Use Exposure to Enhance Deep Shadows

Boatyard, Maine: The sun was low in the sky and created a strong contrast lighting situation. If this scene had been read with evaluative (pattern) metering the shadow area would have become lighter but all the draama of the light and color would have been lost. To make this exposure in camera a spot meter reading was made off the yellow hull in the background and locked.

While there may be times when you want to expose so that the detail in shadows is “open” and reveals detail, deep, texture- and detail-less shadows can play an important role in composition.  Such shadows can also take on a life of their own and have shape and volume that can be as important to the composition as the visible content itself. They also can break the rectangular frame by spilling into the edges and making curved, triangular and truncated edges.

For this to work the scene contrast must be rather high, or high enough to have no detail or content within shadows when exposure is made to properly expose the highlight areas.

Exposure readings should be made from the brighter or brightest part of the frame alone, with the shadow removed from consideration.  This generally means use of spot metering pattern, or, if the brightness spreads through the frame enough, center-weighted averaging. If need be, a minus exposure compensation can be applied as well.

Tools to Use: Spot metering pattern; exposure lock; exposure compensation.

Artifacts, Cologne, Germany: Made outside the Roman-Germanic Museum in late day light, these artifacts and a post-war building in the background caught the last rays of light. Exposure was made with spot metering off the bright foreground column, which “drove down” the tonal values of the surrounding shadow areas. Standing there I could see detail in the entire frame, but by metering the brightest areas I created an abstract of light and form in the frame. You might want to bracket for insurance and perhaps add +1 exposure compensation when metering bright white areas.

Photos copyright George Schaub