Digital cameras give amazing results when operated under adequate light conditions. The real photography challenge comes only when one has to shoot under low light and that too without using flash on the camera. Using flash under low light is more likely to mess up the subject with undesirable glare and the natural feel to the scene is lost.
Using a digital camera presents several new obstacles for shooting in low light. Just like shooting with a 35 mm the largest obstacle is movement. This is easily overcome in two ways. The first is to buy a good tripod and (if you are a perfectionist) a remote that removes even the slightest handshake. Once shooting with a tripod becomes natural it is hard to take photos without one. A small travel tripod is excellent in addition to a large workhorse tripod. When faced with packing shirts or packing tripods always opt for the tripod.
The second best way to overcome the motion dilemma is to buy a large fast camera lens. These are the long workhorses used by sports photographers. They are expensive but worth every penny for capturing movement. There are a few cheaper amateur level lenses that are supposed to help with movement in low light. I personally have not had much luck with them. With landscape and architectural photography capturing movement is less of an issue.
Low light photography tips:
When taking photos in low light with a digital camera here are a few tips that make for great photos:
- Shoot in the RAW if possible. Most digital cameras now have this feature. After each RAW, shoot immediately again in JPEG
- Shoot at the highest ISO possible with the lowest f-stop
- Shoot a few auto shots and let the flash go and shoot with a few different settings in manual. Once you get the results back on your computer, take note of the results
- Connect the camera to the computer using a high quality cable such as those found at ugly cable
- Reduce noise if needed using noise reduction software like Noise Ninja
Since the amount of adequate and natural light is minimum during dawn or dusk, these times are the best for practicing and improving low light photography skills.
Below are some examples of low light photography shot with a prosumer level Canon EOS REBEL Xsi in San Diego, CA. This is not an expensive camera. Details are included to show how the photos could be recreated by just about anyone.
Low light Photography examples - Photos shot at Dawn:
Shooting at dawn is one of the oldest and best techniques for capturing amazing landscape and architectural photographs. There are several reasons for this:
- Morning light is less dense
- People and traffic are at a minimum
- It's quiet and you won't be distracted
- Shadows accentuate contrasting elements and add drama
The photo above was shot at 6:24 am, about 20 minutes before official dawn in San Diego. The light blue color is the product of using a a high ISO value while shooting.The camera settings used to capture this low light photo are shown in the table blow…
| photo settings | |
| Camera Mode | Manual, Landscape |
| Shutter Speed | 1/5 seconds |
| ISO | 800 |
| f-stop | 5.6 |
| focal length | 35mm |
| flash | No |
| tripod | Yes |
This photo was shot 5 minutes later from roughly the same location using a tripod. The details of the camera settings are given below:
| photo settings | |
| Camera Mode | Manual, Landscape |
| Shutter Speed | 2 seconds |
| ISO | 100 |
| f-stop | 16 |
| focal length | 40 mm |
| flash | No |
| tripod | Yes |
The largest difference in the two photos above is actually the level of noise. The left photo has substantial noise level. This looks alright for a small online shot but when blown up the noise would be substantial.
Noise can actually be your friend as long as it looks like you meant to shoot it.
| Photo settings | |
| Camera Mode | Manual, Landscape |
| Shutter Speed | 2 seconds |
| ISO | 100 |
| f-stop | 16 |
| focal length | 21mm |
| flash | No |
| tripod | Yes |
| Photo settings | |
| Camera Mode | Manual, portrait |
| Shutter Speed | 10 seconds |
| ISO | 100 |
| f-stop | 16 |
| focal length | 27mm |
| flash | No |
| tripod | Yes |
Low light photography examples - photos shot at dusk:
The photo on the left side is completely natural, nothing altered. The sky really was that color. Here are the details of the two photos…
| Left photo settings | Right photo settings | |
| Camera Mode | Manual, portrait | Manual, portrait |
| Shutter Speed | 1/50 of a second | 1/50 of a second |
| ISO | 320 | 500 |
| f-stop | 5.6 | 5.6 |
| focal length | 48mm | 48mm |
| flash | not used | not used |
| tripod used | Yes | Yes |
The photo on the right was taken just 1 second later after shooting the first one.The only difference is the ISO which was increased by 180 in the second photo. That fabulous purple is a product of the ISO.
Shooting at dawn and dusk has an amazing benefit: It means less time in Photoshop. There are fewer people to cut out and the light is usually working with you rather than against you. There isn't room to show them all here but on the three outings above about 70% of the photos are ready to use- especially for multi-media web. This is a GREAT ratio for me. Shooting mid-day I'm lucky to get 20% and that is with huge help from Photoshop. Give low light digital photography a try!
Lisa Pluth About the Guest Author:
Lisa Pluth, Ph.D. works as a professional writer and she has been a photographer for many years. She is the author of the Del Mar Picture Book, a coffee table book about the seaside community of Del Mar California. For more information visit her website- pluthphotos
