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15 Tips for Great Candlelight Photography

by Darren Rowse

Happy Valentines Day! In celebration we thought we’d publish this post on the romantic
topic ofCandlelight Photography!
Have you ever tried to photograph a candle lit scene with your digital camera?

The results can be stunning with the warm glow of flickering flames reflecting off your
subjects face (can you feel the romance?) but the shooting in such a low light environment
make it can make it a challenging situation.

Here are a few tips on how to get that perfect candle light portrait!

1. Turn off Your Flash

Lets start with the obvious ones and work our way back. We’ve all taken shots using a flash
in low light situations and have been disappointed by the way it totally destroys any ambient
light in a shot. If you want to get the warm glow of candles it’s essential that you switch your
flash completely off. There is of course an exception - see point 15 below.

2. Use a Tripod

Stating the obvious again - but shooting by candlelight means you’re shooting with very
little light which in turn means you’ll almost certainly be shooting with slower shutter speeds
that increase the impact of camera shake on your shots. Make sure your camera is as secure
and as still as possible during shots by using a tripod and by considering the use of a remote
shutter release to take out any vibrations from hitting the shutter.

3. Extra Candles

The biggest challenge with candlelight photography is the lack of light you have to work
with. Using more candles will obviously produce more light which gives you a little more
flexibility when it comes to shutter speed, ISO and aperture settings.

4. Spread Your Candles

Using a single candle or positioning multiple candles all closely together in one position will
cause there to be harsher shadows cast upon your subject’s face. This might be the look
you’re going for, however in most cases you’ll want a more even spread of light on their
face. This can be achieved simply by spreading the candles out a little. I would still
recommend more candles on one side than the other as this will create a nice side lighting
impact - however don’t get the sides too uneven unless you’re after a pretty dramatic
impact.

5. Natural ‘Reflectors’

The few times that I I shot by candlelight I made an accidental discovery that has been
helpful since. I noticed that those times I shot my subject sitting at a table with a white table
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cloth that the shots were better exposed than those without a white table cloth. Obviously
the table cloth reflected light back up into the face of my subject. Similarly white walls and
ceilings can have this type of effect also (it’s slight - but everything helps when you’re
shooting in such low light situations).

6. Fast Lenses

If you’re shooting with a DSLR and have multiple lenses choose the ‘fastest’ one you’ve got
as this will allow you to use a larger aperture and let more light into your camera. My
personal preference for this type of shot would be one of my 50mm lenses (f/1.8 or f/1.4). I
would then generally shoot with the fastest aperture setting possible (or close to it) which
enables a faster shutter speed and lower ISO. Keep in mind however that the larger your
aperture the smaller your depth of field will be and the more spot on you focussing will need
to be.

7. Zooms and Aperture

Keep in mind that when you’re shooting with many zoom lenses that the maximum aperture
changes throughout the focal length range. ie shooting at the widest setting on many zooms
will give you a larger aperture than when you zoom in. As a result it might be better to move
in closer to your subject with a wider angle focal range than using the zoom.

8. Context and Backgrounds

Compositionally I like to keep these types of shots as uncluttered and simple as possible. I
will generally shoot in front of a white background (keep an eye on harsh shadows cast by
your subject and consider one or two behind them) and with minimal props. It might be
appropriate to include a glass of wine and some basic table settings if you’re going for a
shot at a table - but the less distractions that you have in the shot the better.

9. Shutter Speed

An obvious way to let more light into your camera is to choose a slower shutter speed. Keep
in mind that as you decrease shutter speed you increase the chances of capturing any
movement (both of your subject, the flames of candles and movement of your camera). If
the environment is completely still (so flames are not flickering) and with a subject keeping
as still as possible you might set your shutter speed as slow as 1/15th of a second - but any
slower and you might be asking too much of your subject.

10. ISO Settings

Another way to compensate for low light environments is to increase the ISO settings on
your camera. Of course the trade off of doing this is shots with more grain (noise) in them.
Attempt to keep your ISO under 400 if you can and you should get reasonably clean shots.
Any higher and you’ll start noticing the noise - especially if you’re blowing shots up to larger
sizes.
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11. Expose

If candles are in the shot, your camera will usually underexpose the shot as it’ll see them as
such a bright spot. You might want to try overexposing by a stop from what the camera
recommends. Don’t beef up exposure too much however or you’ll end up with your candles
being burnt out spots in your image.

12. White Balance

It is well worth experimenting with white balance when shooting by candle light. Candles
emit a very ‘warm’ light - something that you’ll want to include in your shots as it creates a
wonderful atmosphere. However your camera may want to get rid of this warmth if you have
white balance set to ‘auto’. Try different settings to get the right level of warmth (I find
‘indoor’ or ‘tungsten’ settings can work). Alternatively shoot in RAW and you’ll have a lot
more flexibility with white balance in your post processing.

13. Composition of Candles

There are two main ways to deal with candles in a compositional senses - you can include
them in the shot or leave them out unseen out of the frame. Both alternatives can create
lovely shots so experiment with both.

If you’re including candles in the frame remember that they’ll impact the settings your
camera wants to us (see section on ‘exposure’ above) but that they’ll also create points of
interest in your shot that can potentially draw the eye of those viewing your image -
competing with your main subject. As a result you’ll want to position your subject in a
prominent position and consider placing candles in a way that doesn’t distract too much.

If candles are in the frame you’ll also want to make sure they’re nice ones. Smaller details
matter in portraits and ugly candles might prove to be a real distraction.

14. Other Light Sources

Sometimes candles just won’t product enough light on their own. If this is the case and the
above techniques still don’t leave you with enough light consider adding a little extra from
another source. You might have a lamp or a dimmed light that you can use for example. For
best results try to give your extra light a warm glow by using some red or orange material to
drape over it (be careful of heat).

15. Using a Flash with a Colored Gel

In point number 1 I talked about turning off your flash to help you get that warm glow from
the candles rather than a bright flash blowing out the image. The only exception that I have
seen people use for this using some sort of a warm (red or orange) gel over your flash. This
dims the impact of the flash and gives it a warm light. You might also want to decrease the
output of the flash manually if you have control over this. Experiment with different color
gels to get the color just right.
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OK - so now it’s over to you to experiment with Candlelight Photography! Post your results
over in our forum’s Share Your Shots section.

9 Tips for Getting Backgrounds Right

by Darren Rowse

Backgrounds present both opportunities and challenges to photographers. On the one hand
they can put a subjects in context and make it stand out in a way that highlights it
wonderfully - but on the other hand backgrounds can overwhelm subjects and distract from
them.

Some of the common problems that photographers have with backgrounds

include:
• Distracting Focal Points - we’ve all seen this happen - we line up a shot of a friend
to take as a portrait and just as we press the shutter someone else pops their head up
over their shoulder with a silly face. The result is that the real focal point of the shot
becomes the face pulling person. This is an extreme example of distracting focal points in
the background but it’s something that happens quite a lot.
• Protruding Elements from Subjects Heads - I nearly didn’t include this one but
it’s so common that I just had to mention it. When shooting a portrait one of the common
mistakes is for some background element to look like it’s sticking up out of a person’s
head - like a horn. It’s often trees (as in the photo to the left) but could be anything. These
shots can be quite comical but can also really throw the composition of a shot off.
• Competing Lines - if your subject has lines in it and your background also has
strong lines they can compete in such a way that the image becomes busy or so that the
lines clash with one another.
9 Strategies for Dealing with Distracting Backgrounds

1. Check your Background Before Hitting the Shutter Release

Ok - this strategy isn’t rocket science, in fact you’d think it almost goes without saying - but
unfortunately it doesn’t and many of the mistakes that I see in photographs could have been
avoided simply by checking the background before taking the shot and taking some sort of
evasive action.

Always scan the background of your shots before taking a shot. Look for colors that don’t fit
with the rest of the image, bright patches that might distract the eye, lines that clash,
people that don’t belong etc.

2. Move Your Subject

This is once again a fairly simple technique but is probably the first thing you should
consider. Quite often asking a portrait subject to take a step to the left or right will fix things
either by putting the distraction behind them or by putting it out of frame.
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3. Change your Shooting Angle

If you have distracting elements in the background of a shot but can’t move your subject
another strategy is to move yourself and shoot from a new angle. This might mean rotating
around your subject but could also include getting down low to make the sky the
background or even getting up high and shooting down onto your subject to make the
background the ground.

4. Using Aperture to Blur Backgrounds

One of the most useful things to learn as a way to combat distractions in backgrounds (and
foregrounds) is to use the power of your lens to throw the background out of focus using
depth of field. What you’re trying to achieve with this technique is a nice blurred background
where you can’t really make out what’s going on there.

The easiest way to do this is to use a wide aperture (the smaller the number the wider the
aperture). The wider your aperture the more blurry your background should become.

The quickest way to see the impact of this strategy is to switch your camera into aperture
priority mode and to take a number of shots at different apertures. Start with an aperture of
f/20 and work your way down - one stop at a time. Once you get down to under f/4 you’ll
start seeing the background in your shots getting blurrier and blurrier.

5. Using Focal Length to Blur Backgrounds

Another way to help get your backgrounds nice and blurry is to use a lens with a long focal
length. Longer tele-photo do help a little to get narrower depth of field (although the amount
is less than many think). In actual fact the impact is smaller than it seems and the main
reason for the change is that with a longer focal length the subject actually takes up more
space in the frame. Lots of arguements have been had over whether focal length impacts
this - you can read more about it here and here - I’ll leave it to the experts to discuss the
finer points but will say that using longer focal lengths does seem to have some impact and
is worth experimenting with.

6. Place Subjects In front of Open Spaces

Placing your subject a long way in front of other objects will also help to make those objects
more blurry. For example if you have the choice between shooting your subject standing
right in front of a brick wall or standing in front of an open field - the open field shot will
have a much more blurred background simply because the brick wall is just centimeters
from your subject and inside the focal range whereas an open field stretches off into the
distance where everything will be out of focus.

7. Fill your frame with your subject

One of the most effective ways of removing distractions from backgrounds is to remove the
background altogether by totally filling the frame with your subject. Get up close and/or use
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your zoom lens to tightly frame the shot and you’ll not only remove distractions but could
end up with a high impact shot as well.

8. Make your Own Background

Sometimes there just isn’t any suitable background and so you might want to consider
making your own. This could range from buying a purpose built studio background or simply
buying some cloth to do the job for you.

I know of one keep photographer who goes out shooting photographic portraits and carries
large colored sheets of card with him to put up on walls to act as a background.

The other thing to keep in mind is that in many instances you can move things around in the
background of your shots (especially if you’re shooting indoors). For example I was recently
photographed in my home for a newspaper and the photographer had me move a number of
pieces of furniture during the shoot because they were distracting in the shots. It took a little
effort but the impact in the shots was quite incredible.

9. Post Processing

I’m no expert in using photo editing software but there are numerous ways of editing a shot
after you’ve taken it to get rid of distracting elements. These can include blurring
techniques, actual removing of elements and replacing them and techniques such as
selective coloring (ie making your subject stand out by making your background black and
white (or at least sucking some of the color out of it).

How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy

Steps
by Darren Rowse
I normally talk about the importance of using a flash when taking shots into the sun to give
sufficient light to add features to your subject but there are also times when making your
subject featureless apart from their outline against a bright background can be most
effective - or when in other words silhouette is a worth exploring.
Silhouettes are a wonderful way to convey drama, mystery, emotion and mood to the
viewers of yourphotos and often stand out in an album because of the combination of their
simplicity but also the story that they convey. I love them because they don’t give the
viewer of a clear picture of everything but leave part of the image up to their
imagination to wonder about.
The basic strategy you’ll need to employ in taking silhouette shots is to place your subject
(the shape you want to be blacked out) in front of some source of light and to force your
camera to set its exposure based upon the brightest part of your picture (the background)
and not the subject of your image.
In doing this your subject will be under exposed (and very dark, if not black).

There are a lot of very technical descriptions going around

on how to take great silhouette shots that you might want to look up but let me attempt
to run through some basic steps that should get you the results you’re after. In essence
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what we’re trying to do is make your camera think that it’s the bright parts of the picture
you are most interested in.
Here’s how to do it:

1. Choose a Strong Subject

Almost any object can be made into a silhouette, however some are better than others.
Choose something with a strong and recognizable shape that will be interesting enough in
its two dimensional form to hold the interest of those viewing your image.Silhouettes can’t
draw on the colors, textures and tones of subjects to make them appealing - so the shape
needs to be distinct.

2. Turn off your Flash

If you have your camera in automatic mode your camera will probably want to use its flash
which will ruin the silhouette. Basically you want as little light on the front of your subject
as possible - so the flash has to go (basic - but I’ve seen a few attempted silhouette shots
with the flash firing).

3. Get Your Light Right

When it comes to lighting your subject you’ll need to throw out a lot of what you’ve learnt
about normal photography and think a little backwards. Instead of lighting the front of your
subject, in silhouettes you need to ensure that there is more light shining from the
background than the foreground of your shot - or to put it another way - you want to light
the back of your subject rather than the front. The perfect light for this is placing your
subject in front of a sunset or sunrise - but really any bright light will be able to do the trick.

4. Frame your image

Frame your shot so you are shooting with your subject in front of a nice plain, but bright
background. Usually the best backgrounds will be a bright cloudless sky with the sun setting.
You want to position the brightest light source behind your subject (either so that they hide
it or so that its in the background somewhere).
5. Make silhouetted shapes distinct and uncluttered
If there is more than one shape or object in the image that you’re attempting to silhouette,
try to keep them separated. ie if you are silhouetting a tree and a person don’t have the
person stand in front of the tree or even leaning on it as it will merge them into one shape
and as a result your viewers could be confused about what the shape is.
Also when framing you’ll probably want to photograph silhouetted people as profiles rather
than looking straight on. This means that more of their features (nose, mouth, eyes) are
outlined and they are more likely to be recognized.

6. In Auto Mode
Most modern digital cameras have automatic metering which are pretty good at
sensing how to expose a photograph so that everything is well lit. The problem with this is
that most cameras are so smart that they will light up your subject instead of underexposing
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it to get a silhouette so you need to trick it. Most cameras work out the exposure levels in
auto mode when you push your shutter half way down (at the same time that they focus). So
point your camera at the brightest part of your picture and then press the shutter halfway
down (don’t let go). Then move your camera back to frame your shot with the subject where
you want it and then finish taking the shot. With most digital cameras this will result in
a silhouetted subject. In effect what you’re doing is tricking your camera into thinking that
the bright part of the image is the mid tone of it so that anything darker than it will be
exposed as a nice dark shadow.
Some digital cameras also have ’spot’ or ‘centered’ metering modes that you can switch on
which helps with the above technique as they will set the metering on the central spot of
your frame rather than multiple spots. This means you can accurately tell your camera
exactly which bit of the bright background you want it to set the exposure on.

7. Manual Mode

If this technique doesn’t work and your camera has controls to allow manual exposure or
exposure compensation you might like to try some of your own settings. The beauty of
digital is that you can experimentto your hearts content until you get the result you’re after.
A simple way to start using manual mode is to look at the shutter speed and aperture that it
suggests in automatic mode and to start from there. If in auto mode your subject is too light
(ie you need to make it darker) stop down the shutter speed a stop or two and see what
impact that has. Use the ‘bracketing’ technique that I described in my previous tip
on sunrises and sunsets to get a variety of shots at slightly different exposures.

8. Focusing

In most cases you’ll want the subject which is silhouetted to be the thing that is in focus
most crisply. This can mean that the process described in point 4 can be a little tricky as
pushing your shutter half way down to get the metering right also means that you’ll focus on
that spot in the background. To get around this you can use two strategies. Firstly if your
camera has manual focusing you might want to try that. Pre focus your shot before you
meter your shot.
The other strategy is to use Aperture to maximize your depth of field (the amount of your
image that is in focus). Set a small aperture (ie a larger number) to increase the depth of
field - this means you’re more likely to have a sharper foreground and background in your
shots.
One last tip on Silhouettes - while a total silhouette with a nice crisp and black subject
can be a powerful shot, also consider the partial silhouette where some detail of your
subject is left. Sometimes a touch of light on them makes them slightly more three
dimensional and ‘real’. This is the beauty of bracketing your shots as it will leave you with
total and partial silhouettes to choose form.
Once you’ve tried some of these tips you might like to head to our previous Silhouettes
Assignment in our forums to share your work.

10 Questions to Ask When Taking a Digital

Photo
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by Darren Rowse
15
What goes through your mind in the moments as you raise your digital camera up to take a
shot and before you press the shutter? If you’re like many digital photographers you’re not
thinking about too much - you just want to capture the moment and then move on.

However getting in the habit of asking some simple questions can help take your images to
the next level. Here’s 10 questions to get in the habit of asking while framing your shots.
I’ve included links in each one to further reading on the topics. I hope you find them helpful:

1. What story am I telling?

This is an important question and one that should help you to make any number of decisions
in terms of composition, framing, exposure etc. In essence what you’re asking is ‘why am I
taking this shot? What is it’s purpose and what am I trying to convey?’ Is it purely a way to
keep a record of a moment, are you trying to capture the emotion of a moment, is it possibly
a shot to give to someone, is it part of a larger series of shots or will it be the only shot to
commemorate the moment etc. Read more on telling stories with photos

2. What is the visual focal point of this shot?

What will viewers of this picture naturally have their eye drawn to in this scene? Once
you’ve identified this focal point you can think about where to place it in the frame (consider
the rule of thirds for example).
There are a variety of ways that you can enhance a focal point - some of which we explore
here.

3. What competing focal points are there?

Once you’ve identified what you do want your viewers eyes to be drawn towards and have
placed it in the frame - scan your eyes over the shot and see if there are any competing
focal points and ask yourself whether they add to or take away from the image? Secondary
focal points can add depth to shots but they can also be very distracting and so you might
need to reposition yourself or adjust your focal length and/or depth of field to accommodate
or remove them from your shots (read more on removing clutter from photography). Also
keep in mind that if your shot has more than one focal point that it might be worth taking
two shots, one of each focal point, in order to keep things simple.

4. What is in the background and foreground?

One of most common places for distractions in digital photography is the background of your
shots. Run your eyes over the space behind your subject to see what else is in the image (do
the same for the foreground). Consider whether you want the background in focus or nice
and blurry.

Read more on getting backgrounds right.

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5. Am I close enough?

Another common mistake in digital photography is taking shots where your subject is too
small in the frame. Shots that fill the frame with your subject tend to be much more dynamic
and show a lot more detail of your subject. To get this effect you have the option of moving
yourself closer, moving your subject closer or using a longer focal length to give the effect of
closeness.

Read more on filling your frame.

6. What is the main source of light?

Always give consideration to how your subject is lit. Without light you’ll lose detail and
clarity in your image and your camera will have to compensate by doing things like
increasing ISO and lengthening shutter speeds (which could lead to noisy and blurred
images). What is the main source of light, where is it coming from, is there enough light, do
you need artificial light sources (flash etc), do you need to stabilize your camera on a tripod
to stop camera shake due to low light etc. Read more on using artificial
light here and here as well as photographing moving subjects in low light conditions.

7. Is my Framing Straight?

It’s amazing how many otherwise good photos are spoiled by framing that is slightly offline.
Sloping horizons and slightly leaning people or buildings should always be in the back of
your mind to check. Read more on getting horizons horizontal and getting other lines
straight.
Also related to this question is that of ‘Am I holding my Camera correctly?‘ Many people
don’t and as a result suffer from camera shake and framing mistakes.

8. What other perspectives could I capture this subject from?

Put 10 digital camera owners in front of a scene and most of them will take exactly the same
shot from the same position. Make your images stand out from the crowd by challenging
yourself to not only take the standard shots that everyone else will get but to find creative
and fresh angles and perspectives to shoot from.
Read more on adding variety to your Digital Photography.

9. How would holding the camera in the other format change this
shot?

Many photographers get into the habit of always holding their camera the same way
(horizontally/landscape or vertically/portrait). While it’s OK to have a preference one way or
the other it’s also worth remembering that changing the format can drastically change the
impact of the shot. Don’t forget you can also hold your camera at an angle for an effective
result too.

10. How will the eye travel through this image?

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This is related to asking about focal points but gets in touch with the fact that while you’re
photographing a still image your viewers eyes don’t remain still as they look at an image.
People tend to follow lines and are attracted to shapes and colors so considering all of these
different visual elements and cues can help improve your shots considerably. Read more
on horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines and how they impact a shot.
Of course you probably won’t remember all the questions and you’re unlikely to go through
each of them with every shot you take - however next time you head out with your digital
camera concentrate on asking yourself at least one or two of them as you take your shots.
As you do you’ll find that they become more automatic and in time you’ll naturally take
digital photography shots that take into account all of these elements.

6 Techniques to Enhance the Focal Point in an Image

A focal point can be virtually anything ranging from a person, to a building, to a mountain, to
a flower etc. Obviously the more interesting the focal point the better - but there are other
things you can do to enhance it’s power including:

• Position - Place it in a prominent position - you might want to start with the rule of
thirds for some ideas.
• Focus - Learn to use Depth of Field to blur out other aspects in front or behind your
focal point.
• Blur - If you really want to get tricky you might want to play with slower shutter
speeds if your main subject is still and things around it are moving.
• Size - making your focal point large is not the only way to make it prominent - but it
definitely can help.
• Color - using contrasting colors can also be a way of setting your point of interest
apart from it’s surroundings.
• Shape - similarly contrasting shapes and textures can make a subject stand out -
especially patterns that are repeated around a subject.
Keep in mind that a combination of above elements can work well together.