Night and Low-light Photography Photo Workshop

my camera with the flash head adjusted so it

aimed over the heads of Jerry and Nydia to get

this portrait of Robin and Catwoman at the San

Diego Comic-Con 2011. This chapter also covers

photographing whole rooms and the problems

that can arise from the various mixed lighting

that can be present. The best angle and composi-

tion are covered as well as adding your own light

to help illuminate the space and still have it look

natural.

PHOTOGRAPHING PEOPLE

INDOORS

There are many opportunities to photograph peo-

ple indoors, from taking a quick photograph of

your children playing in the family room to tak-

ing a portrait of a bride before her wedding.

I talk a lot in this chapter about both the size and

relative size of the light source used to take pho-

tos indoors. When it comes to taking flattering

photographs of people, the bigger the light

source, the better. This is because a bigger light

source creates a more diffused light that looks

more flattering when illuminating the subject.

When talking about the size of the light source,

you are actually talking about the relative size of

the light source because distance and intensity

play a big roll. If you consider the sun as the light

source, for example, it is a huge light source.

However, because it is so far away, it does not

create soft, flattering light — as you likely know

Shooting indoors presents several different chal-
lenges. Often, there isn’t a lot of light, and many
times the light is mixed — that is, there are two
or more different types of light with different
colors. You can easily overcome the low-light
conditions by adding an accessory flash or two
or by using the available light to your advantage.
To be clear, this chapter is not about setting up a
whole studio’s worth of lights or spending a lot of
money, but instead, it’s about how to look for the
available light and successfully get the most out
of minimal accessory lighting. Take Figure 4-1,
for example: I just used a single flash mounted on

ABOUT THIS PHOTO Costumes are a big part of the fan partici-

pation at the San Diego Comic Convention every year, and 2011 was

no different. I photographed my friends in costume against one of the

backgrounds that were set up at the convention. I used a single acces-

sory flash mounted in the camera’s hot shoe that had an adjustable

head aimed high and at a 45-degree angle. Taken at 1/30 second, f/5.0,

4-1 and ISO 200.