HOW TO MASTER LOW LIGHT

From a photographer’s perspective, light has three main characteristics. These are colour, i.e. the relative proportion of the blues, greens and reds which make up visible light; quality, the direction and the softness of the light; and quantity, simply the amount of light from blinding sunshine through to moonlight and starlight.

Of these, colour and quality have the most effect on the look of the photo. The quantity of light makes very little difference to the look, but it does, of course, present some technical challenges that need to be overcome. Let’s look at an example.

UNDERSTANDING MOVEMENT

Is the light on the image on page 44-45 sunlight or moonlight? The quality of moonlight and sunlight is very similar because the sun and moon are similar sized in the sky (similar relative sizes) so the shadows have a similar appearance. The colour is much the same because moonlight is, of course, sunlight reflecting off a grey surface. That leaves the quantity, which is very different. This shot was taken with a 125 second exposure, f4 @ ISO 160