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Low light photography
Low Light Photography
Taking images in low light requires a lot more than pointing your camera at a scene and pressing the shutter.
The photographer will need to be able to calculate exposure to get good images.
Low light exposure.
The three items on your camera that control exposure are your cameras ISO, Aperture and the Shutter.
The aperture controls the amount of light which passes through your lens, the shutter controls the length of time that light is allowed to act on the film or digital sensor, and the ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor.
Shutter: Each time you open the shutter by one, you double the light and when we close down the shutter by one we half the light. Opening the shutter at 1 second allows twice the light as that of a ½ second.
1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60 1/30 1/15 1/8 1/4 1/2 second 2second 4second
Aperture: The lower the f/stop the more light that passes through the aperture. Opening up one full f/stop doubles the amount of light entering the camera. F/4 admits twice the light of f5.6.
The following is the full sequence of f-numbers/ f/stops.
f/1 f/1.4 f/2 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22 f/32
ISO: Most good digital cameras have an interchangeable ISO rating system. A camera with an ISO setting of 100 is twice as light sensitive as a camera with an ISO of 50.
The following information is based on low light indoor photography without a flash.
Shooting images indoors can be very tricky and equipment will play an important part. The first thing that should be considered is the file format that you shoot in. I would strongly recommend to shoot in RAW.
Set the ISO of your camera to 800. Going higher than this may create too much noise. Use a 50 mm - 85 mm fast lens if you have one. Set the camera so that you control the aperture and the camera controls the shutter.
Using the setting mentioned above should give you an accurate exposure reading, without having to use your flash. If you do find the images too dark raise the ISO.
The following information is based on low light landscape photography.
Equipment Needed for Low Light Landscape Photography.
The first thing you need is a camera that will allow you total control. You will need to be able to change the ISO, Aperture and the Shutter. The second piece of equipment needed is a good sturdy tripod. It is impossible to take good quality low light landscape images with a handheld camera. A light meter will also be needed for calculating tricky exposures.
Other equipment that you should have but that is not essential are a cable release and some filters. If you tend to shoot low light landscape images you should buy some Neutral Density (ND) filters and a warm up filter.
Step by step guide to capturing the correct exposure.
Step 1. If you do not have a light meter take an exposure reading from the sky with your cameras built-in exposure meter set to spot and take a second reading from the ground in front of you. The sky in low light will normally be two or three stops brighter than the ground.
Step 2. Once you have calculated the different light readings you will need to place a Neutral Density (ND) filter on your cameras lens. This will reduce the brightness of the sky. A standard ND filter set will come in different strengths of 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 and will reduce the light by 1, 2 or 3 stops respectively .
If your reading from the sky comes back at f/16 with a shutter time of 1 second and the ground comes back at f/16 with a shutter time of 4 seconds you will need to use a 0.3 ND filter to compensate the two F/stops of light.
Step 3. Press the shutter.
.
Taking images in low light requires a lot more than pointing your camera at a scene and pressing the shutter.
The photographer will need to be able to calculate exposure to get good images.
Low light exposure.
The three items on your camera that control exposure are your cameras ISO, Aperture and the Shutter.
The aperture controls the amount of light which passes through your lens, the shutter controls the length of time that light is allowed to act on the film or digital sensor, and the ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor.
Shutter: Each time you open the shutter by one, you double the light and when we close down the shutter by one we half the light. Opening the shutter at 1 second allows twice the light as that of a ½ second.
1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60 1/30 1/15 1/8 1/4 1/2 second 2second 4second
Aperture: The lower the f/stop the more light that passes through the aperture. Opening up one full f/stop doubles the amount of light entering the camera. F/4 admits twice the light of f5.6.
The following is the full sequence of f-numbers/ f/stops.
f/1 f/1.4 f/2 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22 f/32
ISO: Most good digital cameras have an interchangeable ISO rating system. A camera with an ISO setting of 100 is twice as light sensitive as a camera with an ISO of 50.
The following information is based on low light indoor photography without a flash.
Shooting images indoors can be very tricky and equipment will play an important part. The first thing that should be considered is the file format that you shoot in. I would strongly recommend to shoot in RAW.
Set the ISO of your camera to 800. Going higher than this may create too much noise. Use a 50 mm - 85 mm fast lens if you have one. Set the camera so that you control the aperture and the camera controls the shutter.
Using the setting mentioned above should give you an accurate exposure reading, without having to use your flash. If you do find the images too dark raise the ISO.
The following information is based on low light landscape photography.
Equipment Needed for Low Light Landscape Photography.
The first thing you need is a camera that will allow you total control. You will need to be able to change the ISO, Aperture and the Shutter. The second piece of equipment needed is a good sturdy tripod. It is impossible to take good quality low light landscape images with a handheld camera. A light meter will also be needed for calculating tricky exposures.
Other equipment that you should have but that is not essential are a cable release and some filters. If you tend to shoot low light landscape images you should buy some Neutral Density (ND) filters and a warm up filter.
Step by step guide to capturing the correct exposure.
Step 1. If you do not have a light meter take an exposure reading from the sky with your cameras built-in exposure meter set to spot and take a second reading from the ground in front of you. The sky in low light will normally be two or three stops brighter than the ground.
Step 2. Once you have calculated the different light readings you will need to place a Neutral Density (ND) filter on your cameras lens. This will reduce the brightness of the sky. A standard ND filter set will come in different strengths of 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 and will reduce the light by 1, 2 or 3 stops respectively .
If your reading from the sky comes back at f/16 with a shutter time of 1 second and the ground comes back at f/16 with a shutter time of 4 seconds you will need to use a 0.3 ND filter to compensate the two F/stops of light.
Step 3. Press the shutter.
.
