Hello Karen here from the photography playground. Welcome. Today we're going to talk about what to do when the light is limited. I am afraid we're going to bump into little wall here. Because one of the biggest limitations of a smartphone camera is the limited light sensitivity of its sensor. It doesn't go higher than 2000 days.

So to give you an idea of the possibilities of a regular camera, my Canon DSLR goes up to 12,800 together with the possibility of opening up your lens through the aperture setting. Remember the value you can't control in a smartphone camera. It's possible to photograph in extremely scarcely lit environment. Well, you can't do that with a smartphone. You might think the building flash could solve that problem but that's not really the case. A built in Flash there's only one thing and not very good.

It illuminates the subject closest to your camera with direct frontal light. It's not the most flattering light, I can assure you it's the perfect mood killer. Because of the direct frontal light, it creates dark drop shadows behind the subject. The rest of the image will be underexposed. It also overpowers any light that is available to you. The glass and the dried orange in this photo of a delicious cocktail are well exposed, but they don't look very natural.

The rest of the scene is dark because it's unreal exposed, and the atmosphere is lost. Without flash, the glass is much more natural illuminated, and we can see the surroundings table with other classes, some cutlery and napkin, we can actually see that because it's as well exposed as the glass. We can even see there's a little candle light on the table illuminating the glass from behind, creating sparkling highlights in the shiny objects of the scene. That kind of like wasn't there in the picture with the flesh now was it? Well, if you look carefully, you can see it's there. But it's completely overpowered by the flesh.

So if the flashes into solution demo it is how do you photograph a scarcity scene. The first step you need to take is to search for the bright areas and they will be there otherwise it doesn't make sense to photograph it. There has to be a little light in the scene. You can use any light lamp spotlights candlelight campfire light Christmas lights, even the most mundane things can radiate enough light to illuminate the scene, like the light from a refrigerator door or a computer screen. Even an iPhone will do that right area will become the most important area in your image. And what do we do with the area we want to attract the attention to?

Yes, we expose for that area. So after you've established your bright area, it's time for the second step the exposure settings, we have two tools to let more light fall on the sensor, the ISO and the shutter speed. If you increase the ISO the sensor becomes more sensitive, but the image will also become more pixelated. If you use a slow shutter speed more light will fall on the sensor. But you have to consider that anymore. In the scene will become blurry and there is another aspect.

A very slow shutter speed can cause camera shake. The small movement the camera itself makes the moment you press the shutter in your decision process these are all things to consider and it will very much depend on the situation. So before you set the exposure you need to determine for yourself what's the most important for the scene. Let me share my thought process for a few limited light shots. In this case, I chose semi fast shutter speed and a high ISO because there was a lot of movement going on in the scene and I didn't want it to become blurry. For this short, I decided a slow shutter speed and a low ISO would be best because there are no moving elements.

Again, a slow shutter speed and a low ISO but most people and they tend to move but these two weren't moving a lot quietly organizing the candles, so I figured a slow shutter speed wouldn't blow them too much. I took the shot of New York by night with a slow shutter speed and hi i Because it was really dark and misty and there was little room for maneuver. As you can see, I decide on shutter speed first depending on the movement in the scene, and then I set the ISO, but I try to keep the ISO as low as possible, you should avoid going as high as 2000. The difference in the visibility of the pixels between 1600 and 2000 days Oh was quite big. At 2000 it becomes very pixelated. A little trick to avoid camera shake was a slow shutter speed.

If you don't have a tripod or another form of support is to use your body as support. You hold the camera in both hands between yourselves in index fingers and let it rest on your middle fingers. Push your upper arms in the side of your body stand firmly ultra press and press the shutter with your thumb. See you in the next lecture and until then happy photographing