Night and Low-light Photography Photo Workshop

Here are some ways to get the best results when

you photograph in mixed lighting:

    ■   Make the lights the same. The first step is to

see which light sources can be eliminated or

easily changed. Is it possible to turn off the

lights or change the bulbs so that all the lights

are the same type?

    ■   Gel the lights. Some lights can’t be changed

or turned off, so another option is to change

the color of the light by putting a gel over it.

A gel is a piece of colored material that is

light from the ceiling and the lamp over the pool
table, as well as from the fire. To successfully
photograph this room, all the different lights
needed to be close to the same type or at least
close to each other in temperature. That means
that the lights in the ceiling and the lights over
the table were close to each other on the Kelvin
scale and both were close to the color of the
fire. This image looks brightly lit; it took a
13 second exposure for all the details to be cap-
tured properly.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO The pool room was shot to show the table and fireplace along with the view out the doors. The lights in the image
focus your attention on what’s important. Taken at 13 seconds, f/14, and ISO 100. © Larny Mack

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