Don’t Forget The Shadows

When I lived in Japan, some of my friends there called me a “light and shadow” warrior (光と影の戦士). They called me this name instead of calling me just a plane ole photographer. I thought that was cool because while I do talk about light — I also talk about the shadows. While I do seek out light, I also know how to shape it with shadows. Shadows are a really big deal…

Light guides the eye — shadows touch the soul

Light illuminates — shadows define

Shadows are the soul of a photograph

Shadows are the YANG to light’s YIN

The aforementioned are just SOME of the quotes you will find about the role of shadows in photography.

Whether it’s shape, form, contrast, dimension, balance, or the accentuation detail, shadows perform many jobs in photography.

I’ve written of light and it’s part in a great photograph, https://medium.com/@figphotos/light-is-everything-in-photography-b2024ffd6d18

Everything I said in that article is true and important. But once you master light, you next need to move on to shadows. No discussion of serious photography is complete without mentioning shadows.

Shadows are where all the drama happens in a photograph. They actually help guide our eyes to the lit portion of a scene better than if there were no shadows at all.

Shadows make a photo interesting. Flat light, i.e., no shadows, can deliver a technically accurate photo, but there’s no life to it.

Shadows are like rests in music. There are eight different types of rests in music theory. Most are tied to note length such as whole note rest, half note rest, etc. There is one rest called a rest / fermata which is not tied to note length but rather simply up to the discretion of the musician to determine its length.

These rests are like the space between the notes. This is where music expression comes in. If you play Mozart — Symphony №40 in G minor and you play every note in succession without rests, it’s just mindless noise. Once you introduce the rests, then you have real music. This is where the feeling and emotion comes from — the space between the notes. It’s powerful. It’s meaningful. It’s moving.

Using that analogy — the same holds true for photography. The shadows are like rests. A skilled photographer will take control of your eye and move you around in a scene according to the story they want to tell. Often, amateurs don’t realize it but the thing that most likely draws them to certain images are the shadows.

Some photographers even like to shoot the shadow AS THE SUBJECT. Objects with distinct shapes make great shadows.

Most photographers start to explore shadows when they learn how to make silhouettes. Technically a silhouette is not the same as a shadow but it’s close enough to get you started.

The shadows can be used to create and illustrate tension. Every good story needs tension. Every good photograph tells a story.

As you progress in your photography you’ll learn how to use shadows to create the illusion of depth. This is where I personally find shadows to be most helpful. We live in a 3D world but we work in a 2D medium so anything that can add the illusion of depth is a good thing.

CONCLUSION

If you seek to truly master photography, start playing with shadows. See what you can do with them to create (or resolve) tension in an image. Use them to hide certain portions of familiar objects. Place them where they will draw the viewer’s eye to the subject.

Shadows are your friend and that holds true in toy photography just like it does every other kind of photography.

Remember, toys are joy.