July 2025

27 www.richtaylorphotography.com FB: richtaylorphotography | IG: richtaylorphoto WORKING WITH OPEN SHADE LET’S GET bAcK TO bASIcS Open shade is beautiful to work with if you understand how to use it. Failure to know the basics and your shot can have an unpleasant crosslight, background blowouts, and unwanted hot spots. How to work witH open sHade and utilize leading lines witHin an alley sHoot The first step is to make sure that the alleyway is in open shade. Open shade is when your subject is standing in an areawhere direct sunlight is blockedbut is still illuminated from reflective light (example #1). Open shade creates an even tone of light across your model—especially in the face and eyes, while still creating beautiful catchlight (example #2). For this shot, it was essential to ensure that there was little or no crosslight in the background as it would ruin the photo. Crosslight is when there are shade and light in the same image that does not complement each other (example #3). If you look closely at this image (example #4), you can see that the sun is off to the right, and the top left of the building is being blown out a bit from that light source. I was willing to sacrifice a little as we were ready to shoot. Last, avoid distractions in the background. You want to make sure your model is the subject and not distracting cars or people walking in the environment. Distractions can ruin a shot, so it is essential to be aware of everything in the background, foreground, and surrounding areas. Getting low will make the model look taller and the buildings grander. It is a great technique tomake themodel look larger than life. In an alley, ignoring the rule of thirds and utilizing leading lines creates a photo with impact! “It’s not the camera. It’s the artist behind it.” - Rich Taylor Nikon D750, 24mm, iso : 500, F : 4.0, and s : 200 Open Shade Example #1 Example #4 Catchlight in the eyes Example #2 Crosslight Example #3