CREATIVE PROJECTS
L
ow-key portraits make the most of dark tones and
shadows to create drama and atmosphere. Unlike
high-key photography, which requires plenty of
natural or artificial light, a low-key shoot requires
very little. The backdrop needs to be mostly hidden in the
shadows, while particular features on the subject are
illuminated to make them stand out.
This means that when you’re shooting low-key portraits
you don’t need much in the way of lighting kit – a single
flashgun mounted off-camera will be adequate. Some
D-SLRs, such as the 60D, 600D and 7D, have an Integrated
Speedlite Transmitter, which enables you to fire a compatible
external flash via the camera’s pop-up flash. If your camera
doesn’t have this feature you’ll need a wireless flash trigger,
which is mounted on your camera’s hotshoe.
For this technique the ambient lighting needs to be as
low as possible, so shooting indoors is ideal. You want to
eliminate as much of the ambient light as possible, which
you can do by narrowing your aperture; a fast shutter speed
would achieve the same effect, but on some cameras the
top flash sync speed is either 1/200 or 1/250 sec. When
you expose for the ambient light you don’t need to worry
about under-exposing your subject, because the flash will
illuminate them – you can simply adjust the flash power as
required to expose them correctly.
Shoot a moody low-key portrait .............................................
Shut out the ambient light to plunge the backdrop in deep shadows,
and use a flashgun to light your subject for an atmospheric portrait
BEFORE