How to avoid shadows in indoor photography- is a commonly faced problem for any photographer working with portrait photography or indoor photography in a studio or at home. Whatever may be the expertise level, a photographer has to deal with such headache day and night for any kind of indoor photography.
As photography is the art to work with lighting, the solution to eliminate shadows also can be achieved through playing with lighting. Mostly indoor photography takes place inside the studio where you can find a lot of lighting arrangements to fight the shadows.
However, for indoor photography at home, there are no such big arrangements making it problematic for amateur photographers. So they need to search for a cost-effective solution for indoor photography at home.
In this article, we will discuss the tips and tricks to answer the important question- how to avoid shadows in indoor photography? We will also mention the tricks for superior indoor photography at home with a low budget.
Light and shadow in photography
We know that light travels in a straight line from the source. When the light gets an opaque obstruction in its path, it creates a shadow in that direction. A shadow is nothing but the shape of the object that blocks the light path and is reflected on the surface. When you stand outside on a sunny day, you can see your shadow on the ground.
At midday, when the sun is top vertical position, the shadow looks small and in the afternoon it starts to get longer as the sun approaches sunset. The same thing happens when we put a light in front of the subject for illumination for taking portrait shots.
As we cannot take visible images in a dark room, we need enough light to illuminate a subject so that we can take pictures. Shadow is a natural phenomenon that will happen but we need to find ways to eliminate or avoid it in our images. However, many photographers intentionally use a great combination of light and shadows to produce artistic pictures.
Types of Shadows in Photography
There are three types of shadow in the image when we talk about photography. These are
- Shadow of the subject in the background
- Shadow on the subject from other objects
- Shadow on the subject from its own shape
All types of shadows are not desirable in the pictures; hence need to be eliminated by some means. However, some photographers make shadow effects in the images intentionally for producing artistic images.
How to eliminate shadows with Lighting
There are many ways to eliminate shadows from the image with lighting. In fact, lighting arrangements are the best trick for indoor photography. That’s why In Studio photography, we can see the enormous artificial setups for lighting and reflectors from different angles for sufficient illumination, exposure, and control of the background environment.
You can watch the below video for the explanation and elimination of shadows:
Let’s discuss the necessary tips below for eliminating shadows with lighting in order to answer the question- How to avoid shadows in indoor photography?
Use natural lights if possible
If you have access to natural daylight in the room through a glass window, then you can do indoor photography by using the natural lights near the window. You need to watch out for the angle where to put the subject for taking the best pictures.
However, you need to avoid harsh sunlight on the subject. It is a fact that natural light is not available in most cases in indoor photography.
Place main lights at a higher position or use LED ceiling lights (how to avoid shadows with LED lights)
As the main light is placed in front of the subject, it is more likely to give shadows on the backdrops in the room. But if the main light is positioned at a higher elevation from the subject and points downwards to some degree, then the shadow is created on the floor, thus can be avoided in the photo frame.
The same happens when the light source is placed in the ceiling so that no shadow is created on the background wall or backdrops. So, this is an effective way to eliminate shadows in the camera frame.
LED lights are becoming popular for continuous lighting for their low power requirement and less heating. In indoor photography, lighting is to be controlled manually as desired by the photographer.
Use a larger light source or more lights to prevent shadows in the background(How to prevent shadows on backdrops)
If you increase the number of lights in the room, then there will be fewer shadows in the room. Using a larger light source also gives the same results. Hence this is another way of minimizing the shadows in indoor photography.
For portrait photography. using one or two additional diffused lights behind the subject is an effective way of eliminating shadows on the background wall or backdrops. These lights illuminate the background wall and reflect back soft light to the entire room.
Avoid on-camera flash and use off-camera flash(how to avoid shadows when using flash)
There are two types of Studio lighting Strobe lighting (flash) and Continuous lighting.
Flashlights are in sync with the camera to provide light when the shutter button is pressed whereas Continuous lighting is used to illuminate the subject and remove shadows.
Flashlights can be of two types: On-camera and OFF-camera flash. On-camera flash is a small light source to give big shadows in the background as it is built in with the camera. Off-camera flashes are also synced with the camera but can be placed in a suitable position to avoid shadows in the snapshots. Hence it is recommended to use OFF camera flashes such as Speedlite for indoor photography.
Use Reflectors for bounce lights and fill shadows
How to prevent shadows in pictures? This is a common question. Reflectors are a great tool for use in indoor photography for producing bounce lights and fill shadows. By using reflectors, it is possible to make the soft light illuminate the subject with minimum shadows to capture beautiful snapshots. So reflectors are very important tools for any indoor studio photography.
Portable reflectors, made of soft and hard materials, are widely used in the studio. These reflectors can be held by an assistant or used with the movable stands by attached clamps. Reflectors are widely used for portrait photography and can be used wisely to fill shadows with soft lights.
Use the White background to reflect light
White color boards or drywall panels are widely used for indoor photography studios. This white background also serves as a magnificent light reflector for the subjects. It is always better to use soft light that is reflected by a surface for any kind of indoor photography.
It is an excellent technique to illuminate the white background with projected light to eliminate the shadow from the pictures.
Use softboxes and umbrellas for diffused lights
Softboxes and Umbrellas are used commonly in a photography studio that is available in many shapes and sizes. These reflectors are made of soft materials with a white or silver glazed surface for the diffusion of light to the subjects making it soft light.
Tips and Tricks with camera and accessories
Other than lighting arrangements, there are some other techniques that can be used to do indoor photography without shadows as mentioned below
Move the subject away from the background
If the subject is moved quite a distance from the background, then the shadow gets dim and is shifted toward the floor to become less visible. This way it is possible to move the shadow out of the camera frame to give better-looking photographs without shadows on them. How much distance to move for the best result will depend on the room size and lighting setup.
Adjust camera settings and shooting angle
You can change the camera settings in manual mode like aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to minimize the shadow to a great extent. With a larger aperture opening, you can get more light through the camera lens and shorten the depth of field. Hence the subject will be more focused with background blur.
Also with slow shutter speeds, you can make long exposure shots to get more light in the camera with sharp images. The same is possible by increasing the ISO setting. But you need to use a tripod for better stabilization of the camera. By changing the shooting angle, it is also possible to avoid shadows for indoor photography.
However, a built-in body stabilization in the camera might be helpful to get attractive images for indoor photography.
Use Tripod to take snapshots
You need to use a well-functional tripod for taking pictures in indoor photography. You should avoid handheld photography indoors although you have camera stabilization. Tripod gives steady snapshots at low light and long exposure shots. So you need to use the tripod for any kind of indoor photography.
Do post-production works
You need to be able to make post-production work for editing your images in Photoshop or Lightroom software. After the shootings, you can transfer your images to the computer. Then open your image files in Photoshop, and you can continue the necessary editing works for the final images.
There are many options in Photoshop to remove the background shadows and to make the images brighter and crispier. If you can know the procedure, you can make crispy and attractive images for your photography.
How to set up a home studio for indoor photography
It is quite difficult to spend a big amount of money to set up a commercial studio for indoor photography as it requires a lot of components that are expensive. So, people want to know about setting up a home studio on a low budget for indoor photography. Here I propose some tips
- Select a room(size about 200 to 250 SFT) in your home
- Use white background walls(No need if already have)
- Use one or more flashlights (OFF-camera flash) at about 7 ft. from the ground.
- Fix LED panel lights in the ceiling for lighting the room.
- Use your DSLR or Mirrorless camera and the tripod.
- Arrange some reflectors or make one yourself(White paper or foil paper on a board)
- Take an assistant for holding reflectors.
- Use photo editing with Photoshop
I hope these tricks will be helpful to build your home studio on a low budget for indoor photography. Using this home studio and knowing your camera settings, you can avoid shadows in your photography.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How do you get rid of shadows in photography?
Lighting and reflector arrangement are the key elements to getting rid of shadows in indoor photography.
Below are tips that may be helpful-
- Placement of strobe lighting at a high level above the ground
- Using off-camera flash and avoiding on-camera flash
- Using soft bounced lights on the subject instead of hard lights
- Using reflectors for bounced soft lights to fill shadows
- Using softboxes and umbrellas for diffused lights
- Moving the subject away from the background
- By adjusting camera settings in manual mode
- Using a tripod to take snapshots
- Last but not least – Post editing works in Photoshop
How do you prevent shadows on backdrops?
You can try different methods. If you move the subject towards the camera and away from the background, then the shadow is shifted and becomes less visible. So, it is possible to move the shadow out of the frame to get sharp and clear photographs. If you put black color backdrops, then the shadows will be invisible and avoided in the snapshots.
How can I light a room without shadows?
There are many techniques to light a room. As LED Panel lighting takes less energy, you can fix a number of panel lights in the ceiling to get soft shadows on the floor. Thus you can easily keep the shadows out of the camera frame which is ideal for indoor photography.
You need to use sufficient LED lighting in the ceiling for indoor photography. Also, you can use softboxes for lighting the subject as well as the room. The room should have a white background and side walls for better illumination of the subject.
How do you take clear pictures indoors?
Well, you need to have sufficient lighting for indoor photography. It is wise to use off-camera flash lighting and continuous LED Panel lighting for minimum shadows. The room should have a white background and side walls.
You can use one softbox reflector with stands and avoid using hard lights. Using reflectors for bounced soft lights to fill shadows result in clear pictures indoors. By adjusting the right camera settings for aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, it is possible to take crispy photos indoors. You need to use a tripod for taking photos in indoor photography.
Conclusion
So, here we have pointed out different tips and tricks to answer the question – how to avoid shadows in indoor photography? Eliminating shadows in indoor photography is a quite hard task but not impossible. Lighting setup is the core factor for giving special attention. One needs to provide enough lighting for illuminating the room with the subject for snapshots especially from the higher level of the subject or from the ceiling.
Reflectors play a big role to bounce the light and make soft light for the subject. One should avoid on-camera flash and include off-camera flash for indoor photography to remove shadows in the background.
Although it is expensive to build up a big commercial studio, one can convert a room into an indoor studio by arranging sufficient lighting and reflectors on a low budget. Finally, one needs to use photo editing software for editing and touchup photos. Hope these tips and tricks will be helpful for indoor photographers.
If you have any new tips, just share them in the comments section below.
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