By “Low Light Photography”, I mean taking photographs when most cameras would indicate you should use flash or a tripod. That doesn’t mean you can’t use either – or both! This is not necessarily the same as “Available Light” photography where you only use what light is available and do not add to it – e.g., no flash).
There is something special about photographs taken, for example, at dusk, or in a streetlight-illuminated road which is wet after some rain has fallen. The long exposure times required for such shots blurs moving people, vehicles or animals and gives a dynamic quality to the scene not present in “normal” photographs.
I usually try not to use flash as under these conditions it causes harsh shadows which don’t look very good. With many digital cameras, it also causes ugly blueish outlines on bright/dark edges. That doesn’t mean don’t use flash – I sometimes use a facility called “Slow Flash” where there is a long exposure but the flash fires either at the beginning or end of that exposure. This serves to give definition to parts of the subject that then move, leaving smeared trails behind (or in front of) them.
Try to pick subjects that have a reasonable amount of colour in them – look for reflections, especially on water, where the ambient light colour gets modified.
For really dark situations, some kind of camera support is essential. It need not be a tripod – not really practical on a city street, for example. However, a monopod is often usable where a tripod isn’t. If you can, lean against a wall, lamp post or other solid object and, effectively, clamp your face between the wall and the camera. This is very effective at keeping the camera steady for the exposure time – which may be 4 or even 8 seconds.
Practice controlling your breathing & heart rate – literature on rifle shooting is useful for this and indeed, I learnt to do it when .22 target shooting. Even without a camera support, clamping your head (I know it sounds uncomfortable but it’s not that bad) between the camera and a solid object can allow you to take a low light shot otherwise unachievable.
Included in Low Light photography is sunsets – a whole subject by itself and one I will address in another article.
If you’re doing this type of photography in a bar or club, make sure you get permission from the management – and your subjects – if you’re taking shots of people not in your party.
If you’re using a digicam, make sure noise reduction is turned on. In general, you’ll also want to override the camera’s exposure system which will be trying to make the scene appear like daylight. You want the shot to look like it was dark! Try adjusting to underexpose by two or even 3 stops (dial in -2.0 to -3.0 on the exposure compensation setting). This also has the (usually) useful side effect of making the camera use a smaller aperture so more will be in focus (greater depth-of-field).
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