Amateur Photographer - UK (2021-01-16)

39

Beat the tra c

Traf c trails are one of
the most accessible and
eye-catching things you can create
in low-light conditions, but once
you’ve got past the basics, there
are a few things you can do to
improve your efforts.
Just as you might use a river,
or a shoreline in a landscape shot,
I always try to make the trails an
important part of the composition,
and use them as a lead into a
low-light scene, rather than them
being the purpose of the shot
itself. Timing is also important,
because you want vehicles to be
moving throughout the exposure
and not stopping, if possible; a
10sec exposure could look great,
but at 20secs some cars might
have bunched up, messing up the
lines too much. Avoid junctions
entirely if you can, and if the scene
allows, get a friend to drive up and
down the road in question, so
you’re in total control.

Don’tbelieve

your eyes

When you’re shooting in the

dark, your eyes naturally become

accustomed to the gloom, and

therefore an exposure on screen

can look a lot brighter than it

really is. Try using the exposure

histogram to make sure you’re

not underexposing.

Limit your locations

It depends on your outlook for

low-light shooting, but remember if

you want natural light in the scene

or sky, you need to work fast. The

light may only be right for 20-30

minutes, so get there early and try

to limit your expectations in terms

of moving to other locations.

The right white

Rather than leaving your camera

set to auto, try picking a white

balance that matches the dominant

illumination in your low-light scene.

Setting tungsten, for instance, will

give bulbs a natural look, but turn

what’s left of the daylight much

bluer for a nice contrast.

Mind your legs

Setting up a tripod in urban areas

can be tricky. You don’t want it to be

knocked during an exposure, have

vibrations affect image sharpness,

or realise you’re blocking

someone’s path and have to

reframe, so be sure to choose

your spots carefully.

Get more twinkle

Stop your aperture right down

and points of light in the scene

will  are into sunstars. Depending

on their optics and the number

of aperture blades they have,

different lenses will give different

looks, so try testing yours to see

what looks best.

Re ectedglory

Low-lightphotographyis a winter

favourite,oftenbecauseblue

hour can be that bit more accessible

than other times in the year. What also

comes with winter is rain, and lots of

it. Fortunately, wet streets and puddles

are the low-light photographer’s friend.

After all, it’s not uncommon for pro

photographers and  lmmakers to

hose down a set to improve the look.

Why? Wet surfaces are smoother

and therefore more likely to re ect

light in a specular way, while also

deepening colour. Dry surfaces on the

other hand diffuse light when it hits

them, so you don’t get the same

glimmer. Angles are very important in

 nding re ections, so change your

shooting height until you get the look

you want, especially if you’re trying to

catch the light skipping off a puddle,

but watch out for splashes. And as

great as wet tramlines are, like in this

pic from Brussels, remember they also

have trams on them.

Five more ways to

improve your shots

LOWLIGHT TIPS Technique