Seduced by The Dark Side | Embracing the Grain

Yesterday was a fascinating experiment in Low Light Shooting. 

After a great chat with Fujifilm X-series Ambassador Flemming Bo Jensen, I ordered his E-Book on Music Festival Photography and decided to go out and shoot in the dark. 

Flemming is an expert on Festival Photography, his work involves shooting in very dark environments whilst capturing the mood and vibe of a festival. He manages to create some truly stunning images, full of colour, atmosphere, character and real context while shooting at high ISO values. I really appreciated his advice on embracing The Grain.

As you all know, Grain in our images results from digital artefacts that result from High ISO Exposure Values. 

This has really put me off in the past. 

Flemming inspired me to embrace it, so I did.

The point of this post is not just the images, it is about my learning adventure and experiencing the impact of low light photography on my images. 

I am deaf, so shooting at a Festival would not bother me. I could feel the vibration of the music in my feet. 

I would find the experience fascinating. 

Image creation is all about Light. 

How much Light I have to deal with will result in how far I can push my camera.

My camera was set to 1600-6400 Auto ISO, no messing about. 

I knew how far I would push my XPro2 paired with stunning 23mm1.4

Light levels were already dropping by the time I left home and headed to Kings Cross so I knew what to expect.

GRAIN, LOTS OF IT

Grain is fine; the question is, can I live with it.

Yes I can.

My belief is, capturing a moment is better than coming away with nothing.

Accepting The Grain and learning to love it is part of my photographic maturity.

I have now come to accept this.

The image below got me present to something.

Before The BIG BANG

The Canvass of our Universe was BLACK

After THE BIG BANG, Light twinkled from the birth of Stars and the birth of our perpetual Strobe, THE SUN. 

This gave us constant always on Light. 

Consider, the clouds throughout the day diffuses the intensity of Light from our Sun. 

This means we can easily control our exposures. 

On a bright Sunny day forget about it, we are looking for shade. Contrast all of this when shooting in a dark venue or Festival

I shoot events, indoors, there is a lot of Ambient Flourescent Light and my ISO is around 2500 most of the time, shooting in Raw mode.

It is miracle that Flemming comes away with the gorgeous images that he does. He is working against a Black Canvass and follows the Light where ever it falls, on stage, the musicians or the crowd.

So my session taught me a lot about Ambient Light vs no Light.

It all adds up.

My job is to embrace whatever Light I may get and work it.

I am grateful that I could connect with Flemming and have him share openly and with a generous Spirit. The internet makes it possible to connect with our heroes and learn from them, all before a hand shake. I hope to shake his hand in the near future.

If you have come across this blog, please check out his work, visit his site, it is truly inspiring.

FLEMMING BO JENSEN

EBOOK

Thanks for reading

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