Photography Tips | Low Light Conditions Without Using Flash
© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Sarawak Cultural Show | Annah Rais Longhouse Sarawak | 24-70mm | ISO 200 | f/5.6 | 1/200
© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Sarawak Cultural Show | Annah Rais Longhouse Sarawak | 24-70mm | ISO 2000 | f/2.8 | 1/250
I’ve to admit that I’m the one that hate using flash during any photography assignment but sometimes I’ve no other option but to use flash because I’m not working for myself, and since my department require good photographs in the sense of sharp looking image and well lit subject, whereby artistic looking image are not welcome.
Anyway back to the photograph above, if you have read my previous blog post recently, you know that this photograph were taken during state visit of His Excellency Vaclav Klaus, The President of Czech to Kuching Sarawak, and those cultural performance were taken during lunch time, to entertain the president, I don’t think I’ve to show you the photograph of the president at its table, because it’s not something that you wanted to see, furthermore, as many of you already know, normally photographers are not allowed to take a pictures when the VVIP having its meals, so I need to find something to kill the time while waiting for the next itinerary.
Anyway, this post is not about the president, but I just wanted to show you what a difference that it makes by not using flash for this particular shots. The above photograph were taken using flash and even though the output is clear image, but it has no mood, it look flat to my eye, lack depths, maybe this one is more about taste, there is nothing wrong about the photograph but personally I don’t like the result, so I decided to switch off the flash and rely on the natural light coming from the left side of this photograph.
Since this area is quite dark, I need to push up the ISO to 2000 and open up the aperture to its fullest, which is f/2.8, the reason I need to push the ISO so high is because I wanted to use a fast shutter speed to freeze the performance and ISO 2000 allow me to use fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. Now the photograph have more depth, layers and look close to the original scene because there were no additional light present other than what was already there, which is a combination of natural light and available light coming from the fluorescent light bulb and you can also see the spectators behind which can’t be seen from the photograph taken using flash.
There is no right or wrong way photographing this cultural performance, it is about taste, it is about personal preference, how you wanted the end result to look like and for me, I like the photograph taken without using flash. So the next time when you have the opportunity to photograph this kind of similar occasion, try to experiment, mix up, try to use flash, reduce the output of your flash to just “fill in” or simple switch off the flash totally and with todays new camera technology, even the entry level DSLR are capable of shooting at High ISO with minimum noise, so just try it and you might be surprise with the result. There is a reason why DSLR are equipped with High ISO capability, so you can use it when the need arise or simply to let you be more creative with your picture taking.
