Photography at Night – Tips & Tricks For Photographing Your Family in Low Light
The photography class I’ve been taking (Bring on the Night by Austin Photography Workshops) is wrapping up tonight. I will miss the class, and the 3 hours a week dedicated to practicing with my camera. There is simply nothing like an in person class for improving skills.
The subject matter was way out of the ordinary for me. There are no traditional portraits in the images that I captured. However, much of what I learned can be applied to getting great pics of your children in low light situations. Here are some of my thoughts:
| Be on the lookout for "cool" scenes | Capture your family's nighttime routines, and the not-so-routine moments too. |
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| Shoot through windows | Not your neighbor's window, of course. Maybe snap a pic of Dad reading to your kids through the bedroom window. Capture beautiful lighting and reflections. |
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| Look for reflections | Do you have a mirror in your dining room? Feed the family, light some candles and grab your camera. |
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| Use shutter speed creatively | Use a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second or less to blur out that tricycle or a running kid. A blurred child running past a seated, in focus child says a lot about personalities. |
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| Embrace the inevitable soft focus | It's going to happen when shooting in low light. Make art out of it. Let the colors tell the story, rather than the details. |
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| Tell Stories | Images that leave questions unanswered often create the best stories. |
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| Don't worry about White Balance. The lighting adds to the effect. | Lighting with color tints adds to the nighttime feel of your images. |
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