How To Get Better Digital Photos In Low Light Conditions Without Using A Flash

Digital photography is easy- when you have plenty of light and the conditions are ideal. But, as you may know, lighting conditions in digital photography aren’t always as we would like them. In digital photography its essential that we work with light as much as humanly possible otherwise disappointing results may occur.

One of my subscribers asked me how he could take digital photos at his friends wedding. He did not want to use the flash to distract the bride and groom during the time they were saying their vows. What he was asking me was how to get better digital photos in low light conditions without the necessity of using a flash. It’s a very good digital photography question. Good news it can be done. But like everything in photography there are advantages and disadvantages.

The flash is the biggest solution to low light digital photography. However the problem with this is that not all situations can benefit from using the flash. Not only does it interfere with your “moment” socially and artistically, but the flash can flatten out your digital images. This is especially true for a flash that is built-in on digital cameras. The built in flash (and a flash in general) has the effect of lighting your subject on the front only which compresses the depth in your digital photos. Compressed depth can really decrease the beauty of your subject in your digital photography.

This can be avoided to a certain degree, depending on your subject and by watching how your light falls. Learn how to see how the light falls on your surroundings and your mind will become adept at knowing what works and what doesn’t with the flash

Really, a good way to combat the problem in low light you can try using a higher ISO. Your ISO simply means the amount of sensitivity of light falling on your sensor. For example take traditional photography as a comparison to digital photography. Traditional photography ISO will be film sensitivity. (ISO in traditional terms works with film speed as well.)

The only set back in digital photography ISO is noise. If your ISO is perfect for the photo yet there is a significant increase in noise you can use software to sharpen up your digital photo. There are two good noise reduction software programs called“Noise Ninja” or “Neat Image”. If you don’t push the ISO higher you may find the problem with camera shake if a tripod is not in hand. By adjusting the ISO you will find that noise is better than camera shake. In digital photography noise will always be something to consider.

In digital photography, a higher ISO allows you to take photos in low light situations. In traditional photography you’d have to change your roll of film from. In digital photography ISO give you the opportunity to adjust a setting, rather than fiddle with changing film. This is advantageous if the subject is not going to stay around or you yourself are unable to stay for an extended length of time.

I’ll use another example. Let’s take for example you are taking dome digital shots indoors, like someone speaking, or playing an instrument. Perhaps the flash is not appropriate in this situation. In this case (which happens a lot in digital photography) you would simply adjust the ISO to a higher setting. If you set the camera on “ISO Auto” your digital camera will then detect that a higher ISO is necessary. Alternatively you can set the ISO yourself. This higher sensitivity can give you the opportunity of gaining the right exposure for the shot.

If you find that’s still not right, because your digital photo now has camera shake and you don’t have a tripod, you can in fact decide on the next top ISO which will then enable you to select a faster shutter speed.

Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

How To Sharpen Your Digital Photography Images

One draw back that digital photography has is that the images don’t have the same sharpness as traditional photography has. But this needn’t be a problem because there is a very neat trick you can use in Photoshop to help sharpen your digital photography images.

Lets start this digital photography lesson by looking at the digital camera. All digital cameras photograph images which have a normal pattern of pixels that make up this image. In some digital photography images a moiré effect is created. To avoid this, modern slr digital cameras come with an in built filter that givens a softer effect to the image.

When you are faced with having to sharpen a noisy digital photography image you’ll find that some photos are easier to sharpen than others. This might be caused from having a too higher ISO. The usual way of adding sharpness to a digital image has it problems too; it can actually increase the noise in your image quite a bit. To clarify this point, what is actually happening is the noise isn’t being increased as such, it’s being enhanced.

There is a way to sharpen noisy digital photo images without going into the noise itself.

To begin with its important to understand colour modes in Photoshop. The easiest way we remember colour modes is when we think of RGB mode. This is a “channel” of colours which are Red, Green and Blue. As I was taught by my good friend Lyndie Jeffry, there are more colour modes where your digital photo can be altered, adjusted and sharpened.

When I was first learning about digital photography Lyndie taught me that you can involve the CMYK mode which uses four colour channels. This stands for Cian, Magenta, Yellow and Black. (Yes I know “Black doesn’t start with a “K”.)

Lyndie explained to me that the best one to use for this purpose is the L-A-B mode. LAB mode really just related to the 3 channels it uses. In a nutshell Lab stands for the individual channels. The “L” really means “luminance”, "A" the green-red aspect "B" the blue-yellow aspect. When working in LAB mode you can modify the brightness of your digital photo and keep the saturating and colours the same. The way this is possible is because practically no image information is depleted or lost when you convert to Lab mode. It also stays good when you convert back again, which is extremely handy. (Especially with highly valuable photos such as other peoples wedding photos.) Not everyone uses this, but it’s a neat trick with some digital images.

In some digital photography images you can simply choose to sharpen the L channel in LAB mode. By doing this much of the noise in the image is in the other channels that are usually not affected by this sharpening effect.

Now this may not work for every single noisy digital photography image you have. But in some situations it works very well. I suggest you try it to see the effect you give. I’ve used it a few times and it’s saved my you-know-what. So if you’re in a tight spot with a noisy image, give this a go, you might be surprised with the results!

By Amy Renfrey

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How To Use Colour Effectively To Enhance Your Digital Photography

Digital photography has a lot of fantastic opportunities. When I say “opportunities” I mean artistic opportunities. You see succeeding in digital photography goes way beyond just knowing how to take a digital photograph in the technical sense. You see need artistic ability and knowledge too. Digital Photography, if applied artistically, can open up the doors of creativity for many, many years to come.

The first thing I recommend to start with if you are a serious digital photography enthusiast is to understand how colour works. When you understand how colour works in digital photography you can then use different colours to create very different feelings and emotions in the photo itself.

Colours such as blues, greens, mauves, etc are introverted colours and can often give your photo different feel to reds and yellows. For example think of a field of green with a tree that has purple flowers. It tends to represent, and even induce, feelings of tranquillity and calm. These, in digital photography, are regarded as introverted colours.

Colour such as yellows, red, oranges and pinks can often instil an energetic feeling. For example think of fruit such as red berries, oranges or cantaloupe. These are simple examples, but think of the feelings that these colours create in your digital photography.

This is another reason why not all things look as good in black and white, and why some things in fact do look better in black and white. (More about that another time. For now lets focus on creating colour that enhances your digital photography. )

In a very simple sense if you want to create a sense of stillness and calm in your digital photography then aim for subjects that have these colours that are more towards the blue and green end of the scale. And the same goes the other way too. If you want to have a bright energetic feeling, then go for colours that are warm and vibrant.

Contrasting colours in digital photography work very well too. Primary colours together such as blue and yellow seem to look great side by side, or one as a back ground and the other as a main subject. For example I took a photo on a beach with a bright yellow sign against a blue sky and a blue ocean. It gave the feeling of energy as well as having the calmness of the blue. Being a contrasting primary colour the yellow was not absorbed by the blue, it was the opposite. The yellow sat nicely against the blue as the focal subject.

When doing digital photography, think about the colours you are creating in your photo. Try to aim for digital photos that have colours that look good together, and do not clash like hot pink and bright red next to each other for example. If you want extrovert bold colour in your digital photo, don’t overcrowd the viewer with too many bold colours. In digital photography it works best if you have the main subject having the bold colour, rather than multiple points of bold colour in the background for example.

Choose good digital photography subjects with simple composition that have colours that work well to compliment each other. And remember digital photography is all about creating a feeling. And working your colours together well will enhance your digital photography images ten fold.

If you want to learn more about working with colour effective in digital photography, just go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Best wishes,

Amy Renfrey

This photo is copyrighted by Amy Renfrey.