Hi there! We are Sam and Jay of Wyld Fox Photography. We are so honored and humbled to be here speaking to you about our experiences with low-light photography. Our home base is good ol' Fargo, North Dakota where we are raising our two sweet boys, James Fox and Fenix Wyld. We started our photography business around a year ago, but have been dabbling in photography together for much longer. We consider our style of photography to be more documentary, candid, or lifestyle when working with clients. We love to capture the real and authentic moments of life, as they are the moments that we feel that ourselves and our clients will love to look back at some day.
This shot above is one of our first experiments with low light. We didn't realize it at the time, but since then we've been told low light is hard to get right. The reason why we get it right sometimes is because we get a lot wrong first. The subjects of most of our low-light sessions are our kids, who should already be asleep at these times, so we attempt to do two things with these sessions: Have fun and experiment!
Our Gear:
Canon 6D Mark II
Sigma 35MM 1.4 ART
We use our 35MM ART more than any other lens. It's extremely versatile and being that it's a prime lens, it forces us to move around our subjects and capture the unique angles and details that we love to photograph. A prime lens is going to be your best friend if you are shooting low-light photography. Prime lenses have a wider aperture, which allows more light in. More light allows you have a lower ISO, thus resulting in a better quality image. This is not to say that you won't get great results with a zoom lens, we have just found that prime lenses work well with our style in particular!
Under each set of photos we will lay out our settings, a brief explanation of how we used light in the images, as well as some of our editing tips. All of the images below were shot in manual and in a RAW format. Using both of these can give you full control of the art that you are trying to create, both during the actual capturing of the photographs and the post-processing. We won't get too heavily into our post-editing process in this lesson, as we know that editing itself is very subjective. We tend to edit a lot more on the dark/moody style and thus have pretty specific ways of obtaining that style with our images. If that style is something you are curious about, feel free to reach out and we'd be happy to talk more in depth about it!
We are going to cover three areas that will help you achieve your light goals or even just spark some ideas within you: Being calm and having fun, choosing your light source, and experimentation.
1. Just be calm and have fun.
Do this or the kids will need to go to bed.
[ISO 800 - 1/160] Two years ago, we were people with a decade-old Canon rebel camera, an idea, and a lamp. At the time, we didn't fully understand the camera settings needed for low-light settings or that these were even considered "low-light" images. What we did know is that it was really fun to see the way the light reflected off of the walls and the wood floor. We believe any light source can ultimately be used to create unique low-light images. And even if you don't totally get it quite yet, have some fun and just try a few things!
2. Choosing your light source.
This will be the most important part of the process, since a low-light image is all about having the right amount of light for what you want to achieve. A sharp image is going to be easier to achieve with focused, natural light or more watts. If you don't mind a little grain, any light can work if your subject can JUST SIT STILL FOR ONE SECOND, PLEASE!
[ISO 250 - 1/200] We often work with natural light in our low-light interior shots. (This means making sure all artificial lights are turned off in the rooms that you are shooting in). Having the boys face towards the opposing window allowed us to keep our ISO pretty low for these shots, which in turn resulted in very minimal grain to our end result. Keeping your ISO this low won't always be the case depending on your lighting circumstances, but if you have the ability to have your subjects facing towards a window - it is a smart move to utilize it!
[ISO 250 - 1/200] With the images above, we used the window to back-light our subjects. We absolutely love the glow that you can achieve when using back-lighting. Use natural light to your advantage, if you can. Natural light is extremely helpful in creating an image that is sharper than with most forms of (non-professional) artificial light.
[ISO 200 - 1/250] These examples are also using natural light for backlit images, but we are introducing some experimentation with random objects to achieve different lighting effects. In these images we took advantage of the first morning light that was shining in, so timing was important in creating these images. The sunlight went through some translucent toy tiles that we placed precariously onto the window. This made for an interesting colored reflection on the wall. Keep an eye on your details as well. To help create symmetry in color, the last image above has blue and red light shining in, but it also pairs with the blue and red objects on the shelf. Little details like this can really help to make your lighting choices stand out. In post, we went over the tile reflections with a brush to deepen the saturation and brought down the exposure. We did this to make the colored tile reflection much more prominent.
[ISO 4OO- 1/320] In these shots, we had to bump up our ISO some due to the lack of light in the hallway. We also had a higher shutter speed, so as to capture the moments of our son playing with our cat. Finding those pockets of light can result in truly magical images. And since our house tends to be dusty, we use those dust particles to our advantage to add some beautiful, natural effects!
[ISO 400 - 1/200] Placing your subject in pockets of light also makes for a great opportunity to capture little details. If you're like us and obsessed with tiny details, using a back-lit situation or pockets of light will not disappoint.
[ISO 4OO- 1/320] - Same as above. Use those beautiful pockets of light!
[ISO-200 - 1/250] Keeping our ISO on the low side and the shutter speed bumped up helped us to achieve that silhouette effect that we were going for with this image. Again, using that back-light can not only give your subject a really beautiful glow, but you can also use it to create unique silhouettes. In post, we take advantage of the tone curve tool a lot. We find that it allows a lot more control over your image in order to get that effect that you are looking for.
[ISO 640 - 1/160] As you'll notice here we really had to crank up our ISO in order to make this capture work. We used the one dinosaur lamp as our only light source in this image, which was just enough to give us that green illumination on our son's face. Having your subject's face (or intended focal point) close to your light source in extreme low-light situations will give you the best results. In post, we used our radial tool (inverted) to keep focus directly on our son and the light source. This tool is great for images such as this, as it allows you to create the illusion that there is nothing else in the photograph besides your subject and the light source.
[ISO 400 - 1/200] As mentioned above, having your subject's face directly illuminated by your only light source is the best way to achieve extreme low-light images. Do not be afraid to try different light sources and get weird with it! We used two different tools to create this unique effect. (We haven't decided if we're ready to give away our secrets on achieving this effect yet. We are open to hearing your guesses though! Who knows, maybe we'll spill the tea!)
[ISO 250 - 1/200] These images were captured through the window of their playhouse. Luckily some of the adjacent window lighting was shining in, which again allowed us to keep the ISO low. We had him hold onto some fairy lights to capture some unique shots (and by hold on, we definitely mean whip around the air like a mad-man). If you do not have battery operated fairy lights, they are a great light source to start experimenting with and we highly suggest getting yourself some!
Phew! If you've made it through this lesson, thank you so much! We hope you learned a little something about low-light photography by staying calm and having fun, choosing your light sources, and experimentation!
And we want you to know, if you've thought about throwing in the towel with low-light all together or said to yourself "I'm not good enough," we can honestly say we've been there and we've had those exact same thoughts! As artists, we are our own biggest critics. However, if you allow yourself the time to continue growing, learning, and experimenting - your work will begin to reflect this! If you take anything away from this lesson, we hope that it will be the WANT to create and experiment with low light. Maybe it's by using a unique light source or just an original, weird idea that maybe you haven't found the courage to try yet. If you found any inspiration from this lesson and decide to experiment on your own, we'd love to see you tag us and P52 Clicks in the images you create!
We want to give a huge thank you to you for reading this and to P52 Clicks for allowing us to come onto their platform and share some of our experiences with low light. We are truly honored to have been allowed this opportunity and hope to be back again!
Lastly, to show that you can grow, as we did, through just having fun and experimenting - we wanted to leave you with the below image that we are very proud of! We feel like this shot is miles beyond where we started with some dollhouse lights. But the point is, you have to start someWHERE DID YOU GO?! YOU KIDS KNOW IT'S PAST YOUR BEDTIME! THAT'S IT! NO MORE FUN PHOTO SHOOTS UNLESS YOU GET INTO BED IMMEDIATELY! Just remember to remain calm and have fun with your experimenting!