Practicing With Shadows

Jan 13, 2022 | Miss Mustard Seeds Milk Paint, Photography, White Wax | 2 comments

The light was making lovely sharp shadows in the studio the other day. The timing seemed right to grab my camera and start practicing with shadows!

Big Distant Light = Sharp Shadows

One of the things that I’ve been learning in my studies on photography and lighting is that the size and distance of your light source has a profound impact on the shadows in your image.

The further away your light source is from your subject, and the smaller it is, the stronger the shadows will be. In this case, my light source was the sun. While the sun itself is massive, from the perspective of my little white wax jar, it’s quite small.

It’s also lightyears away, so there’s that too…

Miss Mustard Seed's MilkWax-White, Jennifer Baker Creative, Eight Hundred Furniture

Editing Shadowy Photos

Once I snapped an assortment of images, I loaded them up into Lightroom and began the tricky task of editing shadowy pictures.

Miss Mustard Seed's MilkWax-White, Jennifer Baker Creative, Eight Hundred Furniture

I found it difficult not to blow out the whites or take the darks too far. That’s probably due to the fact that I let in a lot of light for these images. Maybe I’ll try it again and build a little “shadow tent” to limit the amount of sunlight that hits my subject.

Miss Mustard Seed's MilkWax-White, Jennifer Baker Creative, Eight Hundred Furniture

The marble surface pictured above is actually the top of a little vanity I snagged during an antique shop visit a few days ago. I love how worn it is!

Miss Mustard Seed's MilkWax-White, Jennifer Baker Creative, Eight Hundred Furniture

Practice Makes Product

In an episode of The Creative Exponent’s Podcast, Jeanne Oliver was interviewed by Marian and Shaunna. She mentioned a quote that I absolutely loved:

Practicing photography quote by Jeanne Oliver, Jennifer Baker Creative

I haven’t quite figured out the whole shadowy photo thing yet, but these images are my practice pictures. How else am I going to figure it out unless I try?

Miss Mustard Seed's MilkWax-White, Jennifer Baker Creative, Eight Hundred Furniture

Takeaways From My Dark And Shadowy Shoot

Here are a few key takeaways from my dark and shadowy shoot:

  1. Turn the label of your product towards the light so most of it is illuminated.
  2. Use flags to help control hotspots and blown out highlights.
  3. Hang up a diffuser on the window like a scrim or white bed sheet.
  4. Wipe off wax from the label of your jar before you take pictures of it 😀
  5. Make a little “shadow tent” to help control where the light hits your product

Product Photo Images 3 – 13 of 100

This little photo session took me into double digits of my 100 Product Photo Challenge.

I’m sure there will be more dark and shadowy products to come!

If you’d like to try out the new Miss Mustard Seed’s® MilkPaintâ„¢ products, you can shop using my affiliate link. Take 10% off your order with coupon code 10OFFJB.

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I'm Jenn Baker - Milk Paint lover, photographer, blogger, and QVC Guest Host. Click below to learn more about me and my creative business.  LEARN MORE ABOUT JENN

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