Better Available Light Digital Photography, Second Edition: How to Make the Most of Your Night and Low-Light Shots

237 Pages·2008·8.36 MB·English

by  Joe Farace

Better Available Light
Digital Photography
Th is page in ten t iona l l y le f t b lank
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: [phone], E-mail:
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 2
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
v i Conten t s
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
Conten t s v i i
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
Glosary 203
Index 217
Th is page in ten t iona l l y le f t b lank
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