But what if there isn't much light in a situation? Can quality photographs be made in those circumstances?
Sure. If you think outside the box, you can change your perception of what you are "looking for" and try to take photos of what you have available instead.
- I'll provide two examples using different situations -
The following photo is of one of our dogs when it was just a pup. There wasn't a lot of light at this particular moment and I didn't care to use a flash, since I didn't want to disturb the little fella while he was trying to sleep. So I got down on the floor and put myself at an angle to best use a narrow shaft of light that covered a portion of his body. The angle you choose from any available light can make a huge difference in how the light works for your photo. Knowing there wasn't enough light to fill the room or even his little frame on the floor, I decided to go ahead and use what I could. I consciously dialed the ISO on my digital camera to a low setting (ISO 100). In lower light situations, that setting tends to deepen shadows and can even create a black background behind a subject. I was near him, so using an f-stop or aperture of 6.3 would create a pleasing shallow depth of field on his head (focus point is sharp while the rest is nicely blurred or out of focus). I clicked the shutter at 1/320th of a second and the following came out:
The black background and deep shadow around him create a more dramatic image than just a puppy sleeping. There is some mood here and maybe even some emotion. It's not necessary to get hung up on not having as much light as you want. If you don't have it, then create a different type of capture instead.
Another type of situation is the low light action shot. That can be very tricky, but figuring out what kind of light you DO have at your disposal will make all the difference in the world. The following shot was taken at a horse competition, a western freestyle reining event, to be precise. It was an indoor event and some of the performers choose to have the arena lights off and compete with only spotlights. When I saw it happening, I was able to prop myself against a railing and slow my shutter speed down to 1/250th of a second while I panned with my lens (followed the movement's direction with my lens). I believe I was at a higher ISO 2500 because it was so dark. As a result of slowing the shutter speed and panning with the action, I was able to pick up the spotlight illuminating the edges of the dark-colored horse and the rider in a formal black suit. Being satisfied with capturing some light, instead of giving up because there "wasn't enough light," allowed me to capture the following image:
It has become one of my favorite captures, and it was because I kept shooting and tried different settings to make it work rather than giving up on that ride because there was insufficient light.
Like I said in my previous post, it is all about the light. The difference is, how creative do you want to be in chasing that light?
Have a good one and keep shooting.
Lincoln Rogers
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