Digital Photography Lessons – Are Shadows Ruining Your Photos?
Terrific photographs can be ruined by distracting shadows.
Unfortunately, shadows are a constant challenge for photographers. Fortunately, there are quite a few easy but effective fixes.
First, what causes the shadow? Well, obviously it is caused by the light hitting your subject and not hitting the background behind them.
So, if you’ve got a problem with shadows falling on the background, one way to remove the shadow is to remove the background. Obviously, if there is nothing for the shadow to fall on, voila! No shadow.
So, the first fix in our shadow removal arsenal is to remove the backdrop – if possible.
When your photo shoot is being done outside, all you have to do is move your model so that there is no backdrop behind them. Pretty simple.
If your photo session is being done indoors, you obviously can’t take down or remove the walls, so move your model into the center of the room. They’ll be posing far enough away from the walls so that the shadows will magically disappear. Usually makes for a more unique and better shot too!
The second way to approach the problem is to position a light to illuminate the background.
If you are using a “studio” lighting setup, once you get your subject lit the way you want them, add an additional light that strikes only the background and not the subject.
Adding the extra light can be more than just a shadow remover. By adding in scrims, cookies and colored gels to modify the light, it becomes a part of the design of the photo. The modifiers will throw colors, patterns and shapes on your backdrop.
Think of light like a ball on a billiards table. It will hit the subject at a certain angle and reflect off at that same angle – like the billiards ball striking the cushion and bouncing off. (This is important to remember when trying to eliminate glare from eyeglasses.)
The shadow on the other hand, is ALWAYS directly in line with the light. So, you can minimize the shadow problem by changing the angle of the lights so that the shadow falls into an area that won’t show in the final photo.
Indoors, with a studio light setup, just move the lights around until you find the optimal angle. Outside, you have to move your model around until the light is coming from the right direction. Reflectors can help too! you can change the angle of light when using an on camera flash by bouncing it off a wall or the ceiling. Just be sure the wall or ceiling are not painted a color that will throw an odd color cast on your model.
The size and strength of the light source – as related to your model – is what will control the harshness and intensity of your shadows.
If you lower the intensity of the light, that will also lower the intensity of the associated shadow. It will still be there, but you may be able to minimize its’ distracting effect.
Moving the light further from the model or reducing the lights’ power are two simple ways to lower the intensity of light hitting your subject.
You can wrap light around a model – and minimize the shadows – by making the light bigger. This is done with reflectors, softboxes and umbrellas.
These modifiers can be thought of as being like a cloud. A cloud that moves between your model and the sun is nothing more than a giant diffuser. It makes the entire cloud a light source (bigger) instead of just the sun (smaller). This wraps the light around your model minimizing shadow intensity. Go outside and check out the difference in shadows when the light is coming from the sun and from a cloud. You’ll notice some astounding differences.
There are entire books written about this subject and this message is by no means an exhaustive solution, but it should give you something to consider.
Happy shooting.
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