Shooting In Low Light

The recent SWPP conference was the biggest in industry history, packed with photographers, journalists and speakers from around the globe. The schedule is always a packed one, with hundreds of seminars and lectures running over 5 days at the Novotel in London's Hammersmith. It's a chance to learn from the finest photographers of our generation, and it's a bit of a buzz to see so many famous names in one place. It's also really hard to decide which seminars to choose, particularly if budget only allows a couple of days of attendance.  My decision to attend Morag MacDonald's lighting seminar was a very good one, as it turned out, because working in low light levels is something most photographers approach with trepidation or even horror. There's so much to go wrong - we're forced to use wide open apertures and slow shutter speeds, not to mention high ISO/ASA ratings. Adding supplementary lighting can have its own pitfalls, depending on your location and your agenda, but Morag's lecture taught us to see opportunities for striking photography when previously we might have chosen to put our cameras away. Morag is also an absolutely lovely lady to work with and every member of our small group felt we were taking away some pretty special and cutting edge lighting techniques.

During the first hour of her presentation Morag reminded us of the way light has been employed by the great masters of the art world, over hundreds of years. Those classic lighting patterns are, of course, what we try to emulate today but camera sensors don't record information as it's seen by the human eye, making each low light shoot a challenging one. Moving into the modern era, the theme of Film Noire affords great opportunities for creative photography, the lighting is in many respects outlandish and unnatural, but nevertheless dramatic and mercifully easy to recreate.

Talking is one thing, but putting it into practice is what matters. The low winter sun was just starting to set when we ventured outside the hotel to explore our first exercises, and that is working with available light. That doesn't just mean natural light, as some believe, but it means seeing and utilizing any light which is present in and around your location. This might be in the form of sunlight, or the lights adorning the interior where you're working, or street lighting. Using that light creatively is what counts, and our job is all about doing what we can with the hand we're dealt.  As light levels fall, we need to supplement the available light in some way and here small portable lighting systems come into their own.  This was my first introduction to LED lighting which is fantastic for recreating the film noire effect mentioned earlier, where primarily (or sometimes only) the face is illuminated. LED lighting is of course very blue, or even greenish, and when shooting RAW this can be corrected, but I rather like the funky-fashion feel of the strong colours it generates. Obviously as the light is falling we're starting to push the ISO up and up - beyond the point where many of us are comfortable. I can honestly say I've never shot at 3200 ISO before, and I dreaded seeing the results, but I was pleasantly surprised when I came home and edited the files. Having a good-natured and wonderfully striking model is a huge bonus and Jo was a bit of a star that day.

Morag is a well known author and trainer, and is based in Bristol.

These images were shot with a 5D and one of my favourite lenses, the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 - I always choose this lens when I want to travel light and when I need reliable autofocus in dim conditions.

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Sussex Photographer Wins Three SWPP Golds

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that this month I've received three Gold Awards from the SWPP (The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) and have been nominated for the coveted Photographer Of The Year 2010, which will be announced at a gala dinner in London in January 2011 (filled with all the movers and shakers in the industry). I'm very pleased to say that I've also received a Silver in the Pictorial category. I'm over the moon. The competition is an international one with around 2,000 submissions arriving each month. For years I've looked longingly at the images recognized by the Society, never thinking my own work would be given the same credence.

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