How to shoot without a flash?
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 10:44PM Ok, so you got your first SLR camera. It's an evening, and you feel like taking some photos. You do not have a flash (except for the built in one which is a big no no). What are your options?
- use indoor artificial light (ceiling lamp, desk lamp)
- use outdoor artificial light (street lamps, moving cars, lit windows)
How?
Indoors:
Shoot things that do not move, unless you want to capture movement. Forget about shooting children (unless they are sleeping) or animals. If you are at home, set up a mini studio on top of a coffee table or a desk. Pick your favorite toy, or any small item, and arrange it the way you want. (For this shot, I picked my super yellow super happy mini Eames chair.)
Then point the strongest source of light at it, or bring it closer to the strongest lamp in your room. (In the above shot, I used a reading lamp.) Set your ISO to 800 or higher and open up your aperture wide open. If you have a tripod, use it. Otherwise set your shutter release to "continuous", lean against a floor or something sturdy (to stabilize your arms) and shoot over and over and over. Keep the shutter button pressed to get at least 10 photos in a row. Hopefully at least one of them will not be fuzzy. If they are all too fuzzy, increase your ISO even more. Your aperture should be wide open as well.
You can also try taking some long exposure photos indoors, and possibly entering the exposure for few seconds. What I mean is basically you physically entering the scene for few seconds while your shutter is open. Yes! It's very unorthodox and awesome and you will have a lot of fun in the process. You can try changing your position a couple of times during the exposure like in the above photo. Or you can simply stay in one place for the "ghost" effect.
Outdoors:
Tripod is your friend in this case. If you do not have one, find a bench, railing, window sill, anything you can put your camera on to keep it still. Dial your camera to manual (M) and set the aperture to something high (F18 or so) and shutter speed to something very very long (25 seconds or so). Don't forget to keep the ISO small (at 200). You want to get very little light in, but for a long time. To avoid shaking the camera, set it on 10 second self timer and wait 10 + 25 seconds to see the result. I find night photography addictive. Every picture comes out different, cars come and go, people move (leaving dark shadows). The photos of lonely street corner, or a busy downtown intersection result in equally big "wow" effect.
The night photography is a great excuse to take a walk alone or with someone special. You end up discovering different parts of the city you live in. I love taking my camera on tropical vacations, where you can stay out at night without feeling cold. This above shot was taken in Waikiki, Honolulu.
If you live in a cold place, prepare for your night shoot and bring some fingerless gloves, scarf, hat, and extra blanket for sitting. The below shot of the Golden Gate bridge was taken on one of the coldest summer nights ever. You know, the coldest summers are always in San Francisco. But they are totally worth it. :)
Have you ever shot at night without a flash? I'm eager to hear what's your favorite technique.
Reader Comments (4)
thanks for all the info! I haven't shot at night yet (no time for night rendezvous with my town) but I found your writing about the night shooting technique very helpful and your fab images inspiring. Can't wait to try it.
I especially like the shot you took in Waikiki!
It's certainly now always an option but sometimes, when you find yourself without a flash in low light (and especially when your without a tripod), I think it's best to just boost the ISO as high as you can and embrace the grain. It can make magic. ;]
imagine a very windy night, so windy that you feel the camera moving in your hands, no tripod but a very strong feeling that you have to take the shot. so bring the iso up to 6400, close the lens to f/11 shutter speed at 1/6 or higher and the results are wonderful.
I haven't shot at night yet (no time for night rendezvous with my town) but I found your writing about the night shooting technique very helpful and your fab images inspiring.