Use This Easy Trick to Soften Your Shadows (Without Blowing Your Highlights!)
I had a question come in from a student who had set up her strobe light and created a beautiful, 45-degree light pattern on her subject. Her light was right and she was getting the perfect reading on her light meter.
The problem was, however, that her shadows were darker than she wanted them to be.
So what do you do when your light creates too much contrast?
How do you lighten up your shadows without blowing your highlights?
Learn how to soften your shadows with this easy trick!
If you’d rather watch a video of me explaining how to do this, scroll all the way down!
Bring in a reflector
If you’re in a situation where you want to lighten up your shadows, it’s really as easy as bringing in a reflector on the shadow side of your subject.
When the light hits the reflector, it will bounce off the reflector and onto your subject. By doing this, you will reflect some of the light back onto your subject from the shadow side and therefore soften the shadows.
This method works best for digital photographers because it allows you to maintain your highlights while bringing in a little extra light into the shadows.
Softening shadows for film shooters
If you’re a film shooter and want to brighten up your shadows, you just meter for your shadows! Just make sure your light meter is pointed away from the light and in the darkest part of your photo to get an accurate light reading.
Because of the awesome latitude of film, you don’t have to worry about blowing your highlights!
Interested in learning more lighting tips and tricks?
Grab a seat to my free, one-hour webinar that introduces you to all things strobes and flash! I’ll see you there!
