Discover Black And Black Photo Technique: The Exquisite Low Key Photography

“Low key”– one of the popular shooting techniques which are used mostly in creative and artistic photography. Easy to use, the technique gives amazingly artistic photos. The technique itself is closely related to contrast, in fact it’s the contrast in action.

The pictures in this key can be called “black on black”, which reflects the essence of this kind of photography, where dark and even black elements form the major part of the picture. Still all the details are highly distinguishable and light zones are always bright, which makes photos really exquisite.

The main difficulty about using the low key technique is that we always deal with dark objects, often the difference in shades between them is very small – 1.5 of a tone (according to the Adam’s theory) What can we do about it? How do we shoot in that technique? There are 7 simple photo tips:

1. We can highlight the object so that its edges are highly lighted, this way we get the gradient transition at the place of folding. There is a simple rule: try to use as many sources of light as many verges of an object you would like to present in your photo.

2. The “black on black” technique requires the maximum contrast possible. Actually only high contrast pictures in low key come out spectacular. There must be always present a white spot without finish, either in the area of patch or in an area of any light object or spot. That will ultimately be the most active spot on your shot, so always try to place it in a centre of a frame. Remember that the spectator will always pay extra attention to the light area.

3. The frame must always contain an area of black without finish as well. That's the area of “thinking through”. The interesting one. As the viewer can’t see anything there, his imagination turns on. This will add a mystery effect to your shots.

4. The picture should not contain any grey keys.Only black and dark-grey probably. Thus, there are always exceptions, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

5. You should always keep an eye on the finish and where to put it and where to remove.The perception is totally individual so it’s up to you to choose the right variant. For getting the right effect you might need to remove finish on some parts and to add them on other. In most cases this is done by adding or removing the corresponding illumination.

6. The mood of low key pictures is mostly minor and negative. Hardly a low key picture could be bright and happy. You can’t talk about light by dark means. There are of course exceptions, where the pictures come out philosophical and thoughtful.

7. And the last but not the least. Actually, that's the most important one. Our exposure meters (internal as well as external) are set up to 18% grey key, which corresponds to regular photography. So you should artificially darken low key pictures, i.e. set a negative expocorrection from -1/3 to -2 steps and more. The easiest would be to shoot in manual mode, setting the right exposure on the spot.

Taking photos in low key is an interesting and creative task. The illumination in this cases is always complex, that’s why the shots always come out deep, sensual and impressive. Here you can aways browse lots of examples.

Remember to take part in our photo contest, you are always welcome!