How to Get Background Shadows Out in a Lighting Situation in Photography

Position your subject or model into the pose or position you want to shoot him in. Everything you do in a photography shoot is relative to your subject. While you should have a basic idea of where your lights are going to be set up, positioning your model or subject is your first step.

Determine your shooting position. Once you have you model or subject in place, determine where the camera will be located for the picture you want to create. Take note of the background and how visible it is going to be in your image. The more you fill the frame with your model or subject, the less likely you will see any background shadows.

Position your lights and set the power for your main and fill light. This is one option you have to eliminating those background shadows. If you can angle your main and fill light at such angles that the shadows are out of the viewfinder in your camera, then you problem is solved. To know if they are, position your lights and turn on the modeling light. Studio strobes have a small modeling light that will stay on until the strobe fires, allowing you to move the lights and create the effect you want. Position the lights until the shadows no longer appear in your viewfinder.

Adjust the power of your strobes. If you cannot prevent the shadows by positioning the lights, the other alternative is to make the background brighter than the power of the main light. You use fill lights to fill in shadows on your models and subjects. By making the background light more powerful you, essentially will overpower the main light and fill in the shadow it would have created. To do this, set the main light to half power. Studio strobes have either knob or slider adjustments to adjust their power. Set the background light to full power. Your background light is now twice as strong as you main light.