Home >> Hobbies >> Photography

How to Create Dramatic Shadows With a Single Softbox

You can cast your subject into shadows with a single soft box for dramatic portraits. Use a long, thin soft box and the subject's entire body will appear to emerge from the shadows, or use a wider soft box to highlight the face or other particular features and cast the rest into shadows. Print your images in color for clearly defined portraits or use a photo editing program to transform the images into black and white or sepia for a change from the ordinary.

Things You'll Need

Soft box
Reflectors (optional)
Dimmer switch lights or portable lighting
Digital camera

Instructions

- 1
  Place the soft box at one side of the subject. Move it back at least 36 inches and then move it forward about 8 to 10 inches. This will highlight the front of the subject on an angle, rather than directing all the light directly to her side.
- 2
  Place any reflectors behind the soft box. You do not want any reflectors on the opposite side of the subject. This will diffuse the light back onto the subject, eliminating some of the shadowy effect.
- 3
  Dim the lights in the room. It does not need to be completely dark, but you do not want any other light directly on the subject. Use lights on a dimmer switch or set up portable lighting far away from the subject.
- 4
  Set the ISO on the digital camera to 100. The lower the ISO the less sensitive the image sensor in the camera is to light. When the ISO is set high, the image can include a great deal of "noise̶1; or graininess.
- 5
  Take a variety of pictures from different angles and with the subject in a variety of poses to capture the most dramatic shadow effect.

Photography