The festivals that light up Autumn are important occasions to celebrate with family and friends as the nights draw in. But, whether it be Diwali, Halloween or Fireworks Night, getting clear, dramatic and atmospheric photos in low light conditions can be very tricky. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to capture that perfect shot of your celebration with your smartphone camera.
Halloween
There’s nothing like a spooky ghost story at Halloween, so why not tell a tale with your photos too? Keep an eye out for decorations or locations where you can build up a set of scary photos on a theme. The more authentic the better!
Double exposure is a great way to achieve an uncanny effect. Using an app like Snapseed, you can get creative by layering one image over the other (this option can be found under tools). This could be different images or the same image slightly offset. The effect this creates is quite eerie, as in our ghostly picture below shows.
Filling a photo with darkness that is sharply contrasted with light creates a lot of drama. The Guy Fawkes LED masks available make for an excellent photo opportunity and they are great for involving the teens too!
Diwali (Thursday 4th November)
The festival of Diwali is a celebration of the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, light over darkness, and new beginnings that are represented through illumination. This is why Diwali is often referred to as the “Festival of Lights”. There are some fantastic celebrations of Diwali happening around the UK and we were lucky enough to get to Trafalgar Square on Saturday to see the spectacular light displays.
Controlling light exposure in high light conditions is the key to capturing crisp and colourful images. On the iPhone camera you have the option to change the light exposure of your image by running your finger up and down the screen. On other smartphones this may be controlled through the brightness control on the settings.
It’s worth taking some time to compose your shots. Try turning the camera, focusing in an out, and walking around the celebrations to see what different angles and not so obvious shots you can find. By getting low to the ground you can get some amazing images that become more artistic and less ‘bog standard’.
Fireworks Night
Getting a decent picture of fireworks is a challenge for any photographer and you will usually end up with 100 blurry photos you don’t look at again. Your best option to really capture the atmosphere of Fireworks Night is to look for different shots. If it’s been raining, find a puddle and take some reflections, or use a window reflection to get a different angle and effect.
If you’re at an organised event, you can create interesting shots by capturing people’s silhouettes behind a lit-up display or funfair. Capturing the light and movement of the carousel also makes for a dramatic shot.
Sparklers can create some fantastic images and if you set your phone camera to a long exposure you can create writing with the sparklers too. Huawei phone cameras are particularly good for long exposures, which you can find under the ‘more’ option on the camera’s settings. If you want to capture crisp long exposure shots then using a tripod will keep the camera still for the best effect. Phone camera tripods are very cheap and if you get one with a Bluetooth remote option you won’t have to touch the camera while shooting, guaranteeing a perfectly still image.
Playing with light
One of the best light effects that can create magical and colourful images is ‘bokeh’. This is where an image has a soft, out-of-focus background. This is most commonly used when focusing on a subject, but the bokeh effect is equally as beautiful on its own, especially when playing with light.
To achieve this on your smartphone, lock the focal point on something close to you, then zoom in on the lights. This creates a wonderful disk-like effect around the lights.
Capturing flames and fire can be tricky, but by underexposing an image you can create a beautiful ethereal effect on candles or bonfires, showing off the colours of the fames without the glare.
Hopefully this has given you the inspiration to get out this Autumn and experiment with some smartphone photography at the light festivals coming up. If you would like to learn more about smartphone photography and editing at an event in London, Newcastle, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire or Durham, please get in touch and we can arrange a one-on-one or group workshop.
For workshops in London, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire, please email Jeanette at jet@jetblacksquares.com
For workshops in Newcastle and Durham, please contact Becky at becky@jetblacksquares.com