📸 Five Images exploring "Shadows"
📸 Five Images exploring "Shadows"
A monthly reflective photo series from co-host Joshua Jean-Marie...
Happy February! Welcome back to the second installment of “Five Images.” If you’re just now joining us, every month, I’ll be creating a fresh set of images portraying a particular theme.
This month’s theme is shadows. When I think of a shadow, I think of silent shapes. As I was creating this set of images, I was surprised by how easily I tend to overlook shadows in search of vibrant natural light. I also was impressed by how much shadows forced me to move around to find an angle that emphasizes the fullness of their shape. The images below were all photographed in my Louisville home with a Canon EOS R6 and a 50mm lens. Editing was done in Adobe Lightroom
1: A photo I like…
Here’s my top pick from this month’s set. This photo was captured in the evening and illuminated by a bright room nearby. When I first noticed the shadow, I was caught by surprise since I only expected to photograph shadows during the day while the sun was still out. I really love the sharpness and shape of the shadow in this. But more importantly, I love that this image taught me to look for shadows everywhere, even at night.
2: Three other photos that work…
This image was captured in the afternoon on a bright sunny day. While looking at the mirror, I noticed how peacefully these shadows were resting on the curtain. The mirror itself provided an opportunity to frame it all together.
The light coming in from the top left in this image provides a really fun playground for the table legs and chairs to play. As soon as I shot this, I knew I wanted a black and white edit to really showcase the heavy contrast.
It felt kind of cheesy to lift my camera up for this shot, but I’m surprised by how the final image turned out. What I love most about this picture is the way it highlights a set of cheap window blinds with a soft elegance.
3: A photo I don’t like…
Since I appreciated how the table legs and chairs worked together in one of the images above, I tried to create a similar image…but it doesn’t work as well. The shadows are pretty subtle in this image and don’t feel defined. Is the rug the focus of this image? Are the chairs the focus? It’s a little hard to tell what the subject or focus is. The far right border adds some heavy shadow and depth to the image, but overall it’s a pretty uninteresting photo. If you have any thoughts on this image, I’d love to hear your feedback and perhaps some suggestions for what I could’ve done differently.
Thanks for reading this week’s Five Images photo story. I didn’t include this photo in this set since it was more related to product photography for work, but I’m really proud of how it turned out. If you have a theme you’d like me to take on, be sure to reply to this email and let me know.
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