Project 52 - Week 30: Shadows

Our assignment this week was to work in the realm of the shadows.  Sounds scary.  But when you think about it, and if you are a scary movie buff, what do you see a lot of in these types of movies?  Dark lighting and shadows.  For sure.

Shadows come in all shapes and sizes.  Depending on the time of day, they can be very short, really long, or almost disappear underneath a subject. They can lend mystery to a photo.  Some can be very sharp, and others can be soft.

I chose a 6:30 p.m. time frame to do my photography work this week, on a very sunny day.  I knew I could possible get some long, and very dark shadows, and some interesting lighting.

My first photo features a lovely mare (who is very interested in my camera) moving through some very long shadows of a nearby group of trees.  I really like the way the light plays on her coat, mane and the left side of her face.  Her nose and her hind end is in shadow, and so is the right side of her face.  These very soft shadows are filtered around the trees, and really lay nicely on her as she walked toward me.  Even though I did not use any off camera flash (OCF), it almost looks like I did, doesn't it?

In the next photo I went inside the barn, but used the strong sun coming in through the barn doors to help with shadowing.

I have a new camera, and my low light capabilities have increased immensely.  In this case, Sweet Pea's stall is almost at the center of the row of stalls in the barn.  With the sun setting and shining right in the front doors, and Sweet Pea thinking I might have something to eat (thereby cooperating and looking straight at the camera), I was able to use Mother Nature to do some Rembrandt lighting and take advantage of the resulting shadows.  There is definitely an air of mystery about this photo.  Sweet Pea is a friendly miniature horse, who looks very serious in this photo.

Finally, I decided to do a black and white shadow photo and experiment with a few harsher shadows.

This is what happens when you don't let the donkey eat your camera strap.  However, I did repay him by scratching his ears and the top of his head, which apparently were itchy and in need of a rub.  There are shadows everywhere.  The fence shadows are a little harsh, but I think they make the photo interesting.  Look how far down the line the donkey's body shadow lands when the sun is dropping on the horizon.  Yes, he did get his head back out.  He does this all the time, so he is very adept at maneuvering through the fence.  What was that Shakespeare line?.....to bray or not to bray, that is the question....

I think shadow work is fun.  There are so many variants of shadows, depending on the time of day and the position of the sun in the sky, or your studio lighting if you are inside.  To see what others in the much larger blog circle did this week, start here with Kim Hollis of BARKography, based out of Charlotte, North Carolina.  Enjoy your weekend!