As a photographer you are presented with challenges every day, doubts, concepts, variables that you constantly learn to solve and overcome. But if photography is “painting with light”, how are you going to paint with light if you don’t have it? How are you going to survive (photographically speaking 😉) a situation like this?
Well, as that saying goes… If Muhammad does not go to the mountain, the mountain goes to Muhammad, so if there is no light, you will have to create it. Don’t worry, I’ll show you how, and you won’t need to be a “chosen one” to get it.
Indoor
Go to the windows, open them, draw the curtains, raise the blinds, let the sun or light enter whenever possible. If you do not have it, turn on the lights you consider or put some candles. Of course, be very careful with the white balance if you do not shoot in RAW, since each type of light transmits a different tonality to the image.
Get a good external flash
Although natural light is the most recommended and admired, the truth is that knowing and knowing how to use the flash will open up a new field of possibilities. Many times we do not use it or do not value it due to the lack of knowledge that we actually have about it. Normally, we start using it through the one that comes built into our camera and yes, let’s not fool ourselves, the results are usually quite disastrous. However, the flash has many strengths that will save you on many occasions where you have low light, or need some added creativity. If you want to get started, here are a couple of tricks that will make you see the flash in a very different way 😉
Remember that the combination of lights can also give you good results. Have you tried mixing flash and natural light or flash and continuous light? We do not always have to choose between one and the other, luckily.
Create the light through the variables of the exposure triangle
Not everything is lighting candles, opening windows or buying flashes. You can also (and should) learn to create light through any of the vertices of the “exposure triangle”, name with which the three main responsible for the exhibition in an image are known. I’m sure they sound familiar to you:
ISO
ISO is the sensitivity from your camera (or sensor) to light. The higher it is, the more sensitivity, and therefore the more light you will have to take your picture. However, the higher it is, the more noise in the image (worse quality), so it is a factor to take into account.
Diaphragm Opening
The diaphragm regulates amount of light that we let pass towards the sensor, through our lens. The more open it is, the more light will enter through it (just like a human iris opens in the dark to take in more light), allowing you to shoot in low-light scenes. However, there is another variable to take into account: depth of field. The more open the diaphragm, the less depth of field or area in focus in the image.
shutter speed
The last variable in the exposure triangle is the shutter speed. High speeds freeze movement, since the shutter is produced quickly, exposing the image on the sensor for a very limited time. It allows us to photograph scenes with movement and “freeze” them in the scene. Like a drop of water photographed in its fall. Now, in low light scenes, we have the opposite situation. If we want enough light, we should shoot at slower speeds, which keeps the shutter open longer. This means that we will have more light, but also that the sensor is exposed to the movement (its own and others) of everything that happens in the time that the shutter remains open.
The speed has multiple applications, I recommend you take a look at this article.
light painting
And since we are talking about darkness, speed and light, you will be surprised what you can do with just a flashlight (or similar), a tripod, a lot of darkness and if possible, a good helper. Did you know Lightpainting? Look what you can get!
Accompany a tripod
And speaking of slow speeds, although in general I would always recommend that you carry a small one in your backpack for what may happen ;-), if you also plan to take pictures in dark places in advance, the ideal is that you take a good tripod with you, that allows you to play with low speeds without danger of movement in the image (at least on your part)
Don’t let the photometer fool you
Learning to measure the light well in any scene is essential to obtain correct exposures. Where to measure and how, which values I want to prioritize, which elements to highlight, which metering mode to use and practicing with the preview of the scene in your mind, will help you decide the values of the shot. With patience and practice, of course 😉
If that’s not enough for you, set up your own lighting studio
Here I leave you a complete article on the subject with all the necessary material so that you can set up your own studio in a much simpler and cheaper way than we often think. take a look 🙂
And finally, it does not illuminate but it will be useful to you 😉
The focus is an element that you must take into account because of how visual it is, and because in low light situations, it will be more difficult for you to focus, not only because of the lack of light, but because it is likely that often (and precisely due to that lack of light) you work with wide diaphragm openings, which allow more light to enter, but shallow depths of field. It is in these situations that an autofocus mode is most likely to fail. So in this situation I recommend that you try:
- focus on manual
- Use the focus assist light that most SLRs have
- Help you with a flashlight or a laser pointer etc. to indicate the point where you should focus. Then lock focus and shoot.
Although there are many methods to illuminate a photograph, the best and most essential thing is to know our camera and the exhibition concepts. Once you have learned this, you will learn to preview the image in your mind before you see it on your screen. Little by little you will learn what an F1:4 aperture or someone running at a speed of 1/15s will look like, what differentiates a spot metering from a matrix one, or how it will turn out to direct the light at a certain angle. Sound Chinese to you? Surely you are much closer than you think 🙂 Every photograph you take, that you analyze and that you think about, brings you by leaps and bounds to the mastery of light, so don’t give up and practice! 😉
I hope you found it useful or interesting. If so, please share it with someone else who may be interested (Facebook, Google+ or Twitter) Greetings and until next time 🙂