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January: Highlight Reel, 2

As we close out this first month of 2020, I just have to say that the way you have all dived into the topic of Low Light has me so thrilled, I don't even have the proper words to describe it. We have had the absolute pleasure of seeing so many different takes and approaches to this technique that I am simply blown away and so incredibly inspired. I can not wait to see what you all come up with as we move forward with this project and tackle more and more amazing techniques.


I am so happy to share these amazing images from our last two weeks of Low Light. Enjoy everyone! Can't wait to see what you all come up with for the next chapter of our project!





Gear: Canon 6D w/ 100mm 2.8 L macro Settings: f/4.0, ISO-1000, 1/200 The Shot: I have loved macro photography for as long as I can remember and finally purchased my first macro lens. I have been practicing like crazy as I try to get my bearings. So, this is just a detail shot from the pine branches in the arrangement I designed on our front porch. Post Processing: Lightroom- SMAL preset ,removed grain, increased blacks and contrast.





Gear: Nikon D610, Sigma 50 mm lens Setting: SO-700, 1/800, f/3.5 The Shot: I think I see a pattern here. I got this shot in the early morning hours. There is a beam of light that peaks from behind the trees into our kitchen. Post Processing: In Lightroom – WB, reduced noise, increased contrast and shadows to emphasize the beam of light, reduced highlights and played around with the HSL panel till I liked the colors I saw.





Gear: Canon 6Dmarkii, Sigma art 35

Settings: f2.2, 1/200, ISO 400.

The Shot: I was in a loft above the couple and the most beautiful glowing light was coming through two windows in the corner of the living room below.

Post Processing: I increased the shadows and exposure a bit, adjusted the white balance, used SMAL preset and made a few minor adjustments after that. Edited in LR and took into PS to remove two light reflections from skylights that were cast on the floor





Gear: Canon 5d Mark iv 50mm

Settings: 1/250 f/5.6 ISO 160 The Shot: The sun had just set about two minutes prior to taking this photo. Subject in front of remaining light left in the sky Post Processing: Lightroom. upped contrast, vibrance of colors, darkened shadows





Gear: Nikon D90 50mm Settings: 1/500 sec F1.8 ISO 400 The Shot: Early morning sunrise Post Processing: SMAL 02 preset





Gear: Canon Rebel T3 with 50mm 1.8 Settings: ISO 200, f/1.8, 1/250 sec The Shot: I had the camera on a tripod and had to trial and error where the camera would hit the pockets of light on the floor. I set the camera to shoot 10 shots and hope for the best. But I tried to make sure the light was shining in my eyes. Post Processing: Brought up shadows, used a radial filter to make sure the light on my face wasn’t too bright. Sharpened my eyes to bring them out more.





Gear: Nikon D750 sigma art 35 Settings: ISO 800 f4 1/400sec The Shot: my mom's house is on the side of a hill and her driveway is at the top, so when my husband pulled in after work, this light poured through the glass of her front door. My girls were drawing characters in the condensation, and the golden light from his headlights was so pretty because it was bouncing off snow on the hill and mixing with blue and purple light from the twilight hour. Post Processing: I mostly hand edited this with a brush, to increase clarity, vibrance and texture, lowered highlights and bumped contrast and really enhanced the colors in the HSL Panel.





Gear: Nikon d750, 105mm 2.8 Settings: ISO 800 f3.5 1/400 The Shot: I had noticed the soft morning light in my hospital room, so the morning I left I put the crib by the window and turned off the lights. I had intended to take detailed shots, but I stepped back and saw this moment. I metered for the highlights on his body.

Post Processing: In LR I adjusted shadows, whites, and blacks. I used the HSL panel to tweak reds, oranges, yellow and blues. I also reduced noise. In PS I used GTG actions and used layers to bring the attention to him.





Gear: Google pixel 4 Settings: f1.7 - 1/37 - ISO 70 (automatic by phone) The Shot: He was hiding, I grabbed the closest camera (phone) and snapped a few pictures. Post Processing: Edited in Snapseed. Adjusted darkness, contrast. Cropped a little. Cloned a few stickers out of the cabinet.





Gear: Canon 6D, Sigma Art 85mm 1.4 Settings: SS 1250 f/2.0 ISO 100 The Shot: How did you shoot this? Natural light from the sunset, used the shed to partially block the sun and create more glow/rays without making my subject hazy.

Post Processing: Lightroom: white balance, took blue out of snow. Photoshop: Lightened my son a bit, adjusted hat and snow pant colors. Applied GTG Clean Color Base action at 40%, Jessica Drossin texture overlay at 20%.





Gear: Canon 6d sigma 35 mm art Settings: iso 250 f2.5 1/500 The Shot: shot late afternoon all natural window light . Post Processing: Took down shadows , blacks and highlights . Black and white conversion . Added contract , clarity and cropped





Gear: Nikon D750 with Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens Settings: 1/80, f/2.8, ISO 800 The Shot: This was in my north facing bedroom as the light was fading. It was a cloudy, so it was getting dark fast. Post Processing: Increased contrast, shadows, decreased highlights, very slight S-curve in Lightroom. Then took it into Photoshop to fix my lips! and just slight dodging on some clipped shadows on the hat and my hair.





Gear: Pixel 3a Settings: F1.7, ISO 400, 1/250 The Shot: Rainy day walking around the #UdvarHazy #airandspacemuseum. #Discovery is in the center of one of the exhibit halls and the look on peoples' faces when they see it for the first time is usually amazing so I snapped away. Post Processing: I hated the picture SOOC because there were so many different colors of light and so much exposure range to capture. I was thinking about it all wrong by trying to lift all the shadows. You guys inspired me to dig in with LR and darken the shadows and do all the exposure balancing until I got the right mix. No presets, all done by hand.





Gear: Canon 5D MarkIII 35mm 1.4

Settings: ISO400, f/1.8, SS1/200

The Shot: My husband has his workshop the the basement, but this saw happens to be in front of a window well. So they have some natural light and some light from the workshop light over my left shoulder. Focus is on my son's left eye.

Post Processing: decreased blacks, desaturated a bit, decreased highlights, increased overall luminance, decreased whites, increased contrast





Gear: Canon 5D Mark iii, Sigma 35 Art Settings: ISO 8000, 1/200, f 1.6 The Shot: I arrived home one evening to a thick fog as the snow melted. I ran inside and grabbed my camera, but my four year old asked to come with me. He was already wearing his batman costume (again!) and I couldn't resist catching a few photos of him in the light of the streetlamps, with the fog behind him. Post Processing: SMAL 01, tweaked, and with temperature adjusted to compensate for the weird lighting as much as possible





Gear: Sony a7iii tamron 17-28mm at 17mm

Settings: iso6400 f2.8 1/320

The Shot: took in the dark using flashlights for the light.

Post Processing: edited in LR converting to b&w





Gear: Canon 80D Settings: 1/80, f 4.5, ISO 800, 35mm on canon 18-135 mm 3.5/5.6 The Shot: self portrait with remote control, curtain that filters one ray of light coming from the window Post Processing: edited only in LR, applied base preset, adjusted WB and used a gradient filter to adjust the exposure of the left part of the image, the one in shadow





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