How to avoid casting shadows in your videos
One of the questions we are asked the most is why is there a flicker in my stop motion video? Since stop motions are made up of a series of photos played at a high speed, there’s a lot of things that can cause this flicker and in this blog post, we’ll be covering shadows - why they cause a flicker and how to avoid them. While we cover this for the purpose of creating better videos on our stop motion app, Life Lapse, these tips will apply the same if you want to avoid shadows in your photos too especially when it comes to product photography.
The slightest of shadows can cause a flicker in your stop motion video and there are two reasons for this:
The shadow is casted by you standing in front of the light source. This may seem obvious but we want to stress that even if you’re not directly in front of the light, you may be causing a shadow if you’re next to it or in the line of the light direction which impacts how your scene is lit
Your shadow changes the exposure in your shot and again, because stop motion is a series of photos, a different exposure in each shot will cause a flicker when played back at a high speed
Tips to avoiding shadows
Never stand in front of the light! Personally, we prefer to set up our tripod on the opposite side of our light source so we can be sure that as we’re shooting, we are never behind the light or close to the light direction to cast shadows or change the exposure
Life Lapse is designed for stop motions which includes having features like an exposure lock, white balance lock and focus lock. Use them! We promise they make a difference.
You can control shadows with the type of lighting you use! Learn more about hard light vs soft light in this lesson here. If you’re using one of our DIY photography light hacks, you’ll see how pointing the light directly at your objects create harsh shadows but if you point your light up to the ceiling, it will diffuse the light. Below is an example of the difference in lighting when you point your light at your object compared to if you were to diffuse it. If you’re using a professional photography light such as this Godox continuous light that we love for our stop motions, you’ll see how a softbox diffuses the light from the hard light resulting in less or softer shadows.
Light pointing directly at scene
Diffused light pointing at ceiling
Do you have any tips or tricks that you use to avoid shadows in your photos or videos? Let us know in the comments below! This post is part of our Lighting, Backdrop and Tripod series in our Life Lapse Academy. If you want to learn more tips including DIY photography lights using household lamps, be sure to check out our Life Lapse Academy where you can learn how to create stop motions using your phone.
