What are the skills of low-light portrait photography?

When the light is bad, we should have the courage to take pictures, look for interesting light and then think about how to take interesting pictures with light. At the same time, portrait photos in low light can often go deep into the shadow of things without floating on the surface, and can show things that other photography methods can't. The following are my carefully recommended low-light portrait photography skills, hoping to help you.

Low-light portrait photography skills

First, look for the light.

The light distribution is uneven in low light environment, so portrait shooting needs to express facial expressions and expressions well. Therefore, it is more appropriate to choose the front light or side light, so that the face of the person can have relatively sufficient light, and the model is required to use the posture of leaning, supporting and supporting as much as possible when shooting to keep the body stable. If conditions permit, you can also fill the face with a reflector to make the portrait effect more prominent.

Second, balance light and shade.

The problem is not that the light in the whole photo is dark, but that some places in a scene are bright and some places are dark. The light and shade can't be controlled by the camera, so it is necessary to train and identify the evenly distributed positions of light sources at the beginning, so that the photos taken will be full and rich.

Third, use a lens with a large aperture.

"Large" means a large aperture, such as f/ 1.2 or f/2. The larger the aperture, the greater the amount of light entering. In addition, in the case of shallow depth of field and insufficient light, it is really difficult to take clear photos. In that case, it's best to use f/ 1.2 or f/2 lens. When the aperture of most lenses is adjusted to f/2.8, images with good visual effect and sufficient depth of field can be taken.

Note: The aperture of most zoom lenses can be adjusted to f/2.8 in wide-angle shooting and f/4.5 in long-distance shooting, which is not suitable for shooting in limited light. In order to make up for the lack of brightness, you can use a flash or reflector to supplement some brightness for shooting.

Fourth, consider using a fixed-focus lens.

A fixed-focus lens is a lens with a fixed focal length, such as 24mm f/2.8, 50mm f/ 1.8, 85mm f/ 1.2, etc. This kind of lens often has a large aperture, so it still has a good shooting effect in the case of insufficient light.

Fifth, increase sensitivity.

A camera that can increase sensitivity can definitely double the photographer's work efficiency. Today, many cameras can adjust the sensitivity to 3200, and the imaging effect is very good. High sensitivity is prone to some noise, but it doesn't matter, good photos always have some noise.

Note: If the brightness of the photos taken at the high IS0 setting is improved in the later period, the noise in the dark part will be obviously displayed, which will affect the image quality and should be properly applied.

Six, manual focus

When shooting portraits or body art, we usually point the central focus at the model's eyes, and then re-compose the composition by half pressing the shutter. In the dark environment, sometimes the subject's light is too dark and the contrast is too weak to focus and focus accurately. At this time, you need to use manual focusing or use a lens with full-time manual function to make manual adjustment at any time.

Seven, accurate measurement

In low light environment, the camera can be set to spot metering. Approaching the model, let the uniform area of the face of the person fill the viewfinder, half press the shutter, and measure a group of aperture and shutter combinations. Then set the shooting mode to manual mode ***M***, and set the parameters according to the previously measured aperture and shutter value to ensure the accurate exposure of the face.

Note: You may ask why you don't use a tripod. Tripod is very practical when shooting city night scenes, but real life is fleeting and won't stop for your convenience, so using tripod will delay your time.

Eight, fall in love with the vague background

Low-light portraits are usually shot with large aperture and shallow depth of field. In addition to the figure * * *, even the figure can't guarantee the overall clarity. The principle is to ensure that the face or eyes are clear. * * * Everything else is vague and dark, which can highlight the theme of the characters. The distant lights are only dotted with hazy backgrounds, which is why almost all photographers like low-light portraits to varying degrees!

Camera parameters

Aperture Priority * * * A * * Mode Aperture Size: Set to the maximum aperture value of the lens. The scene light at night is generally in a low illumination state, which requires us to use the maximum aperture as much as possible to ensure the shutter speed.

In low light, the requirements for cameras and lenses have improved a lot. The good performance of large aperture lens in low light is also the biggest motivation for many enthusiasts to spare no effort to upgrade the lens.

Sensitivity: set to 400-800 In order to ensure a safe shutter speed * * * the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens used * * *, the shutter should be improved by setting the sensitivity on the premise that the aperture is opened to the maximum.

Because it is exquisite portrait photography, we should try to get higher image quality, so unless it is extreme, the sensitivity should be set between 400-800 as far as possible.

Exposure compensation: Setting the aperture and sensitivity is exposure compensation.

According to different lighting conditions, you can shoot works with different tones. Because most of the night scenes are in a weak light environment with many dark parts, the camera's metering system will automatically increase the exposure to ensure that the exposure is at the correct gray level, thus making the dark parts of the picture too bright.

In fact, at this time, the camera slowed down the shutter speed, greatly increasing the possibility of virtual shooting, and at the same time losing the unique taste of portraits at night. Night images are not for brightness, but reasonable darkness is the unique charm of night images.

Reasonable understanding of exposure and keeping the light and shadow atmosphere of night scene is characterized by the unique weak light effect at night, which is reasonably expressed through exposure control, rather than brightening the dark parts according to the camera's own judgment.

Shooting suggestion

1. Use the environment to stabilize the camera.

In portrait shooting at night, it is inevitable to use slow synchronous flash mode; The colorful effect of blurred background also needs the assistance of large aperture and long focal length. At this time, it would be great if there was a tripod for the camera. If there is no tripod, you can use stable building facilities such as walls and railings, but these are not as flexible and stable as tripods.

2. Auxiliary light focusing in dark environment

When it is difficult for the camera to lock the focus of a dim object, there are two good methods: ① focus manually, and observe the virtual focus or real focus of the target through the viewfinder with the naked eye; ② Use an auxiliary light source to help the camera complete autofocus.

3. Rational use of reflector

When shooting portraits at night, if only natural ambient light is used, the sensitivity is high, the pixel quality is poor, the recording ability of photosensitive elements to extreme pixel data is limited, the image contrast will be great, and the hierarchical performance is not perfect. In addition, when the ambient light source is dark, it is difficult to deal with the light perception of the face. The application of reflector will show a powerful effect here. With the help of the reflection of flash or other light sources, the details of the model can be enriched in the dark, making the color of the picture more symmetrical and natural.

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