As somebody who hates flash*, this is a subject near to my heart. Harry Benson, known among other things for his photos in the immediate aftermath of Robert Kennedy’s assassination, offers tips on using natural light in dimly lit environments. It’s mostly common sense. Shoot in aperture priority mode, use a fast (insanely fast, in the case of his 50mm 1.2 prime) lens, utilize the light that’s available to the best possible effect and, perhaps most importantly, don’t be afraid. Still a good read. Two things he doesn’t mention; things that are equally obvious; Use image stabilization if you have it and the single most important tip: use a tripod if it’s even a little bit viable.
*: And by “hate” I mean “doesn’t know how to use very well at all.”
I have a nice Nikon Digital SLR and it has a lot of buttons, lots and lots of buttons combined with so many menu settings that I am still finding new options. This camera takes an amazing technically stunning photograph. There are two questions that I ponder on. Do I take a stunning photograph? Is that particular photograph improved with all the technological wonders of my digital camera?
A hundred years ago, the first infrared photo was published in the Journal of the Royal Photographic Society. To say that the world hasn’t been the same since is a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s certainly looked a bit trippier since. Like so many things, once the purvey of the rich and dedicated, IR photography is almost trivial now. Your camera sensor is already sensetive to IR light, if less so than visible light. So all you have to do to take an infrared shot is filter out the actual, visible colors. I guess it goes without saying that there are filters for that
Even if you don’t have a camera that takes filters, you can play around with IR photography yourself. All it takes is about four layers of Congo Blue
(Photo via Wikipedia)
Years ago when I was shooting as a commercial photographer in Sydney I did a lot of architectural photography. I was hired mainly because of my specialty with low light and available lighting. I loved shooting the visions of architects and interior designers, but most of all I loved the heritage listed and older buildings around Sydney.
My particular obsession was with art deco and gothic theaters. At that time most of them had been torn down or abandoned, the few that remained were so beautiful and many of them had been restored to original specifications.
There is a theater in Cremorne called “The Orpheum”, an art deco theater built in 1935 and fully restored in 1987, reopening in December that year. I used to see any movie that was showing just to experience being there. In the main theater they had an organ that would rise from the ground and would be played before the movie started. Now this was cool as most theaters you are bombarded with Coke ads, boring and I don’t like the taste of the stuff.
Many years ago I realized that taking a stereo photograph of a stationary object is as trivial as taking a picture, locking the settings, moving your camera a few inches to one side, and taking the same picture again. The first shots I took I used a tripod and a ruler laid against the front of it and it worked out fairly well. Unless you have a controlled environment, though, this is all really elaborate and burdensome. Some years later, I thought to myself, “How precise do I really need to be?” Turns out you can get a fairly decent 3D effect freehand. It’s pretty simple, actually. Stand squarely in front of your subject with your feet about two feet apart. Favor your left foot. Frame your shot and lock the settings, Take the pic. Shift your weight over to your right foot and take the shot again. Mission accomplished.
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