Lady in Red – Low light photography

Low light photography is always a bit difficult, especially when you want to avoid a strong light source like flash. This snap above took many trials, I think we took more than 60 snaps before we finally selected the one above. It also took months of image processing as we were never happy with the outcome and believed we could do better.

The idea was to create a soft mood for this snap and candle lights are perfect, however they are not a strong source of light. This lead to problems of the overall picture being too dark. Multiple arrangements of light source in the form of table-lamps and bulbs on sides and one source above (after many trials of shifting them around, and switching them on and off) helped get a better lighting condition, although we had to be careful that the additional light source does not over-power the candle lights. This was indeed the most experimented, the most time consuming shot I have clicked.

Shot at ISO 800 (the highest I would dare in fear of noise), 1/30 sec exposure with a tripod, f/1.8 (to allow enough light) using the cheapest 50mm lens Canon has to offer. Image processing included noise reduction, an artificial red filter and ahem! an introduction of a tiger.

Hats off to Zaver Shroff for the lovely pose which was picture perfect!