Instruction

Fix the camera is extremely important, so to get a good frame at night, I will definitely need a tripod. Be sure to take it with you when purposefully go to photograph. If the wonderful frame appeared in your head, and the tripod did not turn with him, use everything that is at hand. You can put the camera on the railing, borders, all kinds of racks and fences. If the surface is uneven to adjust the angle of the camera, use notepad, phone, etc.

Even if the camera has a "night" shooting mode, turn it off, use manual settings. Free sensitivity is best to set as low as possible. The fact is that with long exposures and high sensitivity, the ISO frame turns out to be noisy. Ideally, it is worth photographing at 100 ISO, setting up an exposure under the features of lighting. At the same time, focus on medium lit objects. It is worth sacrificing sensitivity only if you simply cannot afford a long exposure, for example, when a photographed object moves.

The optimal value for excerpt is from 2 to 10 seconds. If you use longer intervals, then you will use a trigger, timer or remote. If there are sources of artificial light on long excerpts, wear a blender on the lens, it will help protect the frame from the effect of light, which is outside the frame.

Be sure to make some pictures. Even if you have tremendous experience in night photography, all the same in this time you can make a mistake. Several photos with different modes will enable and guaranteed to get a good result and even perhaps discover and something new.

Try to do without zoom. Optical zoom reduces the amount of light falling into the frame, and in the night photography it is one of the most important moments. Digital zoom should not be used at all.

Last weekend I was at a party with my compact camera and took some pictures for memory. The problem is that there was bad lighting in the room and I had to use the flash. The result was a lot of illuminated photos. The flash was very strong! What should I do next time? - asks Sally.

Sally, you are not alone having similar problems. I see a lot of pictures made with a flash, with illuminated photos syndrome, many of which are removed on compact digital cameras. In fact, it is one of the most common problems that lovers are faced in digital photography, since when I collected material for the article, I found a lot of such pictures on Flickr.

The problem with which the owners of compact digital cameras are faced when it comes to using the flash, is that it is difficult to control the power and direction of the flash (compared to mirror cameras equipped with external flares that may be directed to any side)

However, you should not lose heart and put up with this circumstance - not all is lost. Below are 7 tips for the owners of compact digital cameras (they will suit and for owners of mirror cameras that wish to use a flash)

Learn to use flash as an additional source

The flash should always be considered only as an additional light source. Almost every situation when you will shoot, there is a certain level of natural lighting. This lighting is very important, since you are trying to take a snapshot as you see it. Your flash should be used in addition to the existing light, and not as the main source to illuminate the scene taken. If you use the flash as the main light source, the snapshot will look artificial (approx. Translator - I would say, like a typical picture with a built-in flash).

As a result, knowing this basic requirement, you will see that the majority of the following tips are just working to soften the outbreak light or make it less noticeable.

OK, let's now analyze the basic methods that avoid illumination of the flash.

1. Make a step back

One of the most simple ways Reduce the effect of light from the flash - increase the distance between you and the subject. Although I usually advise people to come closer to the shooting object, to fill the frame - this often can only aggravate the effect of the outbreak. Many frames are obtained with an illumination simply because the photographer is too close to the object being removed.

2. Dissection of light

If your digital camera does not allow you to control the flash power (see more detail below), you can try to make it manually using other ways. Owners of mirror cameras with external flash Specially made diffusers can use, but for compact chambers will have to show some ingenuity.

One of the most effective ways is the use of translucent material, you just need to fix it on the flash. I saw some use small sheets of white paper, fixed in front of the flash, or polymer translucent material. It is only necessary to remember that the shade of the material you use will affect the color of light outgoing from the flash, and therefore on the shade of the picture. Therefore, choose white ribbon, cloth or paper for use. This will give a more natural color than using the painted material.

3. Light redirection

Another method, often used when shooting with an external flash - direction of light into the ceiling or another reflective surface. This is possible due to the rotating flash head, so that it can emit light in different directions.

Compact cameras cannot change the firmware direction, but you can try one trick. I saw a few photographers who did it, just taking a small piece of a white card and put it at an angle before the flash so that her light was redirected to the ceiling or even on the wall.

We will need experiments to determine the correct angle of the reflective card. The results will also differ, depending on the shooting conditions (the distance to the object, the ceiling height, the intensity of the surrounding lighting, etc.). Again it is better to use the map white color, as well as pay attention to the color of the ceiling and walls that can be brought into the image of an extraneous shade.

4. Night mode

Most compact digital chambers have the so-called night shooting mode. In this mode, the camera uses slow flash synchronization. We have already talked about this in the school of digital photography, but simply speaking, it means that the shooting is made with a longer shutter speed, and the flash is used. That is, you get a little more ambient lighting in the frame, freezing at the same time moving with a flash. Snapshots made in this mode will not be highly sharp, but they can be very funny and spectacular (especially if there are multi-colored light in the room).

5. Reducing the outbreak power

Some compact digital cameras have the ability to some flash power adjustment. In order to find out this and be able to use, read the instructions for your camera. If the ability to adjust is, try to reduce the outbreak power to the stage or two to see how it affects the picture. Experiments may take some time, but it will help you do much more natural pictures.

6. Add light

For this, you may well be expelled from the parties, but still adding lighting to the scene removed is a rather obvious way to correct the situation. We will not rush to extremes and include all the existing light, as it just kills the atmosphere of the picture. The best way - Go with people removed closer to a source of light. I did it when shooting a wedding - just got up before open door In a brightly lit room, and the light, falling on the dance floor, much better covered the guests.

Another way to strengthen the influence of natural lighting on the subject is to think about the reflection of the light. For example, if I photograph someone standing next to a white wall, it will be highlighted better than if stood in front of a black wall. It looks like the use of the reflector.

7. ISO, exposure, diaphragm

And finally last method Reduce the flare effect is a change in camera settings, especially those that affect the perception of light by the camera. This iso, excerpt and aperture.

I will not explain the foundations of the exposure here, but if your camera has the ability to adjust any of these parameters, it can be very useful. In a nutshell:

ISO. - Increasing ISO value allows you to increase the sensitivity of the camera to the light. This means that the surrounding lighting will have a greater impact, and you will use the flash less. Keep in mind that an increase in ISO increases the noise level in the image. .

Diaphragm - adjusts the size of the partition opening in the lens, thereby changing the flow of light into the chamber. The wider the aperture is opened, the more light will go to the matrix. The discovery of the diaphragm means a decrease in the diaphragm. Keep in mind that opening the diaphragm, you also reduce the depth of field in the frame. That is, you should focus on the object that is the point of attention, as not all in the frame will be sharp.

Excerpt - Time during which a camera shutter is opened. The longer the shutter is open, the longer time the light on the matrix affects. This is another parameter for learning and experiments. Keep in mind that using a long exposure, you can get a blurred image of moving objects.

Please note that not all compact cameras have the ability to adjust these parameters. Read the instructions, especially if your camera has exposure priority modes and diaphragms. Personally, I start with an increase in ISO, then turn to a wider aperture, and I use long shutter speed if I'm going to shoot with slow synchronization.

Taking off the night of people without an outbreak, you can acquire invaluable photographing experience with natural light. Most people believe that as soon as he dark, you need to start using an outbreak, but natural lighting from lanterns, lamps, shop windows, etc. give your photos more interesting view. Snapshots made at night without using flash will turn out more natural.

There are two main directions of night photos - it night portrait and street photos. The main task of the nightly portrait is the production. So we get control of the movement of the object. In the street photography of control, we will not have better use the priority of excerpts to avoid unnecessary blur. Let's consider several ways to photographing nightlocks.

How to photograph portrait at night.

So, for shooting a nightly portrait, we will need a tripod and a trigger or any other device for remote synchronization. They will help you avoid unwanted camera movements when shooting with long exposure. Provided that you have everything you need, you can start shooting with weak lighting.

The main condition when shooting with long exposure - firmly installed on a tripod camera and a trigger or a shutter descent timer. Thanks to this, you get rid of the movement of the camera causing lubrication in photos. In these shooting conditions, you can use any lens and shoot at very low ISO values.

Night paparazzi

Street photo at night - a very difficult task for the photographer, because You cannot control the movement of the object. Therefore, you must take off with a high shutter speed to have time to stop moving. This requires a high sensitivity and a light lens. Sensitivity in the chamber is regulated with using ISO. And the higher its value, the less light and time is required for the correct exposure of the picture. With high ISO values, the number of noise increases and the quality of the photo is worse.

Light lenses, these are lenses with a diaphragm equal to F1.4 - 1.8. The more we open the diaphragm, the more light passes through the shutter when shooting. To remove a person at low light in the rest position, for example, if it is worth it, you will need the shutter speed of about 1/15, for a person who is already moving already 1/60, for a running person somewhere around 1/125, and why make Stop a moment, removing the running person - 1/500.

Measure

Manual or semi-automatic modes installed in the chamber will promote the best resultsCompared to automatic mode when shooting at night.

When shooting at night you can get a lot of dark zones in the photo that we are not at all interesting. To avoid this, try manually adjust the shutter speed and aperture, you can also use the point measurement, which will give a more accurate result and help you understand how to remove correctly in the dark. In general, when shooting at night, there is no "correct" or "incorrect" exposure. For each photo will be their individual settingsDepending on the objectives you pursue.

Creative blur at night

Lubrication is obtained when moving the object. Most often we are trying to avoid it, but sometimes you need to leave this moment to "revive" your snapshot.

Draw a light

Drawing with light or painting light is used as an addition to existing techniques. For this, it usually takes a small flashlight, and send light to the object of shooting.

White balance (b b)

The main type of lighting at night is the usual incandescent lamps that give warm yellow tones. Green color Give fluorescent lamps. For some photos, color light will be part of the mood, they do not need to edit. But often this light spoil the image, then it is necessary to correct the white balance. For night shooting, it is best to use RAW image format. In such a format, it is easy to correct the BB without losing the image quality.

The ability to manage existing light sources in night shooting is the main task in obtaining excellent pictures. It is not easy, but the ability comes with practice. Learn to overcome these difficulties, and you will achieve success in the night shooting.

Buying your first mirror chamber, you have an excellent opportunity, first of all, do high-quality photos in weak lighting. It can be a survey at home, in a cafe on a festival, at the prom in the evening of your children, or at the event in the big hall.

But in most cases, even by purchasing an expensive camera, anyway pictures in the room It turns out dim, lubricated and not black. How to avoid this? How to set your camera to receive great pictures? We will talk about it in this article.

The shooting in the room can be divided into two categories: With flash (external) and without flash. Each category has their own advantages and limitations. Consider a Read more:

Photo indoors without flash

This is the first to come across the amateur photographer when buying a mirror chamber. After all, there is no external flash yet, and the built-in only spoils the frame, gives it the kind "as the bud then from the soap."

Therefore, to get great pictures, you need to do the following:

- Maximum open a diaphragm. Those. If you have a Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor lens 18-105 mm f 3.5-5.6 Try to the value F / was always minimal (F / 3.5).

- go to the settings ISO. And put AUTO-ISO: 1600. This means that the camera will arrange the ISO value (light sensitivity) in the range from 100 to 1600.

- It remains to adjust the excerpt to correctly. If you are photographing sedentary people (which are sitting, standing, pose, etc.), boldly put an exposure 1/40S. — 1 / 60s. But if your task, for example, to shoot children in motion, the excerpt must already be at least 1/125 And in short.

Here is the principle and that's it. These are the basic settings that you need to shoot in weak lighting. Remember if you have snapshots are derived darkthen you can raise values AUTO-ISO. before 2000 or higher, as well as put longer exposure, let's say 1 / 20s. — 1 / 10s.. (But in this case, you need to keep the camera still so as not to get a lubricated frames because of the trembling of hands).

The main thing is practice! Remember, if you take off during the daytime, try to put an object of your shooting next to the open large windows, sources of natural light. In this case, the results will be much better if the windows are hung with curtains. In the daytime, try to include all sorts of lamps / chandeliers / lamps, etc. to provide a large number of Lights falling on the matrix.

How else can you improve the quality of the pictures?

You must understand that even buying a camera for 1000$ in which there is a standard (whale) lens, you will not always have perfect pictures. Marina to himself lensbecause This is the most important part in the chamber. Mostly, Only from the lens and depends the quality of your photos. Therefore, pay attention to light optics. For beginners, I strongly recommend purchasing tammate Fixes on 35mm f / 1.8either 50mm f / 1.8because They possess a huge lighter, which will help you when shooting in weakly familial premises, and their price of $ 200-300 will be for everyone to pocket, as well as are acceptable for shooting focal lengths.

But note that using the Fix lens you will not have the ability to "zind", i.e. Approach / remote. If for some reason you are not satisfied with such lenses, pay attention to light zums. They are much more convenient for fixes, because Ensure you from the need to go forward-back to bring closer / removal, but possess two disadvantages:

1. That's price. Such lenses are much more expensive (once in 5, at least) than ordinary fixes on 35 / 55mm.

2. Lights. In all existing zoom lenses at the moment, the light is f / 2.8.

Photo indoors with flash

No matter how you love shooting without flashEven having professional light optics, not always enough lighting to make a good frame. For example, on this photo taken in closed room, without flashes, do not do, although it is removed on a professional light zoom lens Nikkor 24-70 F / 2.8, worth over $ 1800:

I want to immediately notice that under the outbreak is understood not embedded, but purchased separately - external flash. Only with it you can achieve an excellent result uniformly illuminating the object of shooting. When shooting with an external flash, set these settings:

- shooting mode: Priority of the diaphragm (A. - in Nikon models, AV. - In Canon models on the mode selection wheel). This mode allows us to adjust only the diaphragm, and the camera shutter speeds itself.

- If you are not yet well understood in the light sensitivity settings (ISO), you should set AUTO-ISO: 800, or even less, because When shooting with flash not needed large values ISO.

- Stop pulse power outbreak. This is done on the outbreak buttons more / less, i.e. If you get dark pictures, put the pulse power in plus (+), if very crossbars - in minus (-).

With the settings figured out, now you need to figure out technique shooting with outdoor flash. Its main advantage is Swivel headwhich allows you to direct the light pulse in different directions.

Always Try to direct the flash head not directly to the shooting object, and to the sideto light reflected From the nearest wall and leng evenly to the object. Surely you noticed that professional photographers, the flash head is always rotated up / stron? This is done in order to reflect the light from ceiling / Wall And evenly illuminate the person who is removed.

When you just nowhere reflex. Near the object of shooting there are no walls, and the ceilings are too high, pull out reflector (White paper, eat in almost all modern flashes). The light will be reflected from it and also evenly fall onto a person.

Direct the flash head straight head-on"It is only in those cases when you are far from the object being removed (more than 3x-4 meters).

Conclusion

Analyzing this article can be concluded that the ideal option for photographing indoors there will be as light opticsand good external Flash. After all, the light optics makes excellent shots with a full immersion in the atmosphere of the picture, i.e. "As is", photos are obtained by alive and real. And the use of an external flash is always useful to you at least when the illumination of the room is extremely small and no optics is able to cope with its task.

What if combine These two ways (shooting with light-sound optics + external flash), then you can get here such wonderful frames:

There are questions in photo indoorsor ? You can ask them in the comments to this article, consultation All are free and free! :)

Receive bright, clear photos with good natural lighting can a photographer with any level of training, even if it removes the usual "soap". A very different situation is the situation in shooting in conditions of insufficient or weak lighting. We need to once again talk about what role the light is played in the photo. Some novice photos of photos sincerely believe that the key to high-quality, sharp pictures with weak lighting is the use of an advanced, more expensive camera.

However, as practice shows, no high resolution of the camera matrix, nor the built-in image stabilizer nor the multiple zoom does not help if it is necessary to obtain high-quality, clear photos in low light conditions. The same applies to the use of the outbreak, which often does not bring the desired result. Today it will be discussed how to improve the quality of your photos when shooting in conditions of insufficient lighting without an outbreak.

Palace of Catalan Music, FR 52 mm, F3.5, ISO 800, 1/20 C

Why are the pictures when weak lighting are bad?

Before talking in detail about what ways to improve the quality of photo images exist when shooting in conditions of weak light, you need to say the most important thing - why are there such photographs in such situations not qualitative and bad? Indeed, often when shooting on the street at night or at the light of the dim light bulb in a closed room, photographs look lubricated and not clear. The thing is that the light plays the defining and most important role In the photo. If there is not enough light on the photosensitive matrix of your camera, then, most likely, you will get pictures of unsatisfactory, poor quality.

What to do in such a situation? The output suggests itself - use the outbreak. Almost all modern digital cameras are equipped with a built-in flash, which seemed to be just intended for such situations. But, in fact, the use of flash often leads to undesirable and unpleasant effects. After all, the flash with a weak lighting of the scene is like a light explosion, which leads to the fact that the objects you want to photograph will be lit in the frame too bright, hard, and therefore will look unnatural.

The built-in flash simply "destroys" the entire idea of \u200b\u200ba picture with rigid and deep shadows or, on the contrary, illuminated areas. The foreground can be released fairly flat, while the rear background will be not worked enough. At the same time, photographs made at low light without flash, look much more natural and beautiful. Of course, this result can be achieved only when proper approach The process of shooting and the presence of the corresponding skills in the photographer.

Palace of Catalan Music - Scene, FR 52 mm, F4.5, ISO 800, 1/15 C

In some cases, the use of the flash is generally undesirable, since the flash can spoil the natural lighting of the scene or scare the object in the frame. In many museums and galleries, the shooting with an outbreak is prohibited, while in the exhibition halls the situation with the lighting is far from the ideal. And when photographing the evening landscapes, the flash can generally have a photographer with a bear service. In this regard, it is necessary to think about how to improve the quality of photos without using the flash, that is, by other means. And here there is only one option - to catch as much light flows as possible in the optical scheme of the camera. The more the light turns out to be on the surface of the photosensitive sensor, the greater the likelihood of obtaining a high-quality, bright frame.

Improve the quality of photos when shooting without flash

A modern digital photo offers us several ways to make the camera's matrix capture as much light as possible:

- Sensitivity settingsISO.

Perhaps the easiest and most logical way to raise the ISO sensitivity in the settings of the digital camera. This parameter depends on how much light will fall on a sensitive sensor. The ISO value can be squeezed to a maximum, but the problem is that high sensitivity, although it allows you to capture more light flux, but at the same time increases the probability of manifestation of noise in the photo. In this regard, it is recommended not to unscrew the ISO strongly, and raise the value of the sensitivity to the optimal level for your camera. This may be, for example, 400 or 800 ISO units with weak lighting.

You may get a little noise in the pictures, but it can be easily removed using software Postprocessing. ISO lifting optimal solution When photographing in dark closed rooms or in the concert hall. Also, the adjustment of sensitivity settings will be appropriate when shooting moving objects in conditions of weak light.

Trevi Fountain, FR 27 mm, F5.6, ISO 100, 2 C

- Optics and aperture

If you are quite often removed in low light conditions, it is worth buying a good test lens. Optics with a diaphragm F / 1.4 - 1.8 will make it possible to photograph better with weak light. The discovery of the diaphragm is one of the ways to solve the problem of lack of light in the frame. It is desirable if it allows a photographic engineering, open a diaphragm to the maximum. Due to this, there will be more light on the sensitive sensor of the camera, which will ensure better, light shots.

The more you open the aperture hole, the mortal exposure will be required to properly exposed the frame. It is best to switch to a diaphragm priority mode to be able to manually install suitable values. For example, f / 2.8 or f / 1.4. Opening a diaphragm at the maximum, be careful because in this case the risk is increasing that bright objects in the frame will be too blurred, and the rear background and weakly consistent items will remain poorly worked out. So here, as in the case of photosensitivity, it is also required to find the most correct value.

- Long exposures and tripod

Another way to shoot in the conditions of weak light is the use of long exposures. True, this option is advisable solely when shooting fixed objects or landscapes at twilight time. The optimal value of exposure is determined by the features of the lighting of the scene and usually ranges around 1/60 to 10 seconds. When selecting excerpts, it is worth navigating on average lit objects in the frame. Using long shutters, leave the ISO light sensitivity settings to eliminate the appearance of noise.

Long exposures, of course, will require you to use tripod. It is necessary to avoid the lubricant of the frame due to the slightest motions of the camera. It is also recommended to get a shutter cable or use the shutter descent timer to eliminate any movement of the camera. If the tripod did not turn under hand, you can simply put the camera on the border, railing or land, tightly clasping the chamber body with both hands. The main thing is to provide maximum fixability of the chamber during frame exposure.

By choosing one of the above methods. You can ensure a sufficient amount of light on the matrix so that the photo is acceptable. It is worth mentioning about a few more practical councilsconcerning how to shoot with weak light without flash.

Universita 'Degli Studi Di Roma La Sapienza, FR 27 mm, F3.5, ISO 100, 4 C

First, try not to use a digital or optical zoom. It reduces the amount of light falling on the matrix, which is negatively reflected in the quality of the photo image. This is especially true of digital zoom. If there is a need for an object approximation, it is better to approach it closer than to use the zoom.

Secondly, even if there is a so-called "night mode" of shooting on your camera, it is better to abandon it and use semi-automatic or manual mode. This will allow you to get greater freedom of creativity, achieve better results when shooting in conditions of weak light and at the same time thoroughly examine the capabilities of your camera. If you set the manual settings correctly in accordance with the characteristics of the lighting, then really high-quality and unusual results may turn out. Try manually to expose shutter speed and aperture, use the point exposure measurement, adjust the ISO and White Balance settings. Also in low light conditions, it is advisable to shoot in the RAW format to save the maximum of parts. Thanks to this, you will get more opportunities to correct the small defects of photo image and adjust the results in a graphic editor.

Thirdly, if you take pictures with weak light, be sure to first make several trial pictures with different settings and in different modes to understand how to achieve more quality photo. You can also make a frame with a built-in flash to compare it with photos obtained by changing manual settings (increasing ISO, discovery aperture or long shutter speeds). You can compare individual frames directly on the LCD, using the scaling function. Sometimes a photo taken using the built-in flash may be more acceptable in quality. For example, in cases where the rear background for you does not play a special role, it is important only that the object of shooting is well covered.

So, in order to get better images with weak lighting without the use of the flash, you will have to do so that as much light can fall on the camera's matrix. To do this, you can increase the sensitivity of the sensor, to open a diaphragm as much as possible or use longer excerpts by installing a chamber to a tripod or reliable support. You will certainly improve the quality of your photos at low illumination, and separate small image defects can always be removed using specialized software.