Working with direct sunlight, shoot 10 photos each with a different subject of shadows in which the shadow is a main component but not the only subject. So if one photo is of leaves then another is of a bicycle and so on until you have 10 different subjects. Walk around looking for shadows and where they fall. There should be different light levels in each photo: some areas very bright and some very dark. Use at least one of the following compositional principles in each photo: a frame within a frame, the rule of thirds, Diagonals, leading lines, patterns, symmetry, and always think about the figure to ground relationships.

  • If you are shooting with a camera, use the monochrome setting. If you are shooting with the Lightroom Photoshop App, us the high contrast B&W setting.
  • If needed, use Exposure Compensation to make the shadows to be dark and not medium gray.
  • Make each composition dynamic by using at least one of the compositional principles: Diangonal lines discussed this semester.

Post your images to an album on Flickr.

Share them with your group. Each group will make a gallery in a post on OpenLab with each members best example.

Category: Lab: Week 5 – Shadows

I shot these examples all within two blocks of my apartment.