Unique Photography Ideas with Poor Lighting

When bad lighting causes you to take photos you don’t like, it’s time to get creative. Learn how to create silhouettes and dark scenes, or find ways to manipulate light to create stunning images. Even better, experiment with using Speedlights. Using speedlights & Astera lights is a great way to get those great shots, even with bad lighting. Use them to capture things that your eyes cannot see. Ultimately, you’ll end up with more dramatic and memorable images.

Light painting is a great way to get nice shots:

If you’re looking for a way to take nice pictures in poor lighting, consider trying light painting photography. It involves manual settings on your camera and long exposure times. DSLR cameras with a 30-second shutter speed or higher are ideal for light painting. Mirrorless cameras work as well. Using a tripod will also help prevent camera shake during long exposures. You can also experiment with different light sources so that your pictures will be as unique as your subject.

Light trails are a cool way to capture things the eye can’t see:

While poor lighting is inevitable for some scenes, light trails offer photographers a creative perspective to help them achieve the desired effect. Shoot at night or during twilight for the best results, as light trails can be particularly spectacular when set against dark colors. Alternatively, you can shoot in the daytime, but you won’t get the same effect. When shooting light trails, make sure you have a neutral density filter on your camera, which helps slow down the shutter speed. This is essential because shutter speeds vary with conditions and can create blurry images if your camera is not stabilized properly.

Speedlights are a great way to combat tough lighting:

Although speedlights are a wonderful addition to a photography kit, they come with some drawbacks. The light output is limited, and the speedlights produce a sharp, hard-edged shadow. The light from a speedlight does not fall off gradually, resulting in a harsh gradient, and a subject that appears rough or hard is more difficult to capture. Because of these limitations, speedlight photographers must be extremely careful about where and when to place their flashes.

Adjust your camera’s exposure compensation:

One of the first tips for dealing with tough lighting is to adjust your camera’s exposure compensation. If you find the light from your Speedlights is not correct, try adjusting the exposure compensation to zero. If you are using a flash, you should set the shutter speed to 1.3 or greater to compensate for the ambient light. Turn the speedlight temperature down a few notches to create more light if you find this too harsh.