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In the previous article on fill lighting, I explained extensively what fill light is about, its importance in photography, and great image production. There are different examples of fill lighting; one of which is negative lighting. Negative lighting means reducing the amount of light reflecting into the shadow areas. Most times light might not seem like it is doing that much on the opposite side of your subject, or that light is hitting the background and objects and it’s bouncing back. Negative fill will cut that down and darken the fill side, resulting in more contrast.
The Negative fill lighting technique involves blocking or absorbing the fill light coming from the main light, and it has a number of advantages when shooting. Some of them are:
- It helps give shape to a subject by enhancing the shadow side.
- White reflector lightens shadows, a dark negative fill card can deepen them further, which may be the ticket to add drama to a low-key portrait image.
- It also helps to simply emphasize the shape of a subject in a tabletop still life.
Negative lighting is key in giving a bit of shape and definition to what otherwise might be a flat lighting situation. Below is an extensive breakdown of negative fill lighting from YouTube by Brady Bessette
