Halloween is a great time to dust off your camera skills. The kids look just too cute in their outfits. In this post I would like to go over just a few basics of photographing in low light and composition.
Shooting in Low Light
Halloween is known for its gloomy, dark and scary atmosphere. Most of the photos you will take will be after dark when the kids are out ‘Trick ‘n’ Treating’. First of all, you want to avoid the ‘deer in the headlights’ look that you achieve with many point & shoot camera’s flash. Switch off the Flash, if possible. Now that the flash is off, increase the ISO on your camera. Many compact cameras have a HighISO setting. Also look for your preset that is usually called ‘night time’ or something similar. If you are brave enough to go into ‘Manual’ Mode. Here are the settings that you want:
- high ISO (remember the higher the ISO the more noise you have in the picuture … so don’t go to the highest possible),
- slow Shutter Speed which will allow more light to enter your camera.
- large Aperture – this will increase the opening in your camera and let more light in.
On those settings you might experience blurred images. Try to stablise your camera with a tripod or a gorilla pod or by putting it on a stable object (car, a fence …). You can even stablise yourself by leaning against a wall.
If that all doesn’t work and your images are too dark, too noisy or just too blurred …. try diffusion the flash on your Point and Shoot! Put some thin white tissue paper in front of your flash or a piece of milky white Scotch Tape (Magic Tape). You will loose some of the power of the flash and might have to get closer to your subject, but it will give you a less harsh result. If you are indoors, you can even try to bounce your flash off a white ceiling … use a business card in an angle below the flash and bounce the light.
Most of all have fun with your children at Halloween and create memories!
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