SHADOWS... There! I said it. There simply is not much emphasis out there on that crazy ol' shadow these days. Probably because light is more fun to talk about and more easily identified as a primary controller of the mood and style of a photograph. But the shadow is the exact and opposite reaction to the light. So, it might make sense to at least add it to the discussion.
Artists and academics have tried to understand and describe color for centuries. About 2,400 years ago, Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle theorized that color existed in the form of rays sent down from the heavens by God. It wasn’t until the Renaissance in the 1300’s that more sophisticated models and systems were developed.
Cinematographers have often shown that it is the shadows that are as important, if not more important than the light in creating a mood, feel, evoking an emotion or setting the scene. For decades we have had great examples in art and cinema of a strong single-directional light from a window in a beautiful portrait, a streetlamp in an old black and white movie, and many of the most well known photographs of all time.
First, determine why you are going pro. Statistics show there is still a significant percentage of new business owners that just don't make it much past their first year. So, prepare yourself and understand one very large and important element; YOU CANNOT DO THIS ALONE. I know you may want to, but trust me, the support, education, knowledge and troubleshooting of others either currently in the same position or having gone through it are invaluable to the new photographer. Local and regional photographic groups and associations or Professional Photographers are vital to your success.
One of the techniques we covered was a creative strategy that involves “dragging” the shutter when taking a flash exposure. Dragging the shutter is really just a fancy term for using a long shutter speed and it’s generally a technique used in location lighting and not the studio. But we’re creative and there is not right way or wrong way here so let’s get started.
I see there is an intense desire for producing quality work that I see in everyone who is successful in photography as well as in any career. I'm referring to quality of the product you produce of course, but I am also talking about the quality of the marketing materials you use, the quality of your equipment, the quality of the people you surround yourself with, your "brand" quality, everything.
...you can always change the contrast of any given source slightly by simply changing the light from raw and sharp to soft and diffused. Light contrast is another control that we can keep in mind in our mental tool box as we approach a session. A friend of mine is a big fan of small incandescent lights added to a bride outdoors late in the day. Another way to control that is to diffuse it slightly. You’ll see a slight loss of light in terms of image quantity. But the benefit for the bride’s face in terms of image quality will really enhance your efforts and make you a hero
The statement that I make over and over is that the size of any light source is directly relative to its’ distance from the subject. As a light source gets closer to a subject it becomes larger relative to the distance. It seems pretty simple and makes sense. But what is important is how the distance affects they in which light reacts to this change in size/distance.
In the first few years of becoming a photographer I stayed away from flash outdoors because I didn’t understand how to use it. Then one day I was photographing a high school football players’ individual posed shot for a sports pack and had a “happy accident” where I accidentally increased my shutter speed on my old Hasselblad while using a Vivitar 285 speedlight on top of the prism viewfinder, set to Blue/f8. The result was magic.
Working with flash outdoors is more popular now than ever. And there are a few different ways you can make your images appear by simply understanding the controls that are available to you. Consider the background as a highly important aspect of the picture and look at how it's brightness affects the image.
