About Thomas Fitzgerald

Thomas is a professional fine art photographer and writer specialising in photography related instructional books as well as travel writing and street photography. 

Shadows & Feet

Shadows & Feet

Or what to shoot from Starbucks when you’re bored

The other day I was sitting in the window at one of my regular Starbucks pit-stops, and I was trying to write some content for my blog, but I was struck by a bad case of writers block. I was sitting there staring out the window hoping for creativity, and then I began playing with my camera while I sipped my coffee.

It started by accident. I had set the camera to black and white, and I was zoomed in, not pointing at anything in particular when I noticed that I had an interesting little composition going on. As people crossed the frame, the string backlight was casting shadows and creating a very distinctive strong graphic look to the shots, and as people walked across the frame, I was creating an interesting series of pictures. While they’re just a series of feet, the light creates an almost ink and paper look to the images.

I helped this along in post production too. For these shots I edited them in Capture One and I used one of the looks from my “SilverLUX” package. One of the looks in the set was designed to create a high contrast look, so combined with the already harsh backlight, it worked well to create this graphic look.

I made a little video too, which is even cooler. Check it out on my YouTube channel. Incidently I shot this using the Acros film simulation mode on the X-Pro 2


Help Support the Blog

If you like this post then you can see more of my work on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I also have a YouTube channel that you might like. You should also check out my other Photography Project: The Streets of Dublin. If you want to get regular updates, and notices of occasional special offers, and discounts from my store, then please sign up for the Newsletter.

All of the work I do here, and the information on this blog is done entirely free of charge and takes quite a bit of work. I want to spend more and more time on this blog, and offer more and more of this kind of information, tips and so on. All of this is funded exclusively through my Digital Download store, so If you like what I'm doing here and want to show support, then you can do so by buying something from my Digital Download Store where I have Lightroom Presets, and e-books available for download.

If you're a Fuji X-Trans shooter and Lightroom user, check out my guide to post processing X-Trans files in Lightroom. I also have a guides for processing X-Trans files in Capture One and Iridient Developer.

For Sony Alpha shooters I have a new guide with tips on how to get the best from processing your A6000 Images in Lightroom.

Get My Lightroom Presets Bundle On Sale This week

Get My Lightroom Presets Bundle On Sale This week

Another Look at Luminar for Fuji Raw Processing

Another Look at Luminar for Fuji Raw Processing