Contrast and Shadow Fill

10. Crumpled foil at 0.5 metre: The reflections have a textured pattern more obvious in this exposure, which give a quite interesting effect, but introduce contrast effects that are not inherent to the subject, and therefore might be regarded as a "special effect".

9. Crumpled foil at 1 metre: Interesting reflections from the foil on the right side contrast with the smooth reflections on the left from the diffused light. Because the light is scattered in many directions from the uneven surface, the crumpled foil has led to a slight reduction in exposure.

8. Shiny foil at 0.5 metre: Quite marked contrast with specular reflections - good for showing overall detail.

7. Shiny foil at 1 metre: Good modelling with quite pronounced contrast.

6. Dull foil at 0.5 metre: Similar but more pronounced local contrast than in image 5.

5. Dull foil reflector at 1 metre: The reflections are slightly harsher, now adding contrast to the finer details.

4. White card reflector at 0.5 metre: Further lightening of the shadows reduces contrast without too many specular reflections.

3. White card reflector at 1metre: This has provided some infill to the shadows and thereby reduced the contrast.

2. With diffuser: Strangely enough, the contrast appears greater than the undiffused image. Slightly reduced output due to the diffuser has prevented reflection from the room walls, so the right hand side of the objects is darker. Perhaps I should have used a black reflector!

1. Undiffused flash, no reflector: Quite contrasty, but some flash light has been reflected off the room walls, which are a creamy colour.

This is another post that reads from bottom to top! I used a similar set-up to the previous post, with the silver objects on a black cloth and a black background. The flash head was to the left at 90 degrees.

The image with the most contrast (highlight to shadow) is the single diffused light without any reflector, because the walls of the room have acted as reflectors in the undiffused first image. Interesting micro-contrast has been added by the shiny and crumpled reflectors, which, at the same time, have provided fill-in for the heavy shadows, but also maintained an overall contrasty appearance of the patterned silver.