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by Editor Lourens Durand
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 12 July 2024
In two recent articles, I wrote about light being the key to photography and yet, when you talk about light, there must be a mention of shadows – the two go hand in hand.
For example, when talking about diverse types of lighting set-ups it is implied that there are shadows present.
There is no getting away from it – where there is light there is shadow – we need to learn how to take advantage of it in composing our photos.
For example, soft lighting gives a dreamy effect, whereas hard lighting can add a sense of harshness, starkness, tragedy, or surrealism to a picture. Unexpected shapes of shadows can add humour or mystery.
In portraiture, shadows help to delineate the shape of the face and its features, whilst their softness or hardness creates different effects, helping the photographer to define a mood, tell a story or create dramatic effects.
Still life pictures, without clever use of shadows, can lack the three-dimensional reality and look very flat.
In the early days of film photography, especially for black and white, photographers were taught how to use Ansel Adams’ zone system, which comprised of ten zones from pure black to pure white, with 18% grey in the middle (zone 5). A camera’s sensor exposes for 18% grey, and has difficulty differentiating the darker zones, so the generalisation in those days was to “expose for the shadows and let the highlights take care of themselves” to avoid flat looking photos.
Nowadays, with modern cameras and computers, we would tend to expose for the highlights and look after the shadows in post processing.
The best way, actually, is to have a proper look at the histogram on the back of the camera after taking a shot and adjust your exposure accordingly. A balanced, bell-shaped histogram is normally what is aimed for, but bunching the bell up towards the left can result in the harsh or moody effect that is perfect for photographing shadows.
Just stand back and look for compositions with interesting shadows.
I hope that you enjoy the following selection of shadowy photos taken by 1X.com photographers.
'Queen of flowers 3' by Peppe Tambè'
'Red Beret' by Bill Gekas
'Ronnie' by Zachar Rise
'Tanya' by Zachar Rise
'Nashmin' by Hamidreza Sheikhmorteza
Arteh' by Richard Bland
'wishful' by Hari Sulistiawan
'of solitude and other demons' by Josefina Melo
'Love cherries' by olimage
untitled by Antonio Grambone
From the series “Light and Shadows' by Evgeniy Popov
'Daffodil & Mandarin Orange' by Lydia Jacobs
'Noor Optical' by Saeed Dhahi
'Toward the light' by Roberto Marini
'towards the light' by Aylin Erozcan
untitled by Mohammadreza Momeni
'Complex' by YouduTian
'cezalılar' by Ummu Nisan Kandilcioglu
'Shyness' by Alin Petrus
'Game over' by Victoria Glinka
'Carmen by Eleonora Abbagnato' by Flavio Bertazzi
'waiting for hope' by Sara Goli
'going to play' by Ivan Valentino
'What is TIME?' by Victoria Glinka
'Faith' by Hardik Pandya
'Looking for light' by Fernando Alves
![]() | Write |
![]() | Josefina Melo PRO Excellent article many thanks for sharing my work and congratulations to all !! |
![]() | Lourens Durand CREW Thank to you all for your positive comments! |
![]() | Dan Colisnic PRO Thank you! the importance of shadows give the light a story to tell. Great together! |
![]() | Fernando Alves Excellent article. Thanks a lot for sharing my work and congratulations to all the authors. |
![]() | Mohammadreza Momeni Thank you so much. Congratulations to all. |
![]() | Peppe Tambè Fantastic article, thank you so much for selecting one of my photos. Congratulations to all the authors. |
![]() | Ineke Mighorst PRO Well done. I love it |
![]() | Yun Thwaits PRO A great article with excellent images. Thank you! |
![]() | Izabella Végh PRO Bellissimo articolo. Le fotografie sono eccezionale. Grazie mille agli autori. |
![]() | Antonio Grambone PRO A very interesting and perfectly described article.
Many compliments to all the artists.
Thank you for including one of my works. |
![]() | Seray AK PRO its incredible... thank you |
![]() | Xuedong Bai PRO feichangjingcaidetuwen! |
![]() | Caroline Bomers PRO Interesting article and a wonderful selection of excellent images. Thank you for all the good light. |
![]() | Bole Kuljic PRO That is a very nicely put presentation—article as well as photos. Thank you! |
![]() | Hardik Pandya PRO Thank you so much great article |
![]() | Richard Bland PRO Thank you so much for the inclusion of my shot in your article this is very much appreciated ......Kind regards Richard |
![]() | Silvana Lingg PRO Very nice article and pictures. I saw a lot of photos that I hadn't noticed before. You would have to look at each one and you would discover many photos that you have never seen before but that are simply outstanding. |
![]() | Elizabeth Allen CREW Sincere thanks for this article with its superb, inspiring collection of photos. |
![]() | Montserrat Alviani PRO A wonderful article with excellent images. Thank you very much for sharing it, it is always inspiring to learn from the work of others. Cordial greetings |