New e-book: Catching Shadows

Photography begins with light.

That is the simplest truth in photography, and probably also the one we spend the rest of our lives trying to understand. Without light, there is no photograph. But light alone does not make a photograph interesting. Very often, it is the relationship between light and shadow that gives the image its depth, mood and meaning.

That is what my new e-book Catching Shadows is about.

Catching Shadows: Learning to See Light in Photography is a 139-page photography e-book with 139 photographs and illustrations. It is written for photographers who want to understand light more deeply, whether they photograph in colour, black and white, or both.

This is not a book about finding perfect light.

It is about learning to see useful light.

A small reflection from a window.
A warm glow in a café.
A line of sun falling across a wall.
A wet street reflecting evening light.
A deep shadow simplifying a busy scene.
A colour cast that should not be corrected because it belongs to the atmosphere.

These are the things I look for when I photograph.

Light is not only technical

Of course, light is technical. It affects ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure, white balance, RAW files and post editing. But light is also emotional. It decides how a photograph feels.

In the book, I write about both sides.

I explain why I often work with a fixed Kelvin setting, and why 5400 K has become a useful daylight anchor for me. I write about colour temperature, film, auto white balance, and why the camera should not always neutralise the mood of the scene.

I also write about black and white photography, where light becomes tone, contrast, form and shadow. Without colour, the photograph depends even more on the relationship between brightness and darkness.

Some pictures need colour because the colour is the reason the photograph exists. Other pictures become stronger when colour is removed. I shoot both ongoing, because I like both. As simple as that.

Shadows are not failures

One of the main thoughts in the book is that shadows are not empty areas.

They are not necessarily mistakes.

Shadows can simplify a photograph. They can hide distractions. They can create mystery. They can give weight to the light. A photograph does not have to show everything to say something true.

Modern cameras and editing software make it very easy to open every dark area and recover as much detail as possible. But the question is not always whether we can.

The question is whether we should.

Sometimes the shadow should stay dark.

Sometimes the viewer should have to enter the photograph slowly.

Sometimes the photograph becomes stronger because it does not explain everything.

What the book covers

Catching Shadows is built around seeing light in practical situations. It includes technical chapters, but always with the photograph as the reason for the technique.

Inside the book, I write about:

Light as the foundation of photography
Colour and black and white
The idea of imperfection and the crack where light enters
Colour temperature and why I use 5400 K
Light quality and light strength
Candlelight, lux and exposure value
ISO, aperture, shutter speed and exposure choices
Manual exposure and why it can calm the mind
RAW files, Lightroom and Capture One
Deeper darks, black point and shadow detail
The Exposure Catch-22
Reflected light and how light bounces from surfaces
Side light, backlight, front light and window light
How the camera sees differently from the eye
Trusting the meter, but reading the light yourself
Weather as a light source
Reflections, windows and wet streets
Mixed light and the hidden colour of shadows
Lens rendering, old glass versus modern glass
Why not every photograph should explain everything
Exercises for training the eye
How light can guide the sequence of a photo book

The book also includes many practical thoughts from the way I teach in workshops. We look at light in the real world, not only as theory. We walk, observe, photograph, discuss and try again. We see how a wall can become a reflector, how a shadow can simplify a frame, how a window can create layers, and how a small shift in position can change the whole picture.

Learning to see

For me, photography is not only about camera settings.

It is about attention.

When I walk into a room, I notice the window. When I sit in a café, I notice how the lamps fall on people’s faces. When I walk down a street, I look at where the sun lands, what it touches, and where the shadows begin.

That way of seeing can be trained.

You can photograph the same street at different times of day. You can shoot fixed Kelvin for a day and study how the colour of light changes. You can photograph only backlight. You can look for shadows without obvious subjects. You can make both a colour and black-and-white version of the same photograph and ask what each version does.

The more you look for light, the more light you find.

The more you study shadows, the more you understand how they shape the frame.

Introductory offer

To launch the book, I am offering Catching Shadows at an introductory price.

Introductory price: €29
Regular price after the launch offer: €49

The introductory offer runs for 10 days until August 18, 23:59

After that, the book will move to the regular price.

You can get the e-book here: CATCHING SHADOWS

A book for photographers who want to look more carefully

Catching Shadows is for photographers who want to move beyond simply making a correct exposure.

It is for those who want to understand why some photographs work because they are dark. Why some colours should stay imperfect. Why a reflection can become the subject. Why a small line of light can be more important than the whole scene.

It is for photographers who want to see light before they photograph.

Because every photograph begins with light.

But sometimes, the best way to find the light is to follow the shadow.

Morten Albek