Vincent Laforet
Cold weather and holidays bring the opportunity to shoot those enchanting firelight pictures, rich with amber hues that make every frame warm and inviting. But Vincent Laforet, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, filmmaker and author of “Visual Stories: Behind the Lens with Vincent Laforet,” warns it’s not as easy as rolling off a yule log. Here are his seven tips to get that shot of your family lit by hearth, menorah or blinking Christmas tree lights.
Get more stops. “The easiest way is to get a very bright lens,” said Mr. Laforet, meaning using a lens that lets in a lot of light, which is described by an “f” number. It’s counterintuitive, but the lower the number, the more light a lens lets in. He said to look for at least an f 2.0, but if you can afford it, get an f 1.2. The hitch is that the faster the lens the more it costs. To go from an f 1.8 50mm lens to an f 1.4 lens almost doubles the price. ”Those lenses tend to be more expensive, but they get some great images,” he said.
Stay still. A less expensive way to get more light on the camera’s sensor is to use a longer exposure, but even that requires special equipment. “The cheaper thing to do is to use a tripod and hope your subject stays still long enough for a lengthy exposure,” said Mr. Laforet. “The obvious problem is people, especially kids, tend to move during your photo and you are going to have lots of images with motion blur.” There is no magic formula for snapping subjects at the right second, he said, “other than asking them to stay still.”
Boost your ISO. It costs nothing to adjust your ISO setting, which increases the camera’s sensitivity to light, but typically lowers the quality of the image – you are likely to lose definition and get those grainy speckles called “noise.” That is changing with new technology, though. “The bodies that are coming out these days are breaking those rules more than ever,” Mr. Laforet said. Newer cameras can often take high quality shots at higher ISO settings. Test your different ISO settings in candlelight conditions before settling in for shots at the hearth, said Mr. Laforet, “You have to see how good is good enough to you.”
Trick the meter. Any camera on automatic is going to try to get the candle right, which leaves faces in the dark. One way to overcome the problem is to trick the meter. “Keep the light source out of the picture. If you keep the candle or tree outside of the frame you don’t have to balance for it.” To trick the meter focus on a person’s face, for instance, then press the shutter button half way, which on most cameras lock the settings. Now swing the camera back to include the candle in the photo and the exposure should be just about right.
Bounce your light. You can give the firelight a little boost using a strobe, but there are tricks you’ll need to keep the flat white light from overpowering your warm natural lighting. “A trick is to bounce your strobe behind you or to the side, so you shower the whole room with light, helping freeze your subject,” said Mr. Laforet. “That is the professional way to do it.” You will want to dial the power of your flash down, though, “As a general rule you’ll want to under power your strobe two-thirds of a stop to a stop and a third.” Experiment beforehand.
Fake it. “The real professional way of doing it is to recreate that natural light,” Mr. Laforet said. An advanced technique is to have a remote strobe coming from the same direction as the natural light. That probably means you will need a long strobe cord or a wireless trigger. You will also want to cover your strobe with a gel, a transparent colored material that will make the tint of the strobe light the color of the firelight. “You would likely cover the strobe with an orange gel.” Said Mr. Laforet. You can adjust the color later in Photoshop, but it requires some skill to tint the faces without turning the firelight deep red.
Overshoot. Shooting by firelight is an inexact science. Event the pros tend to spray and pray. “The one secret pros don’t like to share is, we are willing to take a lot of shots,” said Mr. Laforet. “It’s worth wasting a few dozen frames for that one golden moment.”
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