Click here to see the above photographs copyright Colin Lamb
“Don’t be frightened or intimidated by the dark” was the advice from Tony Worobiec, FRPS. During his Night and Low Light Photography presentation Tony gave us a wealth of tips and advice to encourage and inspire us to go outside in the dark and accomplish some amazing images. He displayed images taken pre-dawn and post sunset, all stunning. An interesting tip was to turn 180 degrees to the sunrise or sunset to accomplish a softly illuminated landscape where colours bloom rather than being drown out by the intense sun. Of course, pre- dawn there are opportunities to capture those wonderful mists and fogs that lie in fields and valleys during high pressure. It would appear the early riser catches the proverbial worm by setting up and having an exposure of at least a minute to capture the detail whilst it is still dark. The same is true of dusk where, waiting for forty minutes after sunset the image colours will improve considerably. Tony explained he often uses a torch as a filler light when using a 15 second shutter speed to fix stars in the sky at 400 iso but if star trails are needed, he will use a 15-minute shutter speed, remembering the moon can be a great illuminator too. Tips for focusing, in the dark, were to pre-focus but if you wanted to have totally manual focusing was to use the bulb setting where exposures can vary from 20 second to 20 minutes.
Tony gave us a series of ideas for future night-time photography topics including fireworks, fairgrounds, piers, bridges, shops, industrial sites, and buildings at night and explained about crossover lighting. So, inspired we are off to try taking some night-time images for our workshop on 17th February; look out for them on our website. Also check Tony’s website www.tonyworobiec.com to see his remarkable images.
The next presentation will be on 3rd March at 7.30pm when Nathan Barry will talk about “Achieving Natural Results with Lightroom.”
Anne Hunsley
www.addphoto.co.uk