|
Member Login
SPONSORS
FEATURED SITES
|
|
|
Shadow & the time of day
Some subjects are better shot at noon
|
If not for the contrast from the bright beach, this image would suffer from too much shadow, and would be quite dark overall due to the sun's angle.
|
Photographers shooting at both ground level and from the air generally find the natural light from the sun to be more pleasing in early morning or late afternoon. Sunlit scenes shot in the hours around noon-time (10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) when the sun is high in the sky, are usually not as pleasantly-illuminated. They are often flat and two-dimensional.
Before 10:00 and after 2:00, any offensive morning and evening shadows can be eliminated or made less noticeable by composing your images so the shadow falls behind your subject. Other ways of reducing the effect of unwanted shadow include using fill flash or reflectors to bring light to darker areas – options that are not available to aerial photographers.
|
SKYSCRAPERS, CANYONS AND MOUNTAINS
In aerial photography, the hours between 10:00 and 2:00 can sometimes be best for subjects that are tall (skyscrapers, for instance) when you don’t want their shadows to darken detail in surrounding areas, or for subjects that are deep (a canyon floor, for example) when there is otherwise minimal light reaching them. At noon, shadows are minimized, giving you a wide choice of shooting angles for tall objects. Photographing the downtown core of a major city when the sun is almost overhead will provide a relatively shadowless image. Shooting earlier or later could result in one tall building’s shadow falling onto a nearby building, making the image look too contrasty or obliterating detail that would show up better under a high sun.
|
Photographed against the light, trees reflect their shadows on a calm surface for a pleasing aerial image.
|
When the sun is not too strong, shadows are of less importance and successful aerials can be taken of the shadow side without it being too dark.
|
SHADOW - GET THEE BEFORE ME
At 4:00 or 5:00 p.m., or later depending on the time of year and your longitude, shadows will be lengthy and you may need to shoot taller subjects with the sun more or less behind you to avoid getting dark shadows in your picture. Even the shadow cast by a one-story building can make or break an aerial photo.
|
THE SUBJECT ITSELF MAY BE IN SHADOW
Your subject itself may be in shadow at certain times of day – a lakeside cabin, for instance, that is surrounded by tall trees that keep it in shade except at noon time. Or it may be on a mountainside that is in shadow until late afternoon. It makes sense, then, to plan your aerial photography around the position of the sun at any given time of day so that your subject will be brightly illuminated and your shooting angle will minimize undesirable shadow.
THE AIRCRAFT'S SHADOW
When you are positioned between the sun and the subject, the aircraft's shadow may appear in the scene. Keep an eye out for it and adjust altitude or shooting angle to ensure it is not included in the picture.
|
When the sun is strong, a cloud can cast a dark shadow over the scene you are shooting. All you can do is wait until the cloud moves away.
|
|
PHOTOSHOP TO THE RESCUE
QUICK TIP: Should you end up with a photograph that contains deep shadows in which you wished there was some detail visible, you may be able to achieve just that by editing your digital image in Adobe Photoshop. Use the Shadows/Highlights tool to adjust the exposure for shadow areas so that detail, if any, will reveal itself. Be careful not to overdo it so that the image retains a natural-looking appearance.
|
|
Photoshop's Shadows/Highlights tool can be used to bring out detail in shadow areas without affecting highlights (unless you want it to).
|
|
|
