TGIF: Managing shadows

[click on photo for a larger image]

While looking through my shots for the lemon baba cake, I noticed that I had some good examples of images with and without a scrim, so I thought I'd demonstrate shadowing in photographs with a side-by-side comparison. Above are two photos of lemons: the difference between them is that the photo on the left was made with a bare window and the photo on the right was made with the window covered in very thin, white fabric. The effect of scrim versus no scrim is strikingly apparent. On the left, we have stark shadows, with a drastic range between the brightest and darkest parts of the image. On the right, the shadows are much, much softer, and the light is quite even throughout the whole photograph. While you'll notice that I do like my dark shadowing, I ended up going with the scrim (image on right) for the post about lemon baba cake because I wanted to achieve a sunnier, vacation-y look and feel to accompany my Amalfi Coast photographs (many of which were taken in full midday sun--yikes, but that's another story). ... just a quick example of how managing light (and shadows!) really makes the mood.

(...and you don't necessarily need a white bounce, either!)

Happy weekending, everyone! (How is it Friday already???)