What to do to remove the shadow of the portrait model on the background?
What to do to remove the shadow of the portrait model on the background?
Shadows are usually created by lights that shine directly on the subject or when you use the camera’s flash. In fact, the real importance of a photo is that next to the light that illuminated the subject, there is a shadow that increases the artistic value of the photo, this is the duality of light and shadow in photography. All photographs consist of light and shadow, and a good photographer tries to use both to enhance the quality of his photographs. But sometimes you can use the shadow as the subject and main focus of your image instead of using the shadow as one of the elements of the image.
The easiest way to eliminate shadows is to force your camera to cooperate with a flash, a technique also called fill flash. The flash is used to supplement the lighting of the scene, which is usually not the main source of light (for example, the light of a flash in the darkness of the night), but provides it when there is not enough light. Flash helps eliminate shadows on the subject’s face (under the eyes, nose and chin) or under a hat, especially when the light is shining directly from above. It’s just possible that it will throw a little lightning in the eyes.
It is also a good method in nature photography or zooming in on objects because it provides enough light for the subject, even better than when you take pictures of people. If the flash of your camera is of the head type, then the situation is worse. If you want to take photos like a pro, you should buy a reflex flash first. The better type of this flash has a rotating head and in addition to rotating up, it can also rotate around. An important part of the attractiveness and impact of fashion magazine photos is related to the photographer’s lighting skills.
The skill of lighting in face photography can make the features of each person’s face to be displayed in its most beautiful state. In the photo below, the famous Rembrandt triangle is created on the subject’s right cheek. If you have shadows in the background and want to get rid of them, one solution is to remove the shadows by adding some additional light sources. But here are better solutions, especially since you can do them with only one light source.
1: Move the position of the light source relative to the camera. That is, if the camera is directly facing the subject, place your light source on the right side of the camera. The point here is that the camera (photographer) should not be on the same axis as the light source.
Note: Make sure the model or subject is facing the key light (his face is towards the key light), otherwise his face will be in the shadow and will be dark.
- Instead of moving the light position relative to the camera, you can move the model relative to the background. Ask the model to move away from the background to get rid of unwanted shadows on the background.
Note: The closer the model or subject is to the background, the harder the shadow will be.