This was our photography homework this week. Shadows can be quite complex, it isn't always obvious how the shadow pattern is going to fall. It's difficult to get natural shadows at this time of year. Today we have gales and rain, but when the sun does shine, the autumnal effect can be lovely. In my house the sun streams in more beautifully now than during the summer months, due to the placement of my windows and the sun being lower in the sky. So I chased shadows around the house...
The time of day makes a big difference to the image, even in autumn. Long shadows in the morning and evening when the sun is very low, slightly shorter in the afternoon. How far the object is from the light, and the height of the object make a difference. Also, whether the light is diffused to create soft light or direct to create hard and crisp images. The surface the shadow falls onto makes a huge impact on the result also. Sometimes the shadow just doesn't photograph well, the reflection is too weak. This week I tried to create soft and crisp images.
I don't have one to show here, but I love the type of shadows that effortlessly bend planes and climb up walls. Overlaying shadows can also give interesting results. Pictures of shadows can be quite abstract, especially if you don't show the source image.
Soft lamps can also be used to replace sunlight of course. In this picture you can see that the shadow has been 'lifted' from the source image due to the placement of the lamp at the lower right.
I like the way the source image intertwines with the reflection