Three skiers at the Zugspitze glacier — Germany (2015)
Incorporating shadows is a great way to introduce some fabulous effects in your photography. Sometimes, shadows can become subjects in and of themselves.
There are many photographers who make it a point to always try to have dramatic shadows in their photos. They get up early to catch the early morning light and shadows. Or they go out before sunset so they don’t miss the late evening shadows.
If you look at my Instagram feed, you’ll notice that I love shadows too. For me, the dramatic effects brought on by strong shadows just can’t be replicated any other way. Living in the northern latitudes in Europe, I have a slight advantage since during the Winter months, there are long dramatic shadows nearly the entire day.
The above shot was made in the late afternoon sun in Germany. I saw the walking path on the Zugspitze glacier and noticed the dramatically long shadows as the skiers walked. I waited there for quite a while until three skiers aligned themselves the way I pictured them in my mind, then I made the picture. I only made one shot because I knew I captured the essence of what I was seeing, the strong diagonal composition and the long dramatic shadows.
The picture below was a completely different situation. I was waiting for a friend at a train station one evening when I noticed the strong light. I walked over to the light and noticed that if I stood in front of the light, it cast a dramatic shadow on the train tracks. I was at the station for about 45 minutes and I made quite a few pictures of my shadow on the tracks and on the trains as they sped by.
This shot is my favorite from that evening. Not everyone is crazy about it, but for me the train blur, camera shake and generally slight out of focus quality of the picture all add to the appeal of the photo and reflect exactly what I was aiming to get when I started making this picture.
In the picture, my shadow is the subject. All the other elements are simply abstract, surreal, and purely compositional. Do you see the picture in the same way?
So next time you are making a picture, be creative with the use of shadows.
Shadow on moving train – Mons, Belgium (2016)