5 Tips for Better Low-Light Photography
Low light is where most photographers give up. It is also where the most interesting photographs live.
Embrace grain. The instinct to reduce noise kills photographs. Grain is texture, grain is atmosphere, grain is the visual equivalent of a whisper. Stop fighting it.
Use available light sources. A single streetlamp, a shop window, a phone screen — these are not problems to work around. They are the entire point. Position your subject in relation to these lights, not despite them.
Slow down your shutter speed intentionally. Motion blur in low light is not a mistake. A photograph of a person walking through a dark street with a two-second exposure tells a story that a sharp freeze frame cannot.
Shoot wide open but focus deliberately. A fast lens wide open in low light means your depth of field is measured in centimetres. Focus on the eyes. Always the eyes.
Convert to black and white. Colour in low light is often muddy and distracting. Black and white simplifies the image and allows the shapes and tones to speak. Many great low-light photographs are great precisely because of this reduction.