Digital Capture After Dark Review

Digital Capture After Dark

By Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler, Philipp Scholz Rittermann

Digital Imaging After Dark is a 13 chapters and 190 pages of detailed information to help the reader become a better low light photographer. Since the entire concept of photography is capturing light on film or a digital sensor it’s important to be able to understand the possibilities of capturing what little light is available under many circumstance. Ms. Quintenz-Fiedler has  compiled the writings of herself, Mr. Ritterman and Kevin McCollister and Michael Penn into a narrative that encompasses each of their techniques and experiences.

Each chapter covers a specific subject that photographers need to understand in order to become more skilled in this difficult art form. The subjects discussed cover everything from what equipment you need, to getting started, what to photograph, atmospheric conditions, movement, lighting and processing.

Low light photography can get fairly technical, especially if you want to take good pictures, and the author does a good job of keeping the technical aspects understandable for the layman. She does a very good job of keeping the technical subjects readable.

In the equipment chapter the author goes into detail describing what kinds of digital cameras are best suited to low light photography. I agree with the general statement that the sensor size (not the mega-pixel count) is one of the most important factors in camera choice. I also liked the descriptions of what types of cameras, lenses, and accessories are best suited to low light photography.

The only area of possible disagreement I may have is the authors brief touching on what I see as the wave of the future: Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Cameras (MILCs). New MILCs, like the Olympus PENs and OM-Ds and truly superb pieces of equipment with all of the capabilities needed for excellent low light photography. In addition, they don’t have the inherent limitations of mirrored SLR cameras, the big flapping mirror below the prism. I would recommend that they use the exact shooting techniques described throughout the book using an MILC. Personally I use an Olympus E-P5 and find it to be perfect

Naturally the one piece of required gear (other than the camera, of course) that is really needed to take low light photographs is a good tripod. I agree with the authors completely on this subject and recommend buying the best one you can afford.

I found Chapter 5, From Dusk ‘Til Dawn to be especially informative  Shooting at dusk and at night has always been a passion of mine and some of my best photographs were taken during those hours.

The one piece of advice that really stood out is: Pocket Your Meter! In low light situations your light meter, either built-in or hand-held, will be useless. It is designed to measure reflected light (for the most part) and can’t possibly understand the lighting that occurs at night. So how do you get a correctly exposed picture? Simple, experience and lots and lots of bracketed shots. Shoot with different apertures and different time exposures to get what you’re looking for. It’s so much easier today with digital cameras. I remember shooting dozens of relatively expensive film exposures at night trying to get the one shot I wanted.

This book is beautifully illustrated throughout. Almost every photograph is well done with framing and lighting that clearly shows the reader just what can be done with “impossibly” low light. It should inspire the reader to want to take pictures that are as good as the ones in this volume.

Digital Capture After Dark is highly recommended.

Ebook: $16.95

Print & Ebook: $43.95

Print: $39.95

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