James Reading
Jan, 2015Views
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People's Choice in What Shadows Can Do Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in What Shadows Can Do Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at home in my living room. At the time I was cleaning my camera lenses and I noticed that the light coming in from the windows was creating an interesting play of shadows. My son was reading and went and sat in the chair, which made for an irresistible image, so I tried to discreetly point my camera at him and capture the moment. Luckily he was so absorbed with his reading he didn't notice me.Time
This was taken during late afternoon, we have south facing windows and during the early mornings and late afternoons the light slants in and creates these interesting shadows, I think in this particular instance the time was 15:46.Lighting
This was totally natural light, as I mentioned already the light coming in through the windows from the sun was what created the shadows and contrast here, I didn't need to use anything else such as a reflector or a flash.Equipment
I shot this with a Sony A6000 and the Sony 50mm F1.8 lens. Camera settings were 1/160, F6.3 and ISO 100 (according to the EXIF, I had to go check as I didn't remember).Inspiration
Literally it was the light and shadow that caught my eye and then my son sitting in the chair that made me want to capture the image. I am fascinated by light and shadow and the way that they can play off each other and totally change the tone and look of an image. In particular in this case, I really liked how the light made an almost divisive line straight down his body, creating this dramatic portrait.Editing
I didn't do too much to this image, there were some basic tweaks in Lightroom, mainly dropping the highlights a touch and adding a small amount of clarity. Otherwise I then went into Photoshop and added a slightly sepia toned overlay to get the muted look to the colours in the image.In my camera bag
Well thanks to the fact that I'm shooting with a Sony A6000, which is really light, I tend to carry a lot of stuff in my bag with me. I have the Sony 50mm F1.8, a very old manual Carl Zeiss lens, 50mm also F1.8, a sigma 19mm f2.8 and a 30mm f2.8, a Samyang 12mm F2, a Sony 55-210mm zoom, ND10 filter, ND8 Filter, Polariser, extra batteries, cable release. Usually I'm going out with the need to shoot something and I like keeping my options as open as possible. When I'm travelling light, I have one of the Thinktank bags, and I usually carry the A6000, the Sony 50mm F1.8 and a wide angle, usually the Samyang 12mm and the triggertrap cable.Feedback
The only advice that I could really give you here is to wait for the right kind of light. It was late afternoon as I mentioned and a relatively clear day outside with few clouds, so the sun was quite strong. As the windows are south facing and the sun was moving around and towards the east, the light being blocked by the edge of the window/wall was what was creating the shadows and contrasting light. If you want to recreate it, you would really need to make sure that the light was at roughly a one hundred degree angle with something between it and the subject in order to cast the shadows.
