Last time I covered some Strobist-style shots, both studio & mixed-ambient based. Working with strobes is a lot of fun and the level of control that it grants is clearly higher than you get when you leave it to nature. Natural light, on the other hand is unpredictable; clouds come and go, the sun rises and sets, and as photographers, we’re left with a few moments here and there when the light is good.
Far more often than not, shooting in natural (ambient) light seems to be synonymous with shooting in low light – at least in my own experience. I end up at parties, birthdays, family gatherings, nights out, whatever the occasion, and the result seems to be the same; some room with more shadow than light. The trick, then, is to make the most out of whatever natural light you can get.
This is our typical “natural light” scene – late evening birthday party, overhead room lights off, some others still on in the background. At this point, the only thing we’ve got going for us is candle light, and unless your subject is celebrating becoming an octogenarian, candle light is worth about squat.
Unless you have a fast prime. In which case a modest dozen-or-so candles, mixed with f/2.2 & ISO 800 at 1/40th net a photo that’s not only usable, but actually quite nice. There’s enough ambient in the background to provide separation, there’s plenty of light on his face, and although the cake has washed out quite a bit, it’s still recognizable, as are individual candles.
The exposure settings are fairly modest and non-too hard to handle, but the trick that really makes the image work came in post (although it could have been done in-camera, if my brain had been thinking about something other than cake). Even with the Tungstun white-balance setting, candle light is very warm. But import the image into Adobe Camera Raw, click the WB adjustment dropper, and click that nice white frosting on the side of the cake, and viola – perfect white balance.
Yes, it does remove that warm, cheery glow of the candlelight, but in this instance I think it gives the photo a unique quality, making it more about the subject than about the occasion.
So the next time you’re stuck in some dark cave trying to get a few good shots, try leaving the zoom lens and Speedlite at home, and go wide & prime. Work the ambient, instead of beating it over the head with a strobe.
