Sharps Photography

Low Key Lighting

Michael Sharps — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:26:53 +0000

Low key lighting produces a high contrast image which is generally accomplished by lighting the subject so that there are very bright highlights and very dark shadows.

f/2.8, 1/60, ISO 800
Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 31mm

For this to work well, you need to be able to control the light spill from your key light so that the shadows are preserved. This is easy to do in a studio, but you can also find opportunities to produce this effect just about anywhere.

I captured this image of my son playing the banjo while sitting at the piano in our family room. The only light source in the room was a small 40 watt lamp on the piano which was about two feet away from his face. This produced strong directional lighting but there was rapid light fall off because of the low wattage bulb which resulted in the deep shadows.

I waited until he glanced at his left before releasing the shutter so that I could capture the light hitting one side of his face while the other remained in the shadow which produced a dramatic effect.

It’s sometimes tempting to blast some flash to light up a dimly lit room, but look for opportunities to utilize existing light sources to produce a low-key, high contrast composition. Try to position your subject as close as you can to a lamp in a dimly lit room. The lower the bulb wattage, the better the effect will be because of the minimal light spill into the rest of the room. You will probably need to open your aperture all the way and increase your ISO speed to compensate for the low light. Give it a try!

Chris and Mary

Michael Sharps — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:16:25 +0000

Chris and Mary renewed their wedding vows with a Civil War style ceremony. Among the guests who witnessed this special occassion was President Abraham Lincoln! The late afternoon sun provided dramatic lighting which yielded some beautiful photos to capture a most memorable event. Enjoy the photos and please feel free to leave a comment!

Roaring Camp Civil War Reenactment

Michael Sharps — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:21:26 +0000

The American Civil War Association and Roaring Camp Railroads co-hosted the annual Civil War Living History event at Felton, California.. The event was well attended by both reenactors and public and a signficant amount of black powder was burned to the delight of spectators! Here some photos from the event:

The last photo is of my son taking a hit!

Click here to see more pictures of this event.