Day 81 - Flat Sky, Go For Detail

When I was a journalist, I longed for days like this: a blanket of cloud in the sky, creating uniform light with no significant shadows. Great for getting a realistic, well-lit picture of an event or of people.

But when you're trying to be artistic? Even the book is pessimistic about this kind of light. Flat light like this creates flat subjects in your photographs, meaning you have to find subject matter that bring its own interest. It's not bad light for taking pictures of people's faces (since there are no harsh shadows and the softer light makes people look healthy) but I'm not at the point where I want to try portraits yet.

So I tried to find an image that would work in the flat light, in this case an interesting sign for a kids' shop, photographed from below. I like the lines in this photo, the perspective created by the letters as contrasted with the detail in the brickwork above that rises in almost straight vertical lines from the sign itself.