Let’s face it, shadows are all around us and do we ever give them the attention they deserve?
Often I just ignore them, especially that one that follows me around all the time. He he he. There are shadows everywhere beckoning to be photographed. There’s even an entire community, here on Hive, devoted to this form of art. It’s called the Shadow Hunter's Community. If you’re in the shadows and want to enter their contests, that’s the place to go!
Last weekend I was walking around the house stretching my back, which I recently did something to, when I noticed some cool shadows in our living room. The morning sun was just beginning to shine through our side window, from the east. The bright morning light was casting long and contrasting shadows along our stark white walls. I took photographs of a lot of different shadows but I’m only going to showcase one particular shadow series today.
The Lamp Shadow Series!
The sun was shining through the blinds and also a lamp that it was standing near the window. This created some interesting horizontal and vertical lines on the wall. The shape of the lamp also added its own sort of interest. I decided to shoot these in black-and-white. I thought black and white was the most befitting for a shadow photography post.
I don’t want to bore you with an over abundance of shadows from the series, so I chose a handful which I thought or appropriate. I basically started shooting with the camera up against the wall, pointing into the sun and moved my way out and around to the other side towards the sun.
Let’s start with the first five photographs .. which are taken from an angle pointed toward the window. These are also my favorite shots because I think the radiating lines appear like they are coming from a central point in the photographs. You will also notice that the lines between dark and light appear to close up as I move the camera further away from the shadow. I could have moved the camera a bit higher in order to get more of a uniform look to the lines. Sometimes you don’t notice these things until you begin editing. Fortunately I can always go back and retake some if I’m that worried about it.
This next shot is looking directly at the shadow straight on. Not sure there’s much interest in this particular shot. I find it slightly boring.
The last two photos are taken from a different angle. My back is now facing the sun and the camera lens is pointing away from it. Seeing the lines again sort of pinching towards the horizon on the left-hand side of the photo, adds interest and depth. Otherwise shadows could lack depth when they fall on such a flat, colorless surface.
I only captured two photos. The reason that I was only able to get a couple from this angle was that the photographer, me, began appearing in the photos as my own shadow.
I’ll wrap up by placing a summary photo here below. Also, don’t neglect the power of shadows! Next time you see one try taking a series of photos including it and you may be surprised at what you come up with.
I don’t like limiting myself to just being happy with what I shoot. Sometimes I ALTER THE CRAP out of my pictures just to see what I come up with. For example below, I performed a mirror of one of the shots just to see what those radiating lines would look like.
It came out looking pretty neat, but I wasn't satisfied with it.
So... I darkened up the contrast, I mirrored it again and again and moved the central point a little, yada yada..
Now for some color
What do you think of this artistic manipulation? Quite the journey from the original Shadow Photo I took not that long ago, when the sun was just popping up.
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