How can I keep both a person and the landscape sharp in low-light evening portraits?
Asked 2/20/2015
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I shoot a Nikon D610 with a 35mm lens and can get good evening landscapes at around f/8–f/11 with long exposures. The problem comes when I place a person in the foreground: at f/1.4 the subject can look good, but the background loses sharpness; at f/8 or smaller, the shutter speed gets too long and the person blurs even on a tripod.
What is the best approach for getting both the person and the background sharp in low light? Are there useful camera techniques for this, such as flash with a long exposure? Would taking multiple exposures and blending them later be a practical way to get a natural-looking result?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
6
You can either use a flash to expose the subject (you won't be able to see them walking into or out of the frame), or you can, as you suggest, take two shots and blend them in Photoshop - a matter of a few minutes work.
Making an exposure blended shot would require the subject to stand preternaturally still between shots for a decent effect.
Originally by user3205. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user3205
11y ago
0
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Yes—this is a common low-light portrait/landscape problem, and the usual solutions are:
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use flash with a longer exposure. Expose the landscape with the long shutter speed, then use flash to “freeze” the person. Second-curtain sync is often preferred, and off-camera flash can look better and reduce red-eye.
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have the subject stay very still during the long exposure. This can work, but any movement may still cause blur.
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take multiple exposures and blend them later. For example, one frame for the landscape and another for the subject, then mask them together in Photoshop. This can look very natural if the subject stays in the same position and the masking is done carefully.
So the practical compromise is usually either flash + long exposure, or compositing two shots. If you want a natural result, keep the flash subtle and avoid overdoing HDR-style processing.
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