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UER Mobile > UE Photo Critiques > suggestions for low light (Viewed 2242 times)

post by context

suggestions for low light
< on 10/14/2014 2:43 AM >

So I went to an abandoned rec center the other day, and many of the low light pictures that i took didn't turn out. Problems with low light:
A. My camera can't autofocus, even when I shine my small flashlight on the subject
B. I end up manually focusing it, usually just by turning my focus ring to infinity which does a decent job for anything that's not too close
C. The camera flash in general just looks bad in photos.

I'm not a total noob with photography, and I know you guys are gonna tear these to shreds. Not a big deal, this is nowhere near my best work. I just shot these as I explored this creepy place. I know that in the future a tripod would be a good idea so that I can do longer exposure times. (The basketball court shot was a longer exposure) Critique, ideas, suggestions, anything. Tell me what you think

(1.

oh and on another note, what is the best way to downsize photos to 100k? I just use photoshop and shrink the size down...)

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post by Tarrant

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Re: suggestions for low light
<Reply # 1 on 10/14/2014 3:00 AM >

Try buying a bright flash light or a small light or two and set them up in the corners facing your picture. I usually shoot theaters which are mostly dark so me and my friend have gotten in the habit of bringing small rechargeable lights or a flashlight or two. If the place isn't too big a flash light will do. If it's big we use the extra lights. You can also go with somebody and have them set their flash off around the room for your picture to brighten it up.

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post by turtl

Re: suggestions for low light
<Reply # 2 on 10/14/2014 3:02 AM >

As you said, I'd start with a tripod, so that you can shoot long exposures and avoid using flash all together. If thats not an option, you could invest in a speedlight, which will allow you to angle the flash (usually up) and have it "bounce" off the ceiling, which usually provides much better quality light than a pop up flash. If thats not an option, you could use an old trick I used to use where you use a business card and use it to bounce the pop up flash.

(Not my photo, but this is the idea)

Also most speedlights have an AF-assist beam that will greatly assist your autofocus in low light situations. The importance of your focus also depends on your f-stop and the focal length of your lens, I shoot my 11-16 all day long wide open with it locked on infinity focus, and pretty much everything is in focus up to about 3 feet away. As for the 100k image sizes, you can avoid that all together using the "Quick Gallery Creator" found underneath the reply text box. Either that or host your images on a site like flickr or imgur and embed them here.

#3 is a great shot! Love the lighting. And #4 is a great little macro shot.

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post by NotQuiteHuman

Re: suggestions for low light
<Reply # 3 on 10/14/2014 4:26 AM >

You said it yourself, use a tripod. Also, try having a friend stand in the frame and point the flashlight up close to the thing you want to focus on or get a brighter flashlight (the first option works better if you're trying to keep a low profile). A couple of my lenses are old manual Ai-s nikkors. They have a hard stop exactly at infinity (many autofocus lenses go a bit past infinity) which makes focusing on distant objects incredibly fast and reliable.

I love using off camera flash to light a scene. If you're ok with only manual flash control (which is what you'll likely end up using anyway), the yongnuo yn-560 III is an incredibly good flash for the price, and gets really fun if you pick up their remote triggers which are pretty cheap too. You can also just try to light paint with your flashlight and get better results than on camera flash with some practice. Or just stick with places with good natural light (like that gym shot!).

EDIT: This room was completely black. I lit it with just my off camera flash
https://www.flickr...tostream/lightbox/

As Tarrant said, you can also use the flash from a friend's camera as an off camera flash. I lit this with my buddy's camera when my flash was out of battery.
https://www.flickr...tostream/lightbox/

[last edit 10/14/2014 4:36 AM by NotQuiteHuman - edited 1 times]

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post by Adv.Pack

Re: suggestions for low light
<Reply # 4 on 10/15/2014 12:44 AM >

Always use a tripod and get a brighter flashlight and a cable trigger for your camera so you can shoot longer than 30 seconds. I personally wouldn't bother with flash.

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post by -Rio-

Re: suggestions for low light
<Reply # 5 on 10/15/2014 2:02 AM >

Unless you have $$$ for fast lenses and a camera that can handle high ISO with little noise, a tripod is a must.

I pretty much never use my flash. Instead I use a flashlight to light paint the area. Sometime i will bring several headlights, set them up in various location to highlight certain areas.

1. Here i used 4 small headlight hidden around, with a fairly bright headlight behind me. The result is... ok

2. For a better result. I still have 4 small headlights set up, but then i used a fifth headlight and just walked down the tunnel while moving the light around. As long as you keep moving, you shouldn't appear in the photo.

3. Be creative, experiment. Here, I only used tea light candles to light up the inside of the bunker.

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post by Aran

Re: suggestions for low light
<Reply # 6 on 10/18/2014 2:36 AM >

Posted by -Rio-
3. Be creative, experiment. Here, I only used tea light candles to light up the inside of the bunker.

Wow, those candles really add a pretty cool effect. I wonder how they'd work in other environments, like drains of tunnels?

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