X100 & Shadows

Hey X100 lovers, 


I have noticed lately that I have been shooting a lot of subjects that either appear completely as shadows or have a strong, usually very contrasty, shadow element. This is of course a pretty conventional aspect of photography and far from original. What I have noticed though, and find interesting from a point of view of my own style, is that I am now actively looking for shadows everywhere. Just like when you are looking for a new car, camera or whatever, you start to notice them everywhere because its at the forefront your mind.

So how does this relate to photography and the X100 in particular? Well, there are a few observations that I wanted to make if anyone is interested in this as a simple project or subject they might want to explore.


First up, I have found that the more I use the X100 the more I have become completely at home with the focal length and camera controls and set-up. I remember reading a very nice piece by Thorsten Overgaard on the Leica Digilux 2 where it became very clear that much of his affinity with the camera was down to how comfortable he had become with its simple controls, focal lengths and operation, to the extent that the camera was 'out of the way' and he had industrialized his photograph taking workflow to such an extent that the subject or topic gets explored without conscious thought for the camera. I am not sure that I have reached this ultimate state of enlightenment ( he has been using it for a very long time) but I would say that I have become entirely comfortable with how I use the X100 and this helps a lot when these kind of opportunities come along. I find that I look for shadows all of the time now and as soon as I see something interesting I slip the aperture to f8 (there is usually loads of light) compose and shoot. I have found that the X100 meter is extremely reliable for shadow shooting and only occasionally have I had to tweak the exposure comp dial.

Secondly, remember this style is all about contrast. Generally, the more contrasty and stark you can make the shadow then the more impact the shot will have. One thing that noticed on my recent trip to Chiang Mai is that a polarizer can help a lot with this kind of shooting and in particular where you have white walls. I wouldn't normally have bothered with this but I lost my X100 lens cap and wanted to protect the lens a bit while I wandered around so I slipped an ancient 49mm polarizer that I had onto the camera. As rule I wouldn't recommend this as I don't like anything that goes in front of a lens as its likely to degrade the image in some way through either dirt, flare or by simply slowing the lens as is the case with this polarizer. However, as there was loads of very bright light around this wasn't an issue in this case.

The third aspect of this style for me is the editing of the resulting images where its essential to bring out the contrast. Regular readers will know that I am on a Snapseed trip just now and I think it does a very nice job for this style. Some may think its over done, and I have to confess to being pretty conservative as a rule, but I like the exaggerated contrast and, as long as the photo structure is simple enough, the results can be very effective.

I find that the Snapseed drama tones do a very nice job of brining out grainy detail and this makes what could be bland subject matter that little bit more interesting and causes the eye and mind to linger a little longer on the shot.

It needn't all be black and white of course and sometimes a nice streak of color can liven the shot. Again, it might be worth trying a polarizer if you have enough light as it will definitely help with the contrast and tones.


I hope that this was interesting to you guys and here is a final image to close. I have used this before in the blog but make no apology for using it again, it has become my favorite shot from the Chiang Mai trip.

See you all soon,


Steel