Step-by-step: Explore different lighting solutions for a single image

1

This lighting setup puts the viewer in the foreground. The smaller warrior and far hillside are shaded to become more of a silhouette. There’s still enough information in the shapes to read what’s going on over there, but the foreground details are the ones that matter here.

2

This version flips the first setup, and now we are looking out from the shadows towards the distant warrior, who is now fully lit. Keeping the foreground value range narrow will let the overall shape tell that part of the story, and moves the focus over to the small warrior.

3

Finally, we have a combination of the first two. The foreground figure is in shadow lower down, but moves up into light, creating a dramatic effect. I still get depth between foreground and distant ground, and could even use the same effect on the far figure if I wanted to.