Beautiful Low Light Photography
Low light photography at the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, China.
Low light photography is beautiful. Here's how to photograph under low light conditions without losing sharpness.
Low Light Conditions For Photographers
You’ll often find yourself working under low light conditions when photographing at the edges of the day, indoors or under heavy shade.
The problem with low light photography is that your camera is going to have to stay open for a longer period of time to let enough light in compared to when you’re photographing under brighter light.
The various exposure modes on your camera are programmed to ensure enough light hits the sensor to create, what the camera believes will be, a correct exposure.
However, that’s no guarantee of sharpness.
This is why many cameras, when set to the more automatic exposure modes, automatically fire the flash under low light conditions.
It’s important to understand that the camera’s not firing the flash because it’s dark.
It’s doing so because it’s been programmed around the assumption that neither you nor I are capable of holding the camera still during an exposure time of less than (for example) 1/60 second.
Of course you might have the camera securely attached to a tripod while photographing the night sky. Fat lot of good a flash will do you then.
Lovely low light portrait of a young boy in Kolkata, India.
Low Light Portrait Photography
Low light conditions, while making it harder to produce sharp photos, often provide beautiful lighting for portrait photography.
It’s important to note that the quality of light produced under low light conditions can provide a beautiful soft, wrap-around type of illumination.
It’s often the most flattering light under which to make photographs which is why low light images are such fun to produce.
I made the above photo of a young boy in his father’s workshop in the backstreets of Kolkata.
His father is a printer and I asked the young lad to stand next to what looked like an old and very traditional printing press.
The setting and the technology on display suggested nostalgia, which is why I opted for a black and white rendering of the image.
I made the image, handheld, at ⅛ second. Good camera technique, which I’II outline later in this post, enabled me to hold the camera still during that relatively slow exposure.
As a result the photo is sharp and proof that it’s certainly possible to make sharp portrait photos under low light conditions, without a tripod, at relatively slow shutter speeds.
Camera Settings for Low Light Photography
It’s the job of your camera’s light meter to guide the camera and/or the photographer to the correct combination of shutter speed, aperture and ISO to achieve correct exposure.
Under low light conditions the camera will most likely make a photo at a relatively slow shutter speed to allow more light to reach the sensor.
This can result in unsharp images due to either camera movement or subject movement occurring during the relatively long time the camera’s shutter remains open.
The good news is that there are several ways to achieve sharp results when making photos under low light conditions.
Selecting a physically wide aperture (e.g., f/4 or lower) will provide a faster shutter speed than would otherwise be the case at a narrow aperture such as f/8.
As a result you’ll have more chance of being able to reduce camera shake or subject movement, while also reducing the need for a tripod or flash.
A wider aperture may also concentrate the viewer’s attention on the subject by de-emphasizing their surroundings through a shallow depth of field.
For more contemplative work (e.g., landscape, architectural photography) the use of narrower apertures (e.g., f/11) to increase depth of field and display more detail throughout the scene may be appropriate.
Of course narrower apertures allow less light to reach the sensor and the resulting slower shutter speed may require the use of a tripod and or a higher ISO to prevent camera shake.
Low light photography at a suave pub in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Best Shutter Speed for Low Light Photography
There are a number of factors to consider when determining the best shutter speed for low light photography. Here are a few worth mentioning.
Whether you're photographing an inanimate or moving subject.
How fast the subject is moving.
Whether you're looking to freeze action or produce images that explore creative movement.
The focal length at which you're photographing.
You're ability to minimize camera shake by being able to hold the camera still at relatively slow shutter speeds.
I was the only customer in this suave pub late on a summer's night in Christchurch, New Zealand. I had a few drinks and, together with the barman, solved the problems of the world.
While the mood in the pub was interesting, the low levels of illumination made photographing challenging. Nonetheless good camera handling technique ensured I was able to produce a sharp image.
Back in the day a general rule of thumb for hand held photography required a minimum shutter speed of 1/60 second.
That rule was probably based around the fact that, back then, SLR film cameras were usually sold with 50 mm standard lenses.
With lens focal lengths longer than 50 mm a standard rule of calculation was used as a guide to help photographers determine a starting point suggestion to match the minimum shutter speed at which to work with a particular lens focal length.
The theory dictated that 1/(lens focal length) would result in the minimum required shutter speed.
So, for example, if you were photographing at a 70 mm focal length you’d need a shutter speed that matched or exceeded that number. On todays digital cameras that would be 1/90 second.
Likewise if you're photographing at 200 mm you’d need a shutter speed no slower than 1/200 second. In the case of a fast and heavy zoom lens you’d probably want to increase that to at least 1/250 second.
Low light photography of horse riding accessories demonstrates no camera shake.
How to Avoid Camera Shake
It’s often said that you can steady your camera by bracing your elbows, body or camera against a solid surface like a wall, pole, table or flat ground.
Fine, but from my experience, when you’re forced to move the camera to make a photo a less than optimal composition usually results.
Use a Monopod
Monopods have the advantage of being more portable and significantly lighter than a tripod.
They’re particularly well suited to sports and wildlife photography where the photographer’s working space is limited and/or they may need to quickly relocate to another place for safety or for a better composition.
I’ve used a few monopods over the years, though I found them frustrating. Thankfully I don’t need them for the types of photos I usually make.
Use a Tripod
Some DSLR camera's allow you to engage mirror lock which moves the mirror up and out of the way a few seconds before you trip the camera's shutter.
This action reduces vibration and I recommend it.
However, with the mirror now parallel to the top of the camera, you’ve lost the opportunity to make changes to composition until after the exposure has been completed.
It’s also important to note that you risk reducing the effectiveness of your tripod by pressing the camera's shutter release button with you finger.
Wherever possible use a shutter release cable or, alternatively, release the shutter via a wireless controlled app on your smart phone.
Image Stabilization
Strictly speaking image stabilization is a feature built into many Canon lenses. Nikon have a similar technology which they refer to as Vibration Reduction. Sony, Fuji, Olympus and Leica have their own systems and their own naming conventions.
Some systems include in body and or lens stabilization options.
As this post is not specific to any specific camera or lens brand I'II use the term image stabilization in a generic manner.
Image stabilization is a feature that allows you to achieve sharp results, hand held, at shutter speeds that are up to 3-4 stops slower than you would otherwise be able to achieve with the same camera/lens configuration used under the same conditions without image stabilization technology.
Frankly, this technology is marvelous and a definite advantage associated with many modern lenses and (some) cameras.
As image stabilization has been a major area of attention and improvement over recent years it's probably fair to say that the newer the lens and, in some cases, the camera the better it's stabilization is likely to be compared with the previous version of that product.
6 steps To Sharpness At slow Shutter Speeds
Under low light conditions camera shake is a problem when photographing hand-held.
To minimize camera shake, try utilizing the following technique:
Stand steady with your legs slightly apart, a little like a tripod. Some folks stand straight on to their subject, others prefer to stand slightly side on with one foot in front of the other.
The important thing is to be comfortable and well balanced, while not drawing too much attention to yourself.
Bring the camera up to your eye while turning your head slightly to one side so that your nose doesn’t touch the camera’s rear Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen.
Make sure your eye fits snuggly into the camera’s viewfinder.
This allows you to more clearly see and compose your image and also allows you to steady the camera against your forehead rather than the point of your nose, which is softer and not such a firm platform to rest your camera against.
By keeping your nose away from your camera’s rear LCD you’ll be amazed at how much cleaner your camera’s LCD will remain, which will make viewing photos to be a much easier and more positive experience.
Provide extra support by taking the weight of the camera and its lens in your left hand. Try not to grip your camera so tightly with your right hand.
Over time that can cause stiffness and pain in your hand and may also limit your ability to easily and quickly move dials and access buttons on your camera.
I understand this approach is probably opposite to how you’ve been holding your camera in the past. Just give it a try.
With practice you may well find that holding the camera up to your eye in the way I’ve described will make composing photos to be an easier, less fatiguing and more pleasurable experience.
Needless to say this technique should also reduce the likelihood of camera shake occurring when photographing under low light conditions.
Many photographers push their elbows outwards as they bring the camera up to their eyes. This puts undue strain on your arms and fails to support the camera.
Try tucking elbows into your body, slightly to the front (rather than the side) of your stomach, and allow the weight of your camera and lens to run through your arms and down into the core of your body.
If you have the time to do so, take a few deep breaths exhaling in a slow, gentle manner.
On the final breath, exhale around half the air so that there’s enough air in your lungs to steady both mind and body.
This should give you a few seconds of relative calm and stability before your body feels the need to either inhale or exhale air.
Gently squeeze your camera’s shutter release without pushing down hard on the camera.
With some camera’s it’s even possible to gentle roll your finger over the shutter release button rather than pressing down on it.
Low light photo of children in a nursery in Chennai, India.
While nothing beats the use of a quality tripod, particularly with mirror up engaged, you should find that, with practice, the above technique will help you achieve acceptably sharp results at shutter speeds significantly slower than what you might have thought was possible.
This is particularly the case with good camera technique, such as that defined above, a wide-angle or standard prime lens or a general purpose (e.g., 18-55mm) lens on an APS-C camera, and an image stabilized camera and/or lens.
Due to a lack of impact/vibration cushioning inside the camera, this may be reduced to around 1/15 second with cheaper DSLR models.
To confirm images made at slower shutter speeds are actually sharp it’s necessary to view them on the desktop at 50% magnification or higher.
Making A4 or larger test prints is also advisable.
Of course some folks simply shake when making photos. Everyone’s different and you need to run tests to determine what camera handling technique works best for you.
If the above list of techniques seems too much to deal with simply try the breathing technique outlined above.
It can make a significant difference to the sharpness of photos made hand-held at relatively slow shutter speeds.
From my own experience I’ve had considerable success photographing, hand-held, down to 1/8 second.
Back in the day this was particularly the case with brilliantly engineered equipment such as traditional film cameras including the following:
Leica R8 camera
Leica M6, M7 and MP rangefinder cameras
But I’m also able to make very sharp images hand-held down to 1/8 second with the better built Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras.
Finally, as there’s no mirror flapping up and down during exposure in a mirrorless camera, I get similar levels of sharpness with my high megapixel Sony A7Rii mirrorless camera.
Candle on the altar at Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) in Berlin, Germany.
Are Photographers Your Audience?
It’s worth noting that, back in the days when I used to subscribe to the venerable National Geographic magazine, I’d occasionally notice images published that were somewhat soft.
But I understood immediately that, despite this apparent lack of sharpness, these images were published primarily for their communicative power, part of which may have been due to the mood associated with the low light conditions under which they were made.
My point is that, while perfect technique is desirable, it should not come at the expense of the emotive power of the image.
Scoring, for example, 7 out of 10 for technique may be more than enough when married to an emotionally powerful image.
Perfection Comes Through Practice
Try making some images of non-critical events under low light conditions. While on occasions you may have no choice, where possible avoid your camera’s very highest ISO settings.
That’s because noise is more pronounced at higher ISO and also in the darkest areas of your images.
Just as important as maintaining sharpness when photographing under low light conditions is the need to get used to looking at contrast and the variety of light sources you’ll find, both indoors and out, when light levels are low.
Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should
If you’ve purchased your camera over the last few years you can probably set your camera to an ISO of around 800 without too much concern.
You can certainly photograph at higher ISO's, but be aware that, in addition to higher levels of noise, you may also end up with images with higher levels of contrast than you'd prefer.
I would advise you to only increase the ISO above 3200 when you've reached the point where your image is susceptible to unwanted blur through either subject movement or camera shake.
Each time you double the ISO you are, effectively, doubling the camera's sensitivity to light.
On manual exposure you're responsible for managing all aspects of exposure (i.e., shutter speed, aperture and ISO).
Assuming you don't wish to change the brightness of your photo you'll have to change either the aperture or shutter speed whenever you change the ISO.
Most folks find using their camera on a semi-automatic exposure mode like A/AV or S/TV provides them with enormous control without too much complexity.
Changing ISO is a case in point, particularly when working in Aperture Priority (A/AV) mode.
On A/AV any change you make to the camera’s ISO will automatically cause a change in the camera’s shutter speed.
A good way to understand this is as follows:
Every time you double the ISO the shutter speed automatically doubles.
As a result the camera will be able to make the next photo at a shutter speed twice as quick as it otherwise would without effecting the brightness of the image.
In other words to achieve a faster shutter speed, when working under low light conditions, simply change your ISO until you arrive at the desire speed.
It's important to understand that photography is a game of compromise. Each time you make a change a subsequent compromise may result.
The compromise associated with employing particularly high ISO is the possible introduction of noise into an image.
There are a number of factors that determine the appearance of noise in a digital photograph. It's a big topic which I'II address in another post.
For now it's good to be aware that noise may well be produced when photographing at a particularly high ISO.
What that number is depends on a range of factors. What I will say is that, in most circumstances, a sharp though noisy photo will be preferred to a non-intentional blurry image.
Waters edge under low light conditions near Wanaka in New Zealand.
Being Adaptive is Critical to Making Great Images
With practice you’ll learn the skills necessary to make wonderful, luminous images without the need for a cumbersome external flash or tripod.
Of course when absolute image quality is essential (e.g., still life, macro, architecture) it’s best to employ a good tripod, and associated technique, to achieve optimal sharpness and help to control composition.
However, under certain circumstances, images made hand-held may be more inventive, more dynamic and more emotive than images made with the camera fixed to a tripod.
Being a good photographer means having the skills to be able to adapt to a range of challenges, including being able to make sharp images when photographing under low light conditions.
