LOW-KEY ANIMAL PORTRAITS
4 HOURS
Photographing a wild animal in a photo studio isn’t exactly ethical – and besides, good luck trying to get a ring-tailed lemur to sit still for a 20-minute photo shoot! However, it’s possible to achieve studio-quality results using only natural light and a generous helping of Photoshop trickery. During a recent visit to a UK safari park, we made use of the bright conditions to produce a series of low-key ‘wildlife portraits’.
Soft light is often favoured for portraits, but stylised low-key images can be produced using a single light. The harsh directional sun can somewhat simulate this by producing strong highlights and deep patches of shadow, and this can be amplified by shooting against a dark background, setting your metering mode to Spot Metering, and using different values of negative exposure compensation.
The rest of the ruse is completed
