Hello and welcome to my blog. Today I'm going to talk about the use of shadow to create effects in your photos.

When we start out as photographers we imagine that we need lots of light and that everything must be fully light up. However, we begin to notice that in certain images it's the shadow that gives us the effect we want.

What we are inclined to forget, at the early stages at least, is that we mostly photograph three dimensional subjects, the image is recorded onto a two dimensional chip, edited on a two dimensional monitor and printed onto two dimensional paper. To avoid our images looking flat and uninteresting we must try and create a three dimensional effect in our images. We do that by including shadow on our subjects.

Sometimes we look at a photo and see immediately that shadow is what makes the image. In this photo of the Desmond Banqueting Hall in Newcastle West we see a lot of shadow in the clouds. This is the main focus of the image and without it we would have a plain image of a building.​ 

It's not always as obvious as this however and we often overlook the shadow in the image and don't realise what it is that gives it  it's three dimensional result.

This image of detail from a stone wall on the Burren in Co. Clare would not work without shadow. When I arrived at this scene first I was facing a wall with the sun shining directly on it. It looked flat and uninteresting. I found a section of wall that was running at an angle to it and this is the result. The shadow gives the feel of the texture of the stone and the shape of each one. Without the shadow, the roughness of the stone and the sharpness of the edges would not be obvious. All it took was to look for a different section of wall, just five meters away, to change from a flat uninteresting image to one of depth and texture.​

Shadow is just as important in portraits. We can use shadow to make our subject stand out from the background or to give three dimensions to our her. Either way, we must be conscious of where we place the shadow and how much to include.

With all portraits it is vital that we can see at least one eye clearly and that our subjects eyes are sharp. It doesn't matter how well we've done on all other aspects of the portrait, if the eyes are not sharp or not clearly visible, the photo fails. There are exceptions to this, as always but 95% or more of the time we need the eyes visible and sharp.

In this image of Sinead shadow slims her face, while giving it form. You will notice that both of her eyes are in the light and sharp. Our subconscious plays an important role in how we interpret images. Large bright areas are seen as big in real life also. When we turn our subject fully towards the camera and light her face fully, our subconscious tells us that the person is large. By turning her at 45 degrees to the light we are reducing the bright area on her face and tricking our subconscious into seeing her as slimmer than she actually is.

This is easy to do with a single person or indeed a small group but it's not so easy with larger groups. In a natural light situation you may find yourself unable to fit a large group into the space available unless you turn them fully into the light. Sometimes we have to make compromises and don't get the image we want. In this case it's better get an image that satisfies most of the rules rather than get none.​ 

In portraiture we can do something similar. For example, if using window light, place our subject on the edge of the light, close to the window and expose for that. Unless you are in a very well light room, with several windows, the room will fall into shadow. You may need to throw some light back on your subject from behind, so as not to lose detail in her hair or clothing. This can be done using anything white and that's large enough.

The image on the left shows what I mean. I used a large reflector to throw the light back on Chrissie and it helped to separate her from the background. The difference in the lighting levels on Chrissie and the background allowed the background to go completely dark.

This effect can be used on a bright day, using a window that is not facing directly into the sun. Artist's studios have what's known as "north light". This means that the window is north facing, to avoid direct sunlight, giving a lovely soft light. We can get a similar effect with an east facing window in the afternoon or a west facing window in the morning.

Bright cloudy days give a similar effect. However, on a bright cloudy day the light is bounced about the place by the cloud and comes in the window in all directions, often lighting up the entire room evenly. Closing the curtains so that there is only a narrow gap open will usually solve this problem.

So, that's it for today. I hope I've given you food for thought and that you'll try using shadow to improve your photography.

Until next time, take good care of yourself and those you love. Enjoy your photography.

Best Regards,
​Eddie

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Hello again and welcome to my blog. Today I'm going to discuss what to do when you can't get a well composed shot on site and what to consider before you take that shot.

It's not always possible to get exactly the image you want, for various reasons. Lighting conditions is one of the most  common reasons but I'm not going to deal with that now. Perhaps in a later blog. Sometimes, it's not possible to get close enough or to avoid having an obstruction in the image, a pole on the left side, for example.

The first thing you must do is frame the image you want, in your mind's eye. Then figure out the best angle from which to take it. These are two steps you should be doing before every image you take but it's especially important in this situation.

Things to watch out for are how the light is falling on your subject, what the background is like, will there still be unwanted objects in the image and does it show your subject from a good angle.

Now position yourself so that you are taking the shot from the angle required. The image above was taken with a 450 mm lens but the plover is still small in the image. I had already moved so that the background wouldn't compete for attention.

I had been over to my right, in line with the bank she is standing on. This would have given me a very complicated background and the bird would have been lost in it. In the low light conditions, the brown of her feathers would have blended in with the many shadows in the bushes that would have formed the background.

The bird had seen me moving and was watching me nervously. I could have moved closer but the possibility was that she would fly away before I got my shot. As it was, she flew away almost as soon as I took this one.

In my mind's eye, the area framed in red was the image I hoped to get. However, as explained above, I couldn't get close enough for that. However, by positioning myself correctly, I got the image, within a larger one and just had to crop to size in Photoshop.

The final image may now be on the small size but it can be resized, also in Photoshop. Open Image>Image Size or press the short keys Alt+Ctrl+I, a dialogue box opens. In this box, select Per Cent. If you are using an older version of PS, this will be in the top section of the box, where you will have the option of selecting Pixels or Per Cent. In CC, the sections of the box have been combined and there is a drop down menu, in line with width and height, where you select Per Cent.

It's important that you don't increase the size of the image in one step, unless you are increasing it by a very small amount. It is recommended that you increase it in size by no more than 10% at a time. So, when you've selected Per Cent, the number in the digits box will be 100. Change this to 110 and press OK. Repeat this step until you have it at the size you want or a little larger.

It's possible also to set up an Action for this, it's much quicker. Click Alt+F9 to select your actions panel. At the bottom of the panel there are a number of symbols. One looks like a page, with the corner turned down, click on this. If you're unsure, hold your cursor over it for a couple of seconds and the description will pop up.

​A new dialogue box pops up. Here you can name the Action, I've named mine "10%". It's best to choose something obvious. You can also select a Function Key to launch the action. Doing this makes like even easier. I've select F10 but you can select anyone of them. If it's in use already, you may need to combine the Shift or Ctrl key with the Function Key or both. Press Record and go through the action once. Then at the bottom of the action panel, click the square button and this stops the recording. Next time you want to use the Action, click the Function Key you've selected for it and it happens automatically. This is time saving when you have to repeat the action a few times.