Shadow Density: The One Variable That Makes or Breaks the Mood of Any Photo

Shadow Density: The One Variable That Makes or Breaks the Mood of Any Photo

I used to think mood in a photo was some vague, mystical thing. Like, either a shot had atmosphere or it didn’t, and if it didn’t, you threw a moody preset at it and hoped for the best. That worked about 30% of the time and made everything look like a 2014 Instagram filter the other 70%. It wasn’t until I started paying attention to what’s actually happening in the shadow areas of an image that things clicked for me.