by Gina Yeo (@ginayeophotography)
“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.” George Eastman
I have a passion for all things light. I adore finding and using light in my daily environment in fun and creative ways. One of my very favourite types of light is low light. In my opinion, low light can vary in its form and can include anything from small pockets of light through shooting in complete darkness. However, in general low light situations include areas of substantial darkness.
Shooting in low light can be a challenge for a photographer due to camera limitations in seeing full dynamic range, like the human eye can. Here are a few tips to consider when shooting in low light:
1. Find or create areas of light: I enjoy manipulating and creating light. Darkness challenges me and I love to find small pockets of light or even create areas of light within darkness when working in a low light situation.
2. Place your subject close to a light source: When your subject is placed very close to a low light source he or she will likely be illuminated. This will not only draw your viewer’s eye towards your subject but also allow for the environment surrounding your subject to fall into shadow. This can eliminate distractions and unwanted environment.
3. Shoot in manual mode or in a camera mode in which you can adjust settings: Manual mode gives the photographer ultimate control over which camera settings to use in a low light situation in order to attain the best SOOC (straight out of camera) capture.
4. Bump up your ISO: Don’t be afraid to bump up that ISO really high in order to use settings that allow for adequate exposure in low light. Yes, a higher ISO can introduce grain but that is easily addressed in post processing and good exposure is preferred to under exposure. Grain from a higher ISO is usually preferred to noise introduced as a result of increasing the exposure an underexposed image.
5. Maintain a fast shutter speed: Even in a low light situation use a shutter speed that is fast enough to allow for frozen movement, unless of course you are trying to attain motion blur in an image. Too slow a shutter speed will introduce motion blur.
6. Open up your aperture: A wide aperture is going to let more ambient light into your scene. Ensure you consider your camera’s depth of field at your chosen aperture however don’t be afraid to shoot wide open.
7. Expose to the right: Shoot for your highlights and expose as far to the right of your histogram as possible. This will allow for detail to be retained in your shadows rather than be clipped and lose all information.
8. Manual focus: Sometimes a camera will struggle to find focus in very low light situations because there is not a strong enough area of contrast in which to grab focus. It might be necessary to manually focus.
9. Consider how the low light impacts the mood in the image: Low light can be soft, moody and quiet. Consider how the light within your environment impacts the overall mood within your image.
10. Tweak your image in post processing: Don’t be afraid to use a noise reduction program, lower exposure and tweak your image in post processing to compliment the low light feeling and mood of your original scene.
11. Embrace low light and experiment with various types of low light from natural low light to artificial light: Low light can be incredibly fun to play with. Experiment and practise is the best way in which to learn and grow as a photographer!
Gina is an award winning and internationally published photographer. She believes that everyday moments are beautiful and should be preserved. Gina is passionate about photographing her rapidly growing children and is also an avid landscape photographer. Gina has mentored photographers from all over the world. Teaching you to grow into the photographer you are meant to be is her goal.
You can find Gina on her website for more learning opportunities: www.ginayeo.com.