light and shadow – photography tips II

I’m feeling like another photography tips post today, this time on using light and shadow effectively. Not that I’m the expert (far from it!) but there are some very simple things to keep in mind in photography.
One of those is: shooting in direct sunlight is hard! As in: so difficult I hardly ever attempt it.
You will get nicely lit, nicely coloured results much more easily if you stick to shadow!
And because this is illustrated more easily in pictures here’s an example. These two shots were taken within minutes apart and are both SOOC (straight out of the camera, zero processing except resizing):

direct sunlight: brilliant colours but harsh shadows, hard to avoid blown out areas, looks like an average snap-shot.

the same object, taken in my own shadow (with my back to the sun): evenly coloured, no areas drowned by shadows, looks bright yet dreamy. It’s a little dark, so my first step in post-processing would be to lighten it up slightly.
Shooting in the shadow can mess up your white balance, so your photos might look a little bluish. Check if your camera has different white balances to choose from. With mine ‘shadow’ or ‘cloudy’ work best in these situations.
That said, sometimes direct sunlight and the harsh contrast it provides can be used as a tool itself. I’ve seen professional photographers take breathtaking shots in which light and shadow play the predominant role.
Try it out some time on a sunny day and look for the shapes and opportunities direct sunlight presents:

It may only be a purple wall on your way to the bus station which you’ve passed a hundred times before and never noticed 😉

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