘storyline’ that that be introduced when using shadows

Include shadows in your photographs and can show graphically, or express more subtly, anything from lead-in lines, texture, atmosphere, angular or curvaceous shapes, narrative or mystery.

All these things are possible when you use shadows. It is the combinations of shadow and light that produces the illusion of texture and form within the two-dimensional images we produce. Shadows can be subtle and diffused in soft, high quality light, or, if the light source is small and intense, they can have crisp, sharp outlines totally devoid of detail. A typical example of this might be the sun in an empty blue sky, or perhaps the light from an undifused flash.

Shadows can be used as subjects by themselves, or as devices to add interest and leading lines within your composition. Take a look at the picture of the door knocker (below) for example; the shadow forms a major part of the composition. Without it the picture would be very ordinary; a simple record of an object. But the shadow of the brass knocker extends across a large part of the left side of the picture – it has been used not only to accentuate the shape of the knocker and the door nails, but as a compositional device.

Mystery? Well, yes, include only the shadows of people and this can inject a powerful feeling of something or someone unseen; a suggestion of what the person might look like, but without the whole subject revealed plainly. That in itself makes the viewer of your picture look again and try to see more. People are always curious about people so if they cannot see the full features of the subject they are left with their curiosity unsatisfied. This can create a visual puzzle without the answer – and that becomes intriguing.

So what about the practicalities of including shadows in your photographs? How do you arrive at the correct exposure, for instance? Well, I’ve never believed in making difficulties where there are none, and taking pictures of shadows is no exception. As a rough and ready guide, just remember that if you want your shadows to be darker, you should expose for the brighter areas in your picture. It’s as simple as that. But don’t overdo this or your pictures will be underexposed and have a lifeless appearance. The other thing to be aware of is that shadows can register as very high colour temperature – they appear blue – when they are cast by a bright sun in a clear blue sky. So you may want to try the ‘Cloudy’ White Balance (WB) setting to counteract this. But this will depend on the effect you are trying to achieve.

For those of you who are a bit nervous about taking pictures of people, photographing other people’s shadows can come as quite a relief. You will no longer need to point your camera directly at your subject, who is likely to remain quite unaware of what you are doing. Pictures that include the shadows of people – without actually showing the people themselves, encourage the viewer of the photograph to interpret a story or narrative into the image. They must ask themselves what the people are doing, what they might be saying or discussing – and that’s when a sense of mystery can be intoduced into your photographs (see photograph at top).

Front or backlight?

I'm always reminding my students about the different properties of the direction of light and how important it is to understand what's going on. Frontlight (light behind the camera and front-on to the subject), I tell them, takes always the shadows and can make the subject look flat and two-dimensional. However, I am quick to point out, frontlight does have a trick up its sleeve: there may be colour hiding in the shadows, and by removing them by using front light you will of course see more colour. So a colourful subject often looks even more colourful when lit by frontlight.

 

Well, as always, there are exceptions to the rule, and photographing flowers and leaves is one of them. Depending on the thickness and translucence of the flower or leaf the thinner and more translucent the better - you can often increase the intensity of its colour by placing the light behind the subject and letting it shine through the leaf.

 

The photograph above is a good example. This is a very simple picture which relies on its colour for its visual appeal. The sunlight is almost directly behind the leaf and is shining through it; and so illuminating the green like a projector lamp.

 

In this case, the backlight has shown up the veins of inside the leaf and brought more detail and interest. Frontlight would have shown the colour of the surface of the leaf, but none of the depth of colour and shapes inside it.

 

Give this technique a try next time you are photographing flowers. Sometimes you can get the best of both worlds by having the light source behind the subject and using a reflector under or beside the lens to bounce some light back onto the surface of the flower.

Photographing in hard light

Here's a photograph I took for The Sunday Times some while ago. They commissioned me to photograph a whole list of British seaside locations, and this was taken on the beach at Aberdaron in North Wales on a hot summer's day.

The light was very hard and contrasty - what I would normally consider to be poor quality light, especially when shooting in black and white - but as a professional photographer working to tight schedules, I simply had to make the most of what I was given.

I started to look for shapes and shadows, and noticed the shadow of this chap cast on the windbreak. His shape has been distorted due to the angle of the sun, and this has added a touch of whimsical humour to the situation.

It is always good practise to look for unusual angles and the way light and shadow falls on different objects.

Of course, with this shot in the bag, I photographed the man from the other side as well - with the light behind me. But this produced a very ordinary shot.

The other advantage in photographing a subject's shadow is that those of you who are a bit nervous about taking pictures of complete strangers can do so without drawing attention to yourselves. In fact you may not be noticed at all.

Tomorrow I'll show you another, very different type of photograph taken in this same location on the same day.

How to photograph abstracts - part 2

Pablo Picasso, arguably the greatest abstract painter of all time, spent years learning the craft of fine draughtsmanship before he created his unique abstract art. The moral of the story?... learn the rules before you go and break 'em

So here are just ten practical ways to get more from abstract photography...

Practical camera skills will lead to better abstract photographs.

Look more closely at everyday subjects.

Look for strong colour, lines, shapes and textures.

Shadows can be included to create abstract shapes.

Place your rectangle around the most interesting part of the subject.

Try to exclude any obviously recognisable elements.

Create visual puzzles to make your viewer think.

Don't always tilt your camera at an angle this is a hackneyed, overused idea.

Look closely at the natural world to see beautiful abstracts.

Think about presenting a finished set of abstract photographs as a montage.

Photograph above:

So what is it? This type of puzzling photograph doesn't actually need and answer. For me it is enough to enjoy the diagonal bands of colour and the shapes created by the shadows. If you really want to know, it is a picture of upturned canoes

How to use the direction of Light - part 3

The considered application of light can transform a photograph from the mundane into something with much more visual power. This photograph of an old man is desperately simple – a straightforward head and shoulders – but the power of the photograph comes not only from the man’s interesting face and his direct look into the lens, but from the way his face is lit. In this case from one side - sidelight.

A profound understanding of light is one of the photographer’s greatest assets.

MOVE AROUND – CHANGE THE ANGLE OF THE LIGHT
These three photographs are of the same subject and were taken about the same time on the same day, but look how different the it appears just by walking around it and photographing it with the light from different directions.

Front light has been used in A to show all that wonderful red colour – care was needed to avoid the flare coming straight back at me from that glass in the cabin.

The sidelight B has shown the hull of the boat to have form and shape. It’s also given texture to the tussocky grass in the foreground.

The backlight in this picture C has reduced the boat and the objects on it to a series of silhouettes. There’s no colour shown in the subject at all – just outline shapes.

TIP
HIDE YOUR SHADOW
When moving in quite close with the light directly behind you – using frontlight to accentuate the colours of your subject – you are likely to get your own shadow – just like in photo D. Try moving back a couple of paces and zooming in to cut out this unsightly shadow – unless of course it is part of your idea to leave it in. See photo E. You will alter the perspective of you picture a little, but it may be worthwhile.