7

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / The Nighttime Sky

images in software. The key is to use the spot

meter on the area that you want to make sure

is exposed correctly.

    ■   Using the golden hour light. Look at what

the light is illuminating as the sun rises or

sets, because that could be the better image.

This is when you are not shooting the actual

sunrise or sunset but using the sunrise or sun-

set light to illuminate your subject. One rea-

son why photographers love this golden hour

light is because it takes the ordinary and

makes it look better. The color of the light is

red to orange, which makes people look like

they have a healthy tan and adds a great color

to everything else. Even the flock of seagulls

in Figure 7-4 looks good as they try to get food

from the people on the beach.

are pure black as the image was exposed for

the sky where there is no pure white. Having

a big range of tones helps you achieve this

effect. Had the pier been properly exposed,

there would be large parts of the sky rendered

as pure white.

■   Exposing for the details. Many times there is

no way to expose for both the details in the
shadows and the details in the bright parts of
the image. When you have this situation you
have to make a decision on which to expose
for, or you can take two photos, one that
exposes for the shadow details and one that
exposes for the highlight detail, then you
decide later which is better or combine the

ABOUT THIS PHOTO The seagulls come to the beach when people feed them. Taken at 1/180 second, f/4.5, and ISO 100.

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