Digital Photography Workshop exercise - Light and shadows
The Ycademy Workshops have been running every day last week covering different chapters relating to Digital Photography. The latest exercise following up on the Ycademy Digital Photography Workshop is the study of Light and shadows, where light falls there is always the formation of shadow.
Natural Light
Where natural light falls the length of shadow depends on the time of day, the season – the height of the sun in the sky.
Artificial light
Shows from artificial light depend on the closeness of the light source, the intensity and direction of light.
Multiple Light Sources
Where there are multiple light sources there are multiple shadows, with overlapping parts darker or lighter, or creating a combination of colors.
Light and Shadow Exercise
With photography focusing on the play of light and shadow it is possible to achieve some stunning results with your digital camera. The above photos were taken with my Nikon Coolpix P90 during a family get together this weekend and taken not necessarily at the best time of day.
With the original you still see the child’s face and features of the woman and parrot. With a little post editing in Lightroom by cutting down the exposure and increasing the contrast you get a more dramatic silhouette effect.
The original photo is not perfect as the parrot swung round in the breeze and I lost the top of the wing but did not want to lose the moment with the child. It takes time and a lot patience to capture the moment and get exactly what you want to achieve especially when working with children and animals. The dog too was busy hunting whatever but created a good shadow. I will focus on inanimate objects to capture the play between light and shadow in the next photo shoots.
