Low Light Photography

The biggest challenge that an amateur faces when shifting from a digital point and shoot camera to a DSLR is shooting in low light. While the theory of setting exposure remains the same as when you shoot in bright or decent lighting conditions, it is quite a challenge to apply that theory when shooting in low light. In this article we will discuss different ways of shooting in low light and explain the challenges that you will face while doing so.

- Souradeep Roy

In this article we will not talk about the process of setting up your camera and setting your exposure, and we will not discuss what the exact values of aperture or shutter speed or ISO we should keep, since the settings will be different in different lighting conditions. Instead, we will touch upon the difficulties that one might face while shooting in low light and how you can overcome them with a few simple corrections. But before we go into the details, let’s learn the different low lighting conditions that you might encounter on your photographic journey.

Visible light/shadows

You have faced this kind of low light several times without even realising that you are shooting in low light. Visible light is light that is lower than the normal daylight that you are experiencing. For example shadow areas on the street on a normal sunny day. Even though it is not completely low light, you will need to re-examine your camera settings to shoot in it. While the photograph, if shot on normal camera settings might look natural, a moving subject in the shadow area might be a bit blurry because of something called dynamic range. While we might think the same exposure settings would suffice for the camera to shoot in the shadow areas it is actually not true. In such light conditions make sure that you turn down one or two stops to shoot. It is easy to not notice that the light has changed suddenly, so keep an eye on the exposure meter and make sure, if you are changing the shutter speed, you do not go below a certain number if you are shooting a moving subject. We will discuss what the shutter speed should be in detail later in the article.

Low light