Travel Photography: Photographing in low-light conditions
This article appeared in February issue of Terrascape, a travel magazine for which I am an editorial consultant and also write a column on photography. Read all the earlier earlier travel photography articles on India Travel Blog.
There is a good chance that you would have seen many brilliant sunrises and sunsets overlooking a beautiful landscape and yearned to freeze the moment with your camera. If you have tried it, you might have also noticed that your images might have turned out very dark, has shake or is not very clear. You might have also experienced similar problems when photographing something indoors where the light is low – it could be just a casual click in your house, a dazzling stage-performance or a party with friends. This month’s photo-tips is about avoiding such problems and taking better images in low-light.
Equipment. Basic cameras normally do not perform well in low-light. Even if they appear to make decent-looking images when you see on LCD, it shows a lot of noise (grains and undesirable colour dots) when you see on a big screen. It helps to have good equipment that can handle low-light. Use a camera that lets you control the aperture and ISO, which play a key role in controlling the quality of your photos in low-light. Mount the camera on a tripod if you are shooting subjects that are not moving. Your ideal choice of equipment will be a digital SLR along with a lens that has a wide aperture to let in more light and also stabilizes hand vibrations. Use a good external flash for indoor use. If you are using an on-camera flash, know that it can light up only a few feet in front of you. It is not much use to use an on-camera flash in a large hall.
Technical aspects. Besides having good equipment, it is important to understand all the controls that you camera can offer. Know how shutter speeds, aperture and ISO work when you capture an image. Set the aperture wide open and ensure that your shutter speed is not very low. Find out the highest ISO at which your camera makes acceptable images and set it to that value. You are likely to get a shake-free image only if there is enough light to allow shutter speeds faster than 1/60sec. But a stable hand can help you take pictures in lesser speeds.
Hold the camera steady. If you are not shooting with a tripod, it is important to learn to hold your camera steady. Your hands shake less if they are close to your body, so use the viewfinder to compose instead of LCD. Breathe in before you shoot, hold your breath and release the shutter. Unless your camera has a very small lens, support the lens with your left hand and grip the camera body with right hand. If the camera supports shooting in burst more, fire a few shots together and pick the one that has least shake.