We often face the problem of having not enough light when we are shooting in the late evenings and during the night. I am not talking particularly about Nature Photography here but about general photography. But by applying little bit of thinking we can get some very good results which otherwise is not possible just by bumping up the ISO setting of the camera.
On my last trip to Kodai I was staying in a nice resort which was having a nice garden space with some very interesting lighting. When I shared my idea of making some images in that light my wife Sahana happily agreed to pose :). I had nothing but a camera fitted with 18-200mm lens. No external flash, no tripod and the max aperture rating of the lens is also poor for the low light. But I wanted to make some images under that light by some or the other means. I hate to use built-in flash as it makes images flat. I use it very very very rarely...almost never!
My cellphone Nokia E-63 came for my rescue! It has an LED torch on its back.Though the torch is not that great, it looked like it was quite ok if I use it properly to get some of the images that I had in mind.
The series of images in this blog are shot using the torch light of my E-63 to lit the face and by keeping the camera on either a table or on the compound wall. All the images are made using very low shutter speed. The key here is to place the torch in such a way that it should lit the face properly and expose the frame for the light on the face so that everything else is rendered just like it is, the mood of night.
So the next time when you are out on any vacation or trip and want to make some images under the evening light then remember this trick. You dont have to have a DSLR to make these kinds of images. Any point and shoot would also give almost the same result if you apply this method. Just use your brain! :)
Without my mobile, in the below image, I could not have got both moon and Sahana in the same frame with this lighting.
No need to say that it is my image of the trip! An image in which I have both the moons
- one ruling my Sun-Sign (Cancer) and the other ruling my heart! :)
My first post after marriage! It took quite long to get back here.
Feeling good to be back!
Cheers,
(Click on the image to see it bigger)
On my last trip to Kodai I was staying in a nice resort which was having a nice garden space with some very interesting lighting. When I shared my idea of making some images in that light my wife Sahana happily agreed to pose :). I had nothing but a camera fitted with 18-200mm lens. No external flash, no tripod and the max aperture rating of the lens is also poor for the low light. But I wanted to make some images under that light by some or the other means. I hate to use built-in flash as it makes images flat. I use it very very very rarely...almost never!
My cellphone Nokia E-63 came for my rescue! It has an LED torch on its back.Though the torch is not that great, it looked like it was quite ok if I use it properly to get some of the images that I had in mind.
(Click on the image to see it bigger)
The series of images in this blog are shot using the torch light of my E-63 to lit the face and by keeping the camera on either a table or on the compound wall. All the images are made using very low shutter speed. The key here is to place the torch in such a way that it should lit the face properly and expose the frame for the light on the face so that everything else is rendered just like it is, the mood of night.
So the next time when you are out on any vacation or trip and want to make some images under the evening light then remember this trick. You dont have to have a DSLR to make these kinds of images. Any point and shoot would also give almost the same result if you apply this method. Just use your brain! :)
Without my mobile, in the below image, I could not have got both moon and Sahana in the same frame with this lighting.
No need to say that it is my image of the trip! An image in which I have both the moons
- one ruling my Sun-Sign (Cancer) and the other ruling my heart! :)
My first post after marriage! It took quite long to get back here.
Feeling good to be back!
Cheers,
Ash
