Shooting in Artificial Light; What You Need to Know

While shooting on the beach in the golden hour is many a photographer's dreams, it's rarely available. Most people with a half-decent camera can make a beautiful location in excellent light conditions look incredible in a photograph - it really isn't tricky.

What requires a great deal more skill is shooting in unfavourable lighting conditions, particularly artificial light. If you want to take your photography to the next level, then challenging yourself with difficult lighting conditions is a great way to push your knowledge further and achieve some striking shots in the process.

One unusual light source is more than enough to create a sense of drama in indoor photography

Learning to Look for and Utilize the Light

When plunged into a situation that's out of our comfort zone, it's natural to panic. If you find yourself shooting in a dimly lit room, then the chances are you're going to whack the ISO up, and your shutter speed down and not genuinely think about the conditions. Generally speaking, there will be a primary light source. You just need to find it.

Warm light streaming in through a shaded window, the glow of a crackling fire, even the glare of an iPhone screen can all create enough light for a beautiful composition. Our modern lives are filled with unexpected light sources; the light from a cracked open fridge can illuminate a face beautifully; we've just been trained out of seeing it. Once you learn to see, you will be delighted with the results. It's important to remember that using these unexpected light sources creates a sense of interest and realness in your photographs. Instead of battling against the artificial light, work with it.

Once you've found your light source, restrict the light from all the other sources that you can. If the light coming from the window is beautiful, then turn off the overhead lamp. If the light from a phone screen is illuminating your subject's face, then switch off the main light and draw the curtains. Think of the setting as your own home studio. Make that light the focus of all interest; you'll achieve greater depth and shadow.

Getting low to the ground and focusing on the strip lighting creates an amazing effect in this shot

What if I Can't Control the Light?

There will be situations where you simply won't be able to look for a light and then limit all others. If you're working in your home, then you're golden, but in public, you can't just wander around switching the lights off. One situation where this really comes into play is shooting in indoor competitions and tournaments.

PokerStars frequently organize trips abroad, and, whether, for amateurs or the big players in the WSOP, it's essential to have someone around to document the action. Joe Giron takes photographs for the PokerStars blog of most of the major events, so he has some invaluable wisdom when it comes to shooting under artificial light. He believes that instead of focusing on the often garish, fluorescent lighting, you need to learn to let your images convey a story. His career has always been based around photojournalism, and as such, the emotion, narrative, and impact of the image come first. If you find yourself working in lighting conditions that just won't ever look romantic, then stop trying to fight it and instead try to build a narrative. 

 Another company that requires beautiful photos to be taken underneath artificial light is Zippos Circus. Whilst at a poker tournament, the lighting conditions are almost entirely incidental. At a circus, they are carefully choreographed. Piet-Hein Out is their photographer of choice and is widely considered to be one of Europe's most skilful circus photographers. Whilst Piet-Hein gets to know lighting shows intimately, he, like Giron, also recognises the importance of telling a story. People come to circuses to see incredible feats of athleticism, so getting across an entire trick in just one image is the key.

How Can I Create That Narrative?

Using objects to tell a story is a really effective way of photographing. If you're shooting in a location where you have some control over your surroundings, then you can place found objects towards the foreground of your photographs. If you're shooting somewhere where you have minimal control, then look for interest either in the foreground or background of your images. The addition of the front of a fern just peeking into the front of a frame, can take an abandoned warehouse photo from being stark and unwelcoming to revealing the hint of new life and nature prevailing.

Another way to create a narrative around an image is to take diptychs. Diptychs (or triptychs, etc.) are simply multiple images that work together as a series. If you're shooting the inside of a room, then perhaps you'd like to shoot the majority of it from one angle and then focus on a couple of details within the room in another shot. Showing these two images next to one another immediately creates a relationship between the two, allowing the viewer to begin to form their own narrative.

Always having the option to photograph something as a diptych in your mind will mean that you begin to look for details in all of your shots subconsciously. You will learn to spot the things that other people sometimes miss and focus on the hidden secrets of scenes. Whilst this tip is great for capturing multiple photographs, it will also make your singular shots improve overtime as well.

A Parting Thought

Learning to create art and meaning with your photographs is the most important lesson when it comes to shooting under artificial light. Instead of seeing unfavourable lighting as a hindrance, see it as a chance to learn.

Most great artists, photographers, and creatives produce their best work when they are working against some sort of constraint. Working in this way allows us to think more creatively and rise to the challenge.

Remember to find novel light sources, capitalize on them, and try to tell a story, using more than one image if necessary. Shoot in RAW always and take your time in post-production. Some of the most visually striking images are taken under artificial light. It could be your new favorite way to shoot.