Point your shadow.


Imagine it is a sunny day and you are taking your camera for a walk.  There, somewhere in front of you, is a subject you want to photograph.  Plying the eyepiece home, you find that there are undesirable shadows that compromise what would otherwise be a great shot.  So you move, hoping that you can get better light, and repeat the process.  Still not great.  After several attempts to get in the right place your quarry flees without a decent image of it being captured.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just go to the best spot right away instead of applying a hit-and-miss strategy?  How do you find the best spot to shoot from quickly so as to minimize shadow on the subject?  The answer is rather simple.

Point your shadow.  This is a little trick I learned when trying to find the best place to photograph a subject when shooting in sunlight.  Simply revolve about the focal point of the image you want to capture and pay attention to your shadow.  When it is pointing directly towards the target you are in position.  If your camera's settings aren't quite right you can alter them while on the move.

There are many times this doesn't work.  First off, the sun has to be out, although light clouds may also facilitate the process.  The subject cannot be in a shaded area and the whole thing works better if the sun is closer to the horizon.  Noon in the tropics is a non-starter as your shadow is pointing towards the center of the Earth.  It is also problematic if you are using a wide-angle lens as it will be your shadow that ends up in the picture.

It is important to recognize that the shadow interfering with the image is created by the subject itself.  In the image to the right above, there is no shadow on the bird (white-faced heron) because the sun is directly behind me.  I know this because I used the "point your shadow" technique to get into position.  As I was moving towards the heron I was sure to position myself in line with it so that I would be in the best place to capture the shot.  

It doesn't always work, but it does come in handy once in a while.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com

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