Tips in low light/forest

michelleans

I was taking some shots for a website yesterday (advertising for the backpack shown below). I like the way the colours and shots themselves came out but the lighting was just very hard to work with. At times it was very dark, other times very bright, and other times light was coming through the trees in different places, which was the hardest part. I didn't use flash at all, as I can never use flash properly anyway (something I will be working on when I get my DSLR)

I'll be heading back to re-shoot with a DSLR at some stage and just was just looking for tips on how to prevent darker patches in the photo's and how to deal with the dappled light through the trees... I know Thanks!

A few of the photos I shot to show what I mean..

Light through the trees



Very dark face



Probably the best one I took

whyulittle

Is Jake cut at the top of his right front leg?

sheesh

well for general lighting shoot in raw it gives you more information to play with

for the dappled sunlight I would suggest that unless you want the dappled sunlight look to a photo don't take it there. I'm not being smart it would be hard to get rid of after the shot unless you lower the contrast and if its harsh lighting like in the middle of the day it would make it harder.

you could try doing the photography during the evening/morning and scouting locations that have trees in the background but open access to the setting/rising sun

on my screen they don't look that bad some dodging and burning would lighten them up in the dark areas

michelleans

whyulittle wrote: »

Is Jake cut at the top of his right front leg?

No, but he has a strange patch of darker hair there Don't know how or why I should probably remove it in photoshop thanks for the reminder!

Hmm I would love to try shooting in RAW, must make sure I do it when I get the DSLR.

I haven't really done any dodging and burning. Would anyone have a link to a good tutorial on it? OR is it really simple?

I'll try different times too. That was at about 4 or 5pm and it was cloudy.

Thanks for tips, very much appreciated.

TelePaul

JJJAAAKKKEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is the bag your own design? And does he object to it? Cool idea.

Dodging and burning is fairly easy to get started with. Have you any form of photoshop? You want a bright but overcast day.

michelleans

The bag is from Outward Hound, we got it for free for the advertising photos! They retail at around 40-45 euros (£34.99) so it wasn't bad for about 2 hours of photos and a lovely walk in the Clare Glens

That was the first time he ever wore a backpack and he didn't object at all. Which surprised me as he objected to the head halti when it first went on. He was actually pretty proud and happy to be wearing it.

I've Photoshop CS2, and am handy with some of the tools, but never tried the dodging and burning.

kjt

If you shoot in raw you wouldn't really need to dodge/burn. IMO d&b'ing takes a lot of time to do well. I've always liked this tutorial.

Gorgeous dog btw!!

oshead

If you have access to a tripod for low light shots it's a must.

Dave OS

Borderfox

When I am shooting in mixed light I prefer to use spot metering to expose for the subject and then I can worry about the background later

JMcL

Shooting RAW will give you the best leg up, then use curves in photoshop with layer masks to bring up shadow area. As others have pointed out though, forests and bright sunlight are a bit of a nightmare exposure wise, especially for something like this. A bright overcast day would probably be a much better bet

Gorgeous doggie BTW!

elven

oshead wrote: »

If you have access to a tripod for low light shots it's a must.

Hmmm, that's not going to help when you're shooting a live, moving subject...

I think what you need to change rather than the processing or shooting techniques is the kind of light you shoot in. On a less clear, sunny day you won't get so much of that dappled thing going on and you'll have less contrast between the shadows and highlights.

As everyone else has already pointed out, shooting in raw will give you more to play with at the processing stage so you can keep detail in your highlights but bring up the shadows too.

Those shots above seem to be leaning to the left of the histogram - there's probably a big bump between the middle and the left hand side because there are more shadows than highlights. If you want to try and bring back some of that, the 'shadows and highlights' tool might help you out - duplicate the background layer then use the shadows highlights tool on the new layer, add a mask to the new layer, invert it, then paint on it with a soft white brush set at 15-20% where you want to bring back the detail in the shadows.

Dodging and burning can easily be overdone and your image starts to disintegrate quickly if you're not careful. It can be awkward because it's not like a global change you can then apply a mask to - making it difficult to go very many steps backwards if you make a mistake and don't realise it straight away. There's a different version of dodging and burning which you can use on a mask and it's less destructive - see here and scroll down to no. 9.

shepthedog

Gorgeous dog.. Looks like he doesnt mind the backpack at all... The Clare Glens is a great place but can be on the dark side in certain areas.. Walk upwards a bit to find a clearer area. Get as much natural light coming in a possible and as everyone says, RAW will give you the scope to brighten where needed.

Number 3 is a great shot BTW