Beautiful Photos Captured By Creative Photographers Who Know How To Use Shadows

Since a photo is viewed in a two-dimensional medium, showing the image in its three-dimensional form makes it more realistic and visually appealing to the audience.

By focusing on this element alone you can do wonders with your photography. So here are David Petersen’s tips you can use when photographing shadows.

A shadow can add excitement and balance to a photo. Sometimes you will encounter situations wherein the elements in a scene seem to lack something. Oftentimes this happens when you have a swathe of white sand in a beautiful beach location.

Utilizing a shadow to throw balance to the scene will not only add detail to the plain ground but will complement and enhance your main subject as well.

Now that we learned how to enhance an image using shadow, why don’t we use it purely as our main subject? That’s right, shooting shadows can be fun! Consider creating figures on a monotone background.

To make this work, look for a plain light-colored background for example grass, a wall, sand or anything that does not have a distracting pattern or a dark color.

Remember, your shadow is already in the shades of gray or black. So you want a background that will contrast with it so that the figure formed will show up clearly.

Conceptual photography is a type of photography that makes use of graphical symbols to convey an idea or a message. The message can be anything you may want to get across, from political or social commentaries to simple, everyday things.

Using shadows to create a concept is easy since the subject that can be formed would already be graphic. All you’ll need is a creative idea to add an additional element to it.

Abstract photography is similar to abstract art wherein the subject focuses on shape, form, pattern, color or texture. The focus is only on a portion of a whole object but the viewer will understand or recognize the image by what is implied.

Shadows can be great subjects for this type of photography. They offer a wide range of possibilities due to the endless figures or patterns that can be created in nature or artificial surroundings, all it takes is an observant and watchful eye.

Look for shadow patterns or textures created on a blank wall, grass or any background of a light, monotone color. Shoot in monochrome for best results since this would enhance the patterns or textures created on your light background.

Nothing beats shooting shadow subjects using monochrome or black and white. Why? Put simply, the shadow itself is already in the shade of gray or black and shooting it against a backdrop of white or light colored objects converted to monochrome or B&W creates a contrasting image.

Usually, when we view a photo, our eyes are drawn to the play of colors or to the graphical shape or form in the image. In a monochrome or B&W image, with the absence of color, the subject will have to stand on its own merit.

Having realized some of the creative things you can do with shadows, the potential is infinite. All it takes is your imagination.

The shadow that falls from a subject is determined by where the light is coming from. In photography, there are several ways you can position the light to illuminate your subject. Placing it in front of your subject is called frontal lighting.

The light that shines on your subject lights up the whole scene. However, since the shadow that is formed is behind the subject, it does not show up in your camera position so the resulting image tends to be flat or two-dimensional.

Another shot that is made with a back -lit subject is the silhouette. It is shot by exposing for the background light and rendering the foreground under-exposed, or plain black.