Shoreditch, East London | Canon EOS R : RF 35mm f1.8 IS : f/13.0 : 1/200s : ISO 400
Light, shade and Silhouettes are the lifeblood of street photographers. Winter, autumn and spring when the sun is low in the sky can present great opportunities for graphic images, vast areas of negative space or interesting geometry either as a backdrop or focus of interest for the photograph. When the light aligns with structures such as tunnels and covered walkways, ever more interesting juxtapositions become possible.
In this shot, taken late afternoon in the main tunnel cutting through the centre of Shoreditch, the light and shade created a fascinating triangular shaft of light that cut across the frame creating part hidden, part harshly lit subject. The cyclist, in this case, was walking their bikes through the tunnel, allowing me plenty of time to compose the shot and organise in advance where the light and shade would fall.
Initially, I was tempted to pull some of the background and subject detail out of the shot, however, I thought it was more intriguing to let the areas in shadow to go completely to black. To stand out against the shadow areas, I used Silver Effex Pro to selectively increase some of the structures in the background using their control point adjustment tool. I particularly liked the corrugated aluminium that formed part of the back wall and also decided to leave in the image the sole artificial ceiling spotlight in order to give an impression of shape and depth to the tunnel.
