Manipulating Shadows (Challenge #10)
Welcome back! Hope you’ve had a great couple of weeks!
Today we are going to challenge you to create and have fun with a medium we have all played with since we were bored young kids, shadows!
Shadows are usually an after thought; something we try to soften or even get rid of when creating. Let’s change our thinking a bit and bring them to the forefront and build some pieces around shadows!
Tips (indoors):
Use ONLY 1 light source! It gives you the sharpest and strongest shadows to play with.
Have your light face horizontal to or lower to the canvas you are projecting upon
Object traits that work well:
Skinny profiles
Patterned object shape
Transparent/translucent for textures
Outdoors:
Time of day matters!
Midday will give you shorter shadows along the floor. This will be good for more urban areas with larger buildings and structures
The further you are from midday, (morning & evening) the shadows will stretch longer. These will be better for metal posts, smaller structures, and everyday objects
Look for structures with physical patterns & lines
Looking for and manipulating shadows is a great way to learn how light interacts with different subjects. Taking the time to look specifically at shadows can really help level up your photography/videography and even illustration & painting.
I learned a lot about light and how it interacts with objects through this challenge. If you have some time, I highly suggest having some fun with light and look for those shadows.