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Technique
Kingsley Singleton
Kingsley is an experienced photographer, tutor,
and writer with decades of experience in shooting
technique and image editing. Specialising in
landscapes, nature and travel subjects, he lives
in Lincolnshire but likes to travel to hillier places.
@kingsley.photo.A
ll things being equal,
the less light there is in
a scene, the longer an
exposure you’ll need for
it to be correct. So, when you’re
working in low light, such as for
twilight shoots outdoors, or in dimly
lit interiors, you’ll often be using
slower shutter speeds. And slower
speeds can mean you get camera
shake in your images.
Shake happens when the camera is
moved during an exposure, and this
affects sharpness. Even tiny
vibrations can show up, and the
slower the shutter speed you use, the
more noticeable it’ll be, though this
very much depends on how good
you are at holding the camera still.
Camera shake also becomes more
pronounced at longer focal lengths,
so with the same handholding
technique you’ll notice more shake
at 55mm than you would at 18mm.
Of course, this isn’t a new
problem. Camera shake during
exposures has been a factor in
photography for as long as there
has been photography. Shooting in
low light or not, historically, you’veSharp in
the dark
Most cameras now have the option of
image stabilisation. Kingsley Singleton
explains how it works and how to use it
better in low-light situations
got two options to fight it: increase
the shutter speed so an exposure is
short enough for camera shake not
to be noticeable; or keep your
camera more stable in some way
during the exposure. As well as
tripods and monopods, today we
also have image stabilisation (IS) to
help with the latter.
IS compensates for camera shake,
so that the image projected onto the
camera’s sensor is kept still during
the exposure – or more still than it
would have been otherwise – and
with most modern camera systems
featuring some form of it, it can be
amazingly useful for low-light
photography. But it’s not without its
limitations, so here are some tips on
understanding and using it better.When do you need IS?
As most photographers will
remember, before image stabilisationImage
stabilisation is a
tool that’s
exceptionally
useful, especially
when you need to
grab candid shots
like this one on
the move
Nikon D810, 24-70mm,
1/15sec at f/5.6, ISO 800