Chiaroscuro: the art of using light and shadow

Tip 1: Use just one light source

“The beauty of chiaroscuro is that it doesn’t require complicated lighting. The technique is based on a precise handling of light and shadow, often far removed from the established rules that tend to box in a photographer’s creativity,” says Yohan. “The result is often a dark, shadowy image, where contrast and precise colour control matter enormously. At its most basic, it can be very simple: a single light source is enough, and sometimes all it takes is positioning it to one side and the magic happens. Side lighting brings out shape, texture and depth by illuminating one side of the subject while leaving the other in shadow. What fascinates me is how much a single light can completely reshape a scene that initially seemed dull.

“Portraiture is perfect for chiaroscuro. I’m not a studio photographer, but at home I create portraits using a wall my partner painted and a softbox. In this portrait of my friend, I loved that dark, Lovecraftian horror quality, so later in Photoshop I slightly enlarged the eyes and altered the gaze to make it more unsettling, alongside the texture work. But you don’t even need a softbox. Natural light can work beautifully, while simple artificial sources such as a desk lamp, a torch, a head torch or even a lighter can be incredibly effective, but more on this later.”

Tip 2: Always work in RAW

“Natural light can work beautifully, too, particularly when it is concentrated through a window or opening against a much darker interior, as in this image of an abandoned chapel I discovered while exploring. Because I was photographing in daylight and the scene contained both very bright and very dark areas, I bracketed the exposure to give myself more latitude. In the end, though, a single RAW file contained enough information for me to recover the detail I needed, so I didn’t have to blend the exposures. That’s one reason I always work in RAW, especially with high-contrast scenes such as this, as it gives me much more flexibility when balancing highlights and shadows later.”

Tip 3: Direct the attention

“The eye is naturally drawn to the light, so in chiaroscuro it can act as an unconscious guide through the frame,” says Yohan. “I often centre the important elements and think of every photograph almost like a painting. In a predominantly dark image, even a relatively small area of brightness can become the focal point, so I use that light deliberately to show the viewer where to look first. Once you’ve engaged with the centre, you start to notice how everything around it has helped lead your eye there, holding your hand along the way, so to speak.

“Finding a scene is also about building it. I might have an image in my head, but ultimately it is very much a matter of feeling. Sometimes that means introducing a person or a small light source to give the scene a clear point of attention. In the old château, for example, I used a lighter with the camera mounted on a tripod and the self-timer engaged. In the cave in the Pyrenees, I asked the friend who was exploring with me to pose within the frame. Against such dark surroundings, the illuminated figure immediately gives the eye somewhere to settle, while also helping to communicate the scale and atmosphere of the location.”

Tip 4: Make shadow earn its place

“A lot of people struggle with darkness because it can have negative connotations, whereas for me it’s quite the opposite: it can be full of mystery, poetry and nostalgia,” says Yohan. “With chiaroscuro, it’s important to use shadow as part of the subject. Shadow shouldn’t just be an empty area around the light. It should help tell the story by concealing detail, creating tension and leaving space for the viewer to imagine what lies beyond the illuminated part of the frame. That contrast can make the details you do reveal feel even more significant.

“In this abandoned château near Bordeaux, the room had somehow remained intact despite the building falling into decay. I placed a single light off to one side, which was enough to create the atmosphere I wanted. Rather than trying to illuminate the whole room, I let much of it fall into shadow, allowing the darkness to become part of the mood and the story of the place.”

Tip 5: Use areas of natural contrast in nature

“Romantic settings, such as forests, can work especially well with chiaroscuro, even when they’re quite complex, and you don’t always need to introduce your own light either. Look for places where natural light is already breaking through the scene, such as shafts of sunlight through trees, brighter openings surrounded by shade or patches of light falling across a darker landscape.

“These naturally occurring contrasts can create the same sense of depth, drama and direction. For example, in this forest image (right) taken in the Pyrenees, I was scouting for another cave when I came across the scene. For the image on the left, I was in Japan near Mount Fuji, where the light on the waterfall was quite harsh. But strong light can create exactly the separation you need between illuminated areas and deeper shadow, as long as you expose carefully and retain enough detail to work with later in editing.”

Tip 6: Let the scene dictate your exposure

“The settings are different for every photo. There’s no miracle recipe, no secret and no focal length I favour over another. Your settings and focal length have to adapt to the image you want to create, not the other way around, and with chiaroscuro that means paying particular attention to how much detail you want to retain in both the illuminated areas and the shadows.

“Use tools such as the histogram as a guide, but learn to understand what the exposure is doing rather than trying to make every histogram look a certain way. A deliberately dark chiaroscuro image will naturally contain a lot of shadow tones, and that doesn’t automatically mean it is incorrectly exposed. What matters is capturing the information you need for the final image.

“This misty forest in Ariège is a place close to my heart, and one I’ve returned to many times. Scenes like this are a good example of why there isn’t one exposure formula to follow: you have to respond to the light, contrast and atmosphere in front of you.”

Tip 7: Use small lights creatively in large spaces

“As I’ve said before, chiaroscuro can be very simple: a single light source is enough, and that applies to landscapes, too. It’s something I often use in complex environments such as caves, abandoned castles and forests, and you don’t need to light everything. A small light placed on a wall or close to an architectural detail can create a strong focal point, revealing just enough of the scene while leaving the surrounding darkness to do the rest.

“I found this ruin deep in the Landes forest. I placed a light at the foot of the building and photographed it from within the surrounding trees. The light was enough to separate the ruin from the darkness, reveal its shape and texture, while also making it the clear focus of the frame.”

Tip 8: Go wide to emphasise scale

“I tend to photograph fairly wide, sometimes as wide as 14mm, to convey that sense of immensity, especially when I’m working in these almost cyclopean places,” says Yohan. “For caves and abandoned locations, a wide-angle lens lets me include more of the environment and play with scale, making a person or small area of light feel tiny against the surrounding space and shadow. I’m also quite frontal in my angles and pay close attention to every detail, composing each photograph as though I could never edit it later.

“My NIKKOR Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S is perfect for wide-open spaces, caves and abandoned places, especially for creating that sense of scale and immensity. I also use the rugged and flawless NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S for its versatility, the NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S, which is a jewel of precision and useful when I want more compression, and the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S, which is a beautiful lens that I actually use a lot for landscape work.

“But there’s no single ‘best’ focal length for chiaroscuro. I simply choose the lens according to what I want the scene to communicate. In this image, at the entrance to a huge cave chamber, for example, we were completely cut off from everything, sitting together under the stars before heading back inside to explore. The wide view of the 14-24mm helped me capture both the scale of the place and the story of that moment.”

Tip 9: Enhance and exaggerate in the edit

“Post-processing, for me, is a logical extension of what I can’t achieve at the moment of capture. If the image itself is missed, then it’s pointless. I’m not trying to fix something – I’m trying to continue the conversation,” reveals Yohan. “Get the light and exposure right in camera first, then use editing to develop the mood, colour and texture that are already there. Even simple adjustments using the basic sliders can take you a long way.

“I do around 90% of my work in Lightroom, although I also use Photoshop when I want to work more closely on textures. A good understanding of colour and grading is important, but above all you need a correctly exposed RAW file to start with. I use a linear colour profile because it gives me a very neutral starting point and plenty of flexibility when working with the RAW file, particularly with greens, which I find one of the hardest colours to manage.

“I love material and texture, too. Everyone seems to be chasing perfectly noise-free images, but I don’t necessarily go in that direction. For me, texture can be part of the atmosphere rather than something that always needs to be removed.”

Tip 10: Experiment and make it your own

“Experimentation is key. Truly. Don’t try to mechanically reproduce a checklist of things to do to succeed, because that will only give you a nice-looking wrapper. It takes time, experimentation, disappointment and success to find what works for you – and that’s what gives it value. Photography is, above all, a personal adventure, so do what drives you and don’t be afraid to create images that divide opinion.

“To put that into practice, challenge yourself to create an image that feels almost monochrome while still capturing it in colour, using light, shadow and a restrained palette to do the work and shape the scene. Choose your subject and light carefully, and use colour sparingly so the viewer responds first to tone, contrast and form. It isn’t necessarily easy, but it will make you think much more carefully about what you illuminate, what you leave in shadow and where you want the viewer to look.”