Contrast and Shadow Fill

My subject for this exercise was a bust of Frédéric Chopin, a Polish romantic-era composer almost exclusively of piano music. I draped a roll of white paper over a cardboard box to act as a seamless backdrop, placed the bust on the box, and positioned my light source (an adjustable work lamp) to the left hand side. The camera was directly facing the subject as per the brief.

Keeping the camera and lamp in position, I then took a series of photographs using different homemade reflectors to act as 'shadow fill'; essentially bouncing light back into the shadowed side of the subject to reduce the amount of contrast.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.8s, ISO 200

Undiffused, No Reflector 

This first image is simply a hard light source striking the subject from the side. As such, this image is very contrasty, with clear separation between the lit and unlit sides, and a dark, sharply defined shadow. This image will be used as the basis for comparison with the rest of the images.

 

40mm, f/8, 1s, ISO 200

Diffused, No Reflector 

This is a similar setup to the first image, but now with a defuser in front of the light source. There is a clear difference in certain key areas of the image; the shadow is much softer and less defined, the highlights on the forehead, in the furrowed brow and on the necktie are all less strong. I still feel it retains lots of the drama from the original image though, as the shadow side of the subject appears to remain mostly unaffected.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, White Reflector Far 

This and all subsequent images are now taken with the hard light source, utilising various reflectors on the opposite side. Here I held a large white piece of card approximately one meter away from the subject. The result is an image very similar to the first, however the white light reflected back off the card has brightened up the shadows a little.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, White Reflector Close 

I now brought the white card closer, so it is just out of shot. The shadows on the right side of the subject have now been lightened much further. The main long shadow stretching from the base of the subject is still well defined, but not as dark as before. 

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, Dull Foil Far

Now I have attached aluminium foil to the piece of card, with the dull side of the foil facing out. I have held it approximately one meter away from the subject. This material has brightened the shadows more than the white card held from the same distance.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, Dull Foil Close

Bringing the foil so that it is just out of the frame, the shadows are really starting to open up now, however I notice that from the 90 degree angle to the subject, the fill light is mostly striking the edges of the subject which are parallel to the reflector. The bridge of the nose and the areas around the eye sockets are mostly untouched.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, Shiny Foil Far

I turned the foil over so that it was now shiny side out, and repeated the previous two images. There doesn't appear to be any discernible difference between the two images where the foil card is held further away.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, Shiny Foil Close

With the shiny foil held close however, there is a marked difference between this image and the one where the dull foil was held close. In the shiny foil image the bounced light is now wrapping further round the subject, penetrating more into the eye sockets.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, Crumpled Foil Far

We are now required to crumple the foil, and lay it flat out on the card again before taking our images. Again, with the foil held a meter away, I see no difference between this image and the other two types of foil when held at a distance.

 

40mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 200

Undiffused, Crumpled Foil Close

Interestingly, this last image didn't turn out how I expected it to. I thought my crumpling the foil, this would scatter the light and make it wrap round the subject more. This doesn't appear to have happened, and the shadows are darker than those on the image taken with the smooth foil. Perhaps with the crumpled foil the light is scattering before much of it can reach the subject.

Conclusion

As expected, the first image with a hard light and no reflector, is the most contrasty version of the subject. The least contrasty turned out to be with the smooth shiny foil reflector, held close. To eliminate further shadows in hard to reach areas, another reflector, held out of shot beneath the subject to bounce light upwards would probably be necessary.

The results of this experiment I'd say is fairly consistent with what's supposed to happen, although I expect a lot depends on the positioning and distance of the reflector to the subject.

There's no real answer to which of the above images is the 'best' - this depends on what you are artistically trying to achieve.