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Photograph Better In Dark Environments

How To Photograph Better In Dark Environments; Five Practical Tips

It Must Be Said That Photographing In The Dark Is Not An Easy Task, And Even For Professional Photographers, It Takes A Long Time To  Acquire The Necessary Skills In The Field Of Night Photography

. Photography in the dark, especially when using smartphones, shows itself more. But there are some practical tips that users can use to take and take great in-the-dark photos. This article will introduce and review five low-light photography techniques.

Shooting in the dark with a mobile phone can be futile in many cases, and in the end, it can be frustrating even for professional photographers. If you are not skilled enough in recording these images, the final image may be too dark or bright or even have a lot of noise.

Blurring of moving objects is also a plague of photography in total darkness because smart cameras try to collect more light from the surrounding environment by reducing the shutter speed and increasing the exposure time when taking photos in low light.

Teaching photography in the dark and at night

But all these events do not cause us to despair about capturing great images in dark situations. Experience has shown that many obstacles can be removed by following simple but practical tips, and good photos can be recorded.

In this article, we will introduce five practical tips for photography at night with a phone, following which you will be able to significantly improve the overall quality of images recorded in dark situations and enjoy photography in the dark.

Tips for shooting in low light

Use camera settings for low-light photography.

New-generation smartphones have significantly improved cameras and related technologies over the past few years, allowing users to take photos even in low-light environments and enjoy photography in the dark.

This feature is introduced in the user interface and the camera of different smartphones with different titles; Because each company uses special algorithms and methods to improve the images recorded during night photography.

Camera settings for shooting in low light Some suitable settings for night photography with a camera

For example, the ability to photograph in the dark in Google Pixel phones, called Night SightIs, knew. Samsung and Huawei, respectively, with the name Bright Night and Night ModeIt are mentioned that in the user interface of OnePlus phones, it is presented as NightscapeAre.

If your phone has low-light photography capabilities, turn it on when taking photos at night. Although some smart devices can use this feature automatically depending on the situation from which the users intend to record the image.

Photography at night with a Xiaomi phone

Some smartphones use artificial intelligence to increase the light and brightness of images when using photography mode in a dark environment.

Another part of these devices has a feature similar to HDR photography use. In this case, a series of similar images with different exposure times are recorded from each position. In the end, a final image is obtained by combining various details from each of them.

Photography in the dark using artificial lights

In the continuation of teaching photography in the dark and at night, it should be said that usually, photographers are not very interested in using flash lamps; Because this hardware part adds a series of unusual bright points to the image. On the other hand, flash bulbs remove shadow details from images.

Considering that these days all smartphones have a flash lamp on the back of the device and next to the camera module, using them to provide the necessary light for photography in the dark seems like an excellent idea. If the amount and direction of the flashlight are chosen correctly, this hardware part can greatly help to improve the quality of images recorded in night photography.

Another solution in this section is to use an external artificial light source. Using LED panelsPortable and portable is a good idea to increase the ambient light; these sources have a low price and can produce a lot of light with minimal energy consumption. Please note that using artificial light sources is not the only way to improve the quality of photography in low light, and we will examine other useful solutions in the following article.

Currently, for the benefit of photography in the dark, you can find light sources in the market whose radiation intensity can be adjusted with great accuracy. These sources also have a rechargeable internal battery and a place to connect to smartphones, making working with them simply.

Photography of the city at night

Because external light sources can be separated from smartphones, they provide more freedom of action to their users. For example, users can detach it from their phone and install it on the wall; It is an efficient tool for dark environment photography that can be found at different prices and features.

Compared with flash lamps in smartphones, it is possible to adjust the light intensity of these sources with much better accuracy. Although it takes time to learn how to use these light sources, using them when shooting in the dark can make a huge difference in the quality of the output images.

Teaching the principles of photography in the dark environment

Using manual mode ( Manual Mode) during night photography

The automatic mode in the smartphone camera usually works very well. It can provide the best performance when taking pictures in different situations without requiring complex and time-consuming settings from users. However, a professional photographer with and better understanding of camera features and parameters can achieve better output in low-light photography by adjusting these parameters.

At night or in dark situations, this system usually suffers a little disturbance; Because the camera in this mode cannot see and identify the scenery and objects in front of the users, and in this way, it implements inappropriate settings. Considering this issue, users should use manual settings when taking pictures in dark situations to control the camera fully.

In most smartphones, the manual mode has three main settings: aperture), ISO sensitivity and shutter speed. These three main settings are called ” Exposure Triangles. “Professional photographers know it, and it is one of the technical matters necessary to understand the principles of photography in the dark.

Photography software at night

When setting up photography at night, conditions must be provided in manual mode so that the camera can fully collect the low light in the environment. Increasing ISO sensitivity and reducing the shutter speed can lead to this.

The photography settings in the dark environment in this section should be done so that a proper balance is created; the change in each part of the exposure triangle has advantages and disadvantages. For example, increasing the ISO sensitivity makes digital noise in the image, and reducing the shutter speed also leads to the loss of details and the sharpness of the edges. It is even possible to witness the phenomenon of Motion Blur. Be in the pictures.

Professional photographers recommend that for shooting in low light, the best settings are to reduce the shutter speed to the point where the quality of the image will not be damaged too much and to the maximum possible extent.

When shooting in the dark, you can leave the shutter open for a few seconds; But it should be noted that the phone remains in a fixed place without moving for this period. For this purpose, a support base can be used to improve the phone.

If you plan to take a picture of an object in motion, to avoid the phenomenon of Motion Blur, you have to increase ISO sensitivity; However, this will increase the noise in the image.

Street photography at night

Currently, most of the phones in the market have a fixed and unchangeable aperture; But there are exceptions among them. Over the last few years, Samsung and OppoThey have released smartphones that use variable apertures.

More light can be directed into the camera in these phones by fully opening the aperture. Note that wider apertures with FThey are expressed smaller. For example, the gap F/1.8 is wider than the F/2.8 aperture, and more light reaches the camera sensor.

Night photography tricks

Images in raw format ( RAW) save

In recent years, more and more smartphones have been capable of recording images in the RAW format have provided This format saves images uncompressed and unedited.

On the other hand, all the information recorded by the sensor can be found in this type of image. Although these images are large, their quality has not been manipulated or compressed. For this reason, more tools can be used when editing them. Naturally, the more information you have about the output image of dark space photography, the easier it will be to edit them.

As a tip for shooting in low light, it should be said that when recording images from dark situations, if possible, use RAW format. Save. In RAW form, more details can be extracted from shadows and highlights. In addition, in RAW format, it is possible to maintain the balance between white and other colors without reducing the quality of images. It is also used to record subjects in all conditions, including photography in the dark.

Photography software at night

Edit your images

As one of the tricks of night photography, it should be said that recording a suitable image of dark situations is half of what users have to do. Editing images after they are registered is also very important and can help improve the quality of these images.

Currently, many night photography software, including many features to improve the images recorded in dark situations, can be found. Each of these programs has a different function from each other, and for this reason, it is not possible to introduce a single instruction for using them.

Camera settings for shooting in low light

However, you can still search for settings in these programs to find the necessary capabilities for photography in the dark or to improve the quality of images recorded in dark situations. BrightnessExposure _Tune image… search.

Most photo editing programs allow users to adjust the intensity of these settings using a slider. This way, you can easily see the changes made to the photos by implementing various locations. By setting the appropriate values ​​for these settings, you can extract more details from the darkness of your photography situation. Don’t forget; to get better output from photography in low light, you can also use hardware and software peripherals in addition to the camera’s capabilities.

Most smartphone cameras have problems measuring and implementing the optimal white color in the images. In some image editing programs, you can take these settings and change the amount of white light in the photos.

Teaching the principles of photography in the dark environment

As mentioned above, some photos taken are from low-light situations with high ISO sensitivity. Are recorded, and this causes the amount of noise in them to be high. This is why you should set the light parameters with an open view when photographing in a dark environment. The change of each of them is effective on the other, and the balance should be created simultaneously with the evolution of several variables.

Several photo editing programs in the dark can reduce this noise by applying various filters. These settings can be found in these programs under titles such as Noise Reduction, Luminance Noise, Color Noiseor, and the like.

Before using these programs, note that they may reduce the overall quality of the images after editing. This is especially true when you are editing images in JPEG format.

Photography pose at night

Appropriate poses in the dark

When choosing a location for night photography or dark space, you should consider some special factors that are unimportant during the day. Remember that shooting in daylight and a busy place differs greatly from shooting in a dark, quiet warehouse.

Photography pose at night

In the first step, you should examine the ambient light in different places of the shooting location to understand the difference in the light of the space.

A variety of photography poses at night and in the dark

Maybe you need to figure out how to take a photo, focus, or exposure in the dark. That being said, shooting at night has its challenges, but in some ways, it’s easier than shooting during the day. Therefore, in this section of the article, some ideas for night photography are presented that may be interesting to you.

A variety of photography poses at night and in the dark

Regardless of the location or time of photography, always look for original and suitable light sources for capturing images. The importance of this issue is doubled during night photography and little light.

A variety of photography poses at night and in the dark

Conclusion

In the end, it should be said that a large part of the joy of the art of photography, especially photography at night and in dark space, lies in solving its challenges. One of the most important challenges is photography in the dark and with low light. By using photography solutions in the dark, you can prepare yourself more to solve this big challenge and take better photos with a mobile phone in the dark or at night.

Frequently Asked Questions

In this part of the article, some frequently asked questions about night photography have been addressed.

How to take pictures in the dark?

You can use a special camera or smartphone settings for night photography, including  Night Mode. For a complete answer to this question, you can refer to the camera settings for the night photography section of this article.