Low Light - Amanda McClellan
I spent a long time fighting against the light (or really, the lack thereof) in our current home. A few years ago, we moved from a home with lots of windows and consistently plentiful light in nearly every room to an older home with smaller windows, with the back part of the house being surrounded by heavy woods. Needless to say, low light is in no short supply here.
At first, I felt limited and often frustrated with my ability to shoot in our home, and I frequently told my husband "that's it; we're moving!" But once I stopped chasing the bright and airy aesthetic of our prior home and began to embrace the shadows in our new one, I was hooked. It became a fun game to look for pockets of light and play with shadows. What's more, I learned that you actually can create beautiful images with just one single window. Who'd-a-thunk? ;) (And even later in my low light journey, I learned that you can create magic with NO WINDOWS AT ALL - gasp! - thanks to a wonderful little invention known as off camera flash).
Shooting in low light situations can be intimidating at first, but I promise you can create gorgeous images even when light is in short supply. Here are some tips for working with low light:
•Shoot wide open. Shoot at the shallowest depth of field you can. When the light is really limited, you'll usually find me around f/1.4. Remember, the shallower the depth of field, the more light that is able to enter your camera. I have a mirrorless camera which I will interject has been a total game changer when it comes to nailing focus. But even with a mirrorless doin’ the damn thang, I usually manually focus when the light is really limited. Whoever invented focus peaking is a saint among us.
•Lower your shutter speed. A slower shutter speed means more light is able to enter your camera. So when you're shooting in a low light situation, consider lowering your shutter speed. When shooting at slower shutter speeds, though, unsteady hands can unintentionally result in blurry images, also known as camera shake, so be mindful of that as you obviously do not want a bunch of blurry shots. You can put your camera on a tripod to combat this, or hold your breath when taking the shot, or just leave your shutter speed at a place where you don't have to worry about camera shake and...
•Bump up ISO. I know I know, everyone panics at this suggestion. But won't my images be grainy?! Depending on what you're shooting with and your camera's ability to handle low-light situations, maybe. But when you're shooting with less light available, even after adjusting your aperture and shutter speed, you still may need to increase your ISO to compensate for that lack of light. Yes, you may introduce some grain/noise into your images but so what? Embrace it.
Throwing an outdoor low light image in here because I think we often think of low light as being an indoor thing but it can also apply to shooting outdoors. I shot this well after the sun had dipped below the horizon on a summer night. He was standing under a canopy of trees but facing an open sky, so I asked him to look up at the sky to get as much light as possible onto his face. Life doesn’t stop when the sun sets. :)
•Love Thy Windows. You'll notice from a lot of my low light images, I am strategically positioning my subject(s) near a window or in a little pocket of light coming from a nearby window. When it comes to low light, windows are your best friend. You can choose to position your subject close to your window and you'll get a more dramatic light fall-off. Or you can position your subject farther away from your window for a look with less contrast.
• Don’t be afraid of incorporating artificial light. For a long time, I viewed natural light as the be all, end all but I eventually came to my senses and realized that life doesn’t stop after the sun sets. Instead of feeling like I couldn’t shoot if I didn’t have any natural light available, I decided to reframe my thinking to “well, what light do I have available?” I’ve used porch lights, the glow of an open refrigerator door, night lights, flash lights, Christmas lights, an iPad, and - dare I say it - FLASH! I used to think “flash” was a dirty word until I took a game-changing class on off camera flash. Learning flash has opened up so many shooting opportunities for me as I’m no longer tied to the sun’s schedule; heck, I don’t even need to be tied to a window (our dining room is windowless - yep, told ya low light was in no short supply in this house!) Using flash, I’ve been able to shoot at 7 pm on a December night, which if you’re from the midwest, you’ll know that at that time, it’s pitch black outside. All of this to say: there is always light my friends; sometimes you just have to look a little harder for it (or make your own) :) Here are some images created with off-camera flash:
Best wishes + warmest regards finding the light! xo - Amanda
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