By Candle Light

I wanted to use a variety of different low light situations for the Comm Tech project and to give more variation from urban shots I thought I would try candle lit portraits.

This was really tricky, not so much working with the lighting of one single candle, but trying to get the subject to keep perfectly still during a shot. The exposures weren't terribly long but to sit completely still like a statue isn't the easiest thing to do. Unfortunately, some of the shots aren't as pin sharp as I would have liked but there wasn't really any other way around this which wouldn't have involved heavy editing in photoshop which was exactly what I didn't want to do as it would have defeated the purpose of trying.
Instead, the only solution was to hold the candle closer to the subjects face.

I would have also liked to have been able to used a smaller aperture for the shot as F2.8 keeps the DoF very small, but without increasing the length of exposure, this simply wasn't possible.

My favourite shot is the first one. I love the tones and shadow detail in the face and skin.
It would have been nice to use a plain candle, but I didn't have one that was burnt far enough through to make the candle glow well enough.

'Alone in the Darkness'

Taken at F2.8, ISO 100, 1/2 second exposure

'Did you hear something...?!'

Taken at F2.8, ISO 100, 1.3 seconds exposure

I am going to do a few more shots like this with the use of a cloak to give a more 'creepy' appearance.