How to do Low key photos?

Kev M

Kev M

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I've got an idea for what I think will make a nice low key photo. I work on a SAR flight and basically the picture involves a shot of the front of the cab from side on waiting to leave the hanger, almost peaking out. Might sound on and I'm not describing it very well but I'm keen to give it a go. I've got a tutorial on how to convert a photo into low key from DCm but thought I'd see how much I could get right in-camera first off. I also know nothing about lighting either. I'll tell you what I've got and hopefully you can guide me on how to set it up.

1 small hanger full of strip lights which are swticed on in groups, front to back and left to right too if memory serves me right.

Lights on the outside of the hangar illuminating the pan (I intend to have the doors open and shoot from outside).

Some industrial spot lights.

And not forgetting the evil onboard flash.

Should I cast the inside of the hangar into darkness and try to just illuminate the front of the cab? Or perhaps I should be asking which part of the A/C or hangar I shoud be keeping light off of.

Also what's the best way to avoid noise in the dark areas is it low iso-long exposure or higher iso-shorter exposure?

I really hope you can help me pull this off and this is all assuming that when I get into work tonight things will be quite quiet and I won't have to dive straight into something like an engine or gearbox change.

Kev
 
Can't help you with the low-key aspects but the best way to avoid noice is to make sure you are using as much of the histogram as possible.

You do this by using the highest ISO you can that doesn't blow the highlights.
 
Surely someone must know? Or is it all done in photoshop nowadays?
 
hmm...low key eh? Is thaqt the opposite of high key? So its dark detail? I wouldn't have a clue but I do use PS lol
 
can't really explain it M. I was looking for an example to show you but couldn't find the one I was thinking of. Took a load of shots in work tonight, very hit and miss and will defo need some PS if I can find the energy tomorrow. Aswell as not knowing what technique to use, I forgot about the emergency lighting which comes on as you switch the main lights off which meant I couldn't light the aircraft as I wanted to and then I couldn't nail the composition that I had in my head.

Rubbish
 
Low key is, most of the subject is likely to be in shadow, with relatively small areas being brightly lit.
 
If you do a Google image search using 'Low key pics' you'll get some idea of what is meant by 'low key'. It's basically an image containg predominantly just darker tones and possibly mid range ones, the opposite in fact of a high key image. That's not to say that the image may not contain the odd highlights but therein lies the old problem... you can't expose for the shadows and the highlights. You need to pick the part of the scene you meter on very carefully, to show shadow detail without any highlights blowing out, but that's almost inevitable if the highlights are very bright.

It's impossible to quote you chapter and verse on how to go about this shot without seeing the setting and the prevailing lighting. Try to avoid extremes of contrast and meter carefully for a mid or darker tone. Shooting in RAW will give the most latitude and control in post processing, and you should obviously bracket your exposures to give yourself the best chance.

Use the lowest ISO you can, but longer exposures do still increase the tendency for noise, and darker images show the most noise anyway. You can run noise reduction software on the image if it's too bad. I rarely run noise reduction on the whole image now because of the unfortunate smoothing effect it can have on some of the image detail, so I prefer to run it on selective parts of the image using separate masks.
 
Must admit I love low key moody portraits. ;)
 
Ok folks here's my first attempt. I've included before and after photos so you can tell me where I've gone wrong at all points (don't spare my blushes I know I will have got most points wrong). Lighting wasn't as controlable as I thought, I thought I'd be able to pitch the hangar into darkness and switch on selected lights but unfortunately I forgot the emergency lighting that comes on as other ligts are switched off. Never mind. Let me know your thoughts on all aspects of the image I'd be most grateful.

Kev

before
PICT1140.jpg

after
work-lowkey1.jpg


This is kind of a roughish version. I shot in RAW+JPEG so that I could do a quick version on the JPEG to see if I was going in the right direction rather than waste loads of time on a poor image in RAW first.
 
did you use a lighting effectin PS to get this? I think that's how I would have done it Kev, made it dark and then used filter/render/lighting effects and from the drop down menu I'd have used the flashlight and made the flashlights centre more at the front of the copter....nice dramatic shot and well worth playing with :)
 
No lighting effects, some levels, some de-saturation and painting black onto a blank layer in luminoscity mode (I think). I forgot all about ligting tricks so I might look into that tomorrow. Glad you like what I've done so far though Marianne.
 
Just had another idea but not sure if it'll work or not. If I was to use a spot light on the front of the helicopter so that it was really bright sompared to the side where I have no control over the lighting and then under expose the whole shot so that the front should be exposed normally would it work?

The other problem I have is metering. I only have the in camera metering available as I don't own a light meter or know anyone who does. So how do I meter this properly or is it just trial and error? It's all well and good the magazines telling me to check the histogram and make sure there is a good spread of tones from edge to edge or correcting it in levels but that isn't always appropriate and I think this is one of those instances. Should the histogram look cropped at the dark end and tail off on the left or should it finish in the middle somewhere.

Thanks for all the help so far and I hope you don't mind me asking more questions.
Kev
 
i got a mag article on Low key upstairs, i will get it...
 
...later, cos i cant find it at the moment
 
i found it Kev, you get DCmag dont you...?
 
Yes Mat, it's probably the same tutorial that I used. Thanks for thinking of me though. I think I'm going to have to try shooting it again and doing something about the lighting because I tried the lighting tools like Marianne suggested but couldn't get it to look right. Still I've got some more time off this week so I can have another play with it on the computer.
 
it was page 72 of issue ...errrrrrr...something

i KNEW i had seen one, i just had to find it...
 
OK technically low key photography is a pic where the background is darker than the subject (high key is where the b/g is lighter than the subject).

The trick with low key is to get separation from the b/g. This is pretty well what a hairlight is for. From the kit you list I'd be tempted the put the spotlight BEHIND the heli to rim light it, then use whatever other lights you have to light the heli itself trying to avoid light spill into the background.

I'll try to post a low key snap here - shot with 2 lights at the front for the models and one at the back to separate Caroline's hair from the b/g - Lorena didn't need it so much because blonde hair separates OK from a black b/g.

lo_key.jpg


You can see a bit of the hair light spilling onto Lorena's face.
 
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