Better Available Light Digital Photography This page intentionally left blank Better Available Light Digital Photography How to Make the Most of Your Night and Low-Light Shots Second Edition Joe Farace Barry Staver AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Associate Acquisitions Editor: Valerie Geary Publishing Services Manager: George Morrison Project Manager: Mónica González de Mendoza Marketing Manager: Kate lanotti Cover Design: Eric DeCicco Cover image: © Joe Farace Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK © 2009 Joe Farace and Barry Staver. Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, E-mail: [email protected]. You may also complete your request online via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting “Support & Contact” then “Copy- right and Permission” and then “Obtaining Permissions.” Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier prints its books on acid-free paper whenever possible. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Farace, Joe. Better available light digital photography : how to make the most of your night and low-light shots / Joe Farace, Barry Staver. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-240-80999-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Available light photography. 2. Photography–Digital techniques. I. Staver, Barry, 1948– II. Title. TR590.F367 2008 778.7’6—dc22 2008009894 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-240-80999-1 For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com 08 09 10 11 12 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in China Working together to grow libraries in developing countries www.elsevier.com | www.bookaid.org | www.sabre.org Contents Introduction ix The “gasp factor” ix This one’s for you xi It’s all about the photographs xii What’s new xii Chapter 1 What is available light? 1 The golden hour 2 Zap! 7 Weather tips from Barry 7 Light is light 8 What is exif and what is it good for? 13 Artifi cial light 15 Painting with light 19 Artifi cial natural light 21 The philadelphia story 22 Out of the past: fi lm noir 23 Moulin rouge! 24 Flash in the pan 26 Chapter 2 Basic exposure 29 The age of aquarius 31 Light and color 37 Meet the histogram 40 The perfect exposure 42 Really available light 43 Creating high dynamic range images 45 HDR in Photoshop 47 Other HDR software 49 HDR fi les from scanned fi lm 51 What does it all mean? 53 Chapter 3 Digital noise: What it is and how to deal with it 55 Noise comes from many sources 57 Chip size vs. Noise 58 Shutter speed vs. ISO speed 59 vi Contents Do a noise test 60 Built-in noise suppression 60 Noise-reduction software 63 Got noise? 64 Picture code 66 Keepin’ it neat 67 Visual infi nity 68 Applied science fi ction 69 The imaging factory 70 Stoic STOIK 71 Noise in motion 72 Taking action against noise 74 Noise in print 77 Our take on noise 78 Chapter 4 White balance techniques 81 Light is light? 82 Real-world color balance 84 AWB: color-temperature range of approximately 4000–8000 k 86 Daylight: approximately 5200 K 87 Shade: approximately 8000 K 88 Cloudy: approximately 6000 K 89 Fluorescent light 90 Tungsten light: approximately 3200 K 91 Flash: approximately 5400 K 92 Manual 94 Facing lighting challenges indoors 95 On location 99 Black and white? 102 In-camera monochrome color effects 106 No more fi lm storage 109 Chapter 5 Fast lenses 111 Zoom vs. prime lenses 114 Case study: canon’s 85 mm f/1.2 L lens 117 One more time, boys 122 Image-stabilization lenses 124 Case study: fun in acapulco 124 In-body stabilization 130 Does it matter? 132 What about depth of fi eld? 132 Chapter 6 Tripods and other camera supports 137 Standing on three legs 138 It’s made of what? 142 Carbon-fi ber choices 143 Contents vii Legs and feet 146 Heads and columns 147 The tripod bottom line 150 Monopods 151 Panorama heads 155 Alternate supports 159 Chapter 7 Available light photography at weddings 161 The new wedding photography 165 New technology = new opportunities 170 Wedding-day coverage 170 Off to the reception 176 Chapter 8 RAW-image-fi le capture 181 Paper or plastic? 181 What’s behind door no. 1 184 Making the decision 186 Pros and cons 188 JPEG advantages 188 JPEG disadvantages 188 RAW advantages 189 RAW disadvantages 189 Digital fi lm? 189 Raw software 192 Adobe camera raw 194 Workfl ow: pictures, you’ve got pictures 195 Sort ’em out 196 Did somebody say distribution? 198 Embed copyright with your fi les 199 Glossary 203 Index 217 This page intentionally left blank Introduction When making photographs, never forget the “Gasp Factor.” —Dick Stolley, former Time-Life managing editor When learning and refi ning their skills, most photographers progress through three distinct phases. The fi rst stage occurs immediately after they get their fi rst “good” camera and begin discovering the potential of the medium. During this time, novice shooters photographically explore their world with a high level of enthusiasm. Every new batch of images they examine con- tains photographs that look much better than the photographer ever imagined they could. Unfortunately, this blissful period doesn’t last long and is quickly replaced by the next period. In phase two, the shooter’s level of enthusiasm is still high, but is diminished when reviewing his or her newest captures only to discover that they are much worse than expected. As photographers continue to improve their skills by reading pub- lications such as Digital Photographer and Shutterbug, attend- ing workshops and seminars, and practicing their art, they eventually reach the fi nal phase. At this level, the image that photographers see in their camera’s viewfi nder is exactly the same thing that appears on the camera’s LCD screen or computer monitor. Although reaching this phase can be fulfi lling, some of the magic is gone. If you would like to experience some of the same thrill of discovery that occurred during the fi rst phase of your photographic education, we would like to suggest that you photograph when the available light may not be so available. The “Gasp Factor” When you turn the pages of magazines, books, and newspapers, do you ever notice how some images just grab you? These great photographs are unique; they are different. They literally force you to stop and take a second look at them. When confronted by this kind of photograph, do you sometimes wonder, “How was that taken?” Perhaps you just think, “I wish I could do that.” The goal of this book is to answer both the question and the wish. We will take you behind the scenes and show you how many different kinds of available light photographs were made x Introduction and in the telling we hope to help you improve the photographs you make using available light. Dick Stolley, who was by many reports the best managing editor at Time-Life, once told People magazine’s contributing photo- graphers that a successful photograph elicited a “Gasp Factor” from the viewer. These photographs can literally take your breath away. They tug at your heart or hit you in the gut, stirring emo- tions of joy, love, hate, sadness, or anger. Take a few minutes to visualize one or more of the iconic images in our recent history: fl ag raising at Iwo Jima, the Hindenburg explosion, sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square as World War II ended, Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby, John Kennedy, Jr., saluting at his father’s funeral, the handgun execution in Saigon, or one of the Twin Towers in mid-collapse. Specifi cally, recall in your mind’s eye any Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph. These images stop us in our tracks as we react on an emotional level to their content. The reaction to most Pulitzers is usually on the serious side of the spectrum—anger and sadness—because it’s often the nature of the news business. Is it possible to get these kinds of emotional reactions to our everyday photography? You bet it is! Our premise is that the proper use of lighting is one of the main ingredients to successful, eye-catching photography. In this book, we’ll show you how to improve your use of lighting. Mr. Stolley went on to say that if the image stopped the reader, forced them to take a second look at it, to read the story’s head- line and then perhaps the rest of the story, the photograph passed his “Gasp Factor” test. After all, the goal at all publications is getting people to read the content and Stolley believed that the process was led by great photography. Our goal is simplifi ed, because we’re not writing headlines and stories, just wanting our images to rise above the overcrowded snapshot maze. Often the best photographs—the “Gasp Factor” ones—are taken under less than ideal conditions.