What is a blue hour in photography?
Blue hour in photography is also known as blue light photography, it is the time when you take photos during the blue hour. In order to understand what blue hour photography is, it is important to understand what and when blue hour is.
When is Blue hour
That beautiful short period of time right after the sunset or right before the sun rise is known as blue hour or twilight. This is the period of time when sun is between 6 to 12 degrees below the horizon. Blue hour approximately ends 10 minutes before sunrise and starts 10 minutes after sunset and normally lasts for about 20 to 30 minutes. The length of blue hour depends on factors like geography and season, however, today we have many websites and apps that can tell us exactly when and for how long the blue hour is.
Photography during blue hour
As beautiful as it may seem, photography during blue hour can be a dedicated task mainly due to its short time window. If you aren’t prepared you might miss those beautiful shots you are planning on taking. As the blue hour is only going to last for a very short time you won’t be able to go to other place while taking pictures, so it is better if you plan your shot points and keep them close to each other.
Photography tips for blue hour
Blue hour photos look fabulous and seem really hard to create. However, they aren’t as complicated to capture as they may seem (if you are doing it right). With the right knowledge and technique you should be able to take those beautiful photos.
1. Planning
Just like any other task, planning for blue hour photography is also important. As the window is short you need to make sure that you are planning the right shot locations and you have a mind of everything you want to do. You can use Google Maps to keep an eye on the clarity of the view from your shot location. Arriving early is also important to double check everything and be ready if there is any sudden change in plans.
2. Camera setting
Due to low natural light during blue hour you will get a slow shutter speed, and a bigger aperture for the camera to let more light in. A shutter speed of one to six seconds is recommended for blue hour photography. The camera mode should be shutter priority mode so you can manually adjust the shutter speed or manual mode if you’re more experienced. Try and play with your ISO to make sure your shutterspeed is high enough to take steady shots. The higher the ISO the more noise you will get in your photos.
3. Important accessories
Due to slower shutter speed you need camera to be really still and for this tripod can do a wonderful job (so try not to forget your tripod). You should also use a remote to capture the photos as clicking the shutter release button might cause camera shake. If you don’t have a remote then you should use timer for a steady photo.
4. Taking help from electric lights
As there is not much natural light during the blue hour, capturing landscapes with electric lights can give your photos a great effect. Especially as a beginner you can consider taking pictures of; landscapes like cityscapes, beaches, roads and bridges for your blue hour photography.
5. Trying something new
At the end, don’t forget to listen to yourself and try something new every once in a while. No one knows what you want to capture better than you and there is no better way to capture a masterpiece if you’re trying something new.
When was ISO invented in photography?
Before understanding what ISO means for the photography, let’s take a look first at how film speed works in film photography. Film speed is the measure of the sensitivity of film to light. Films with different film speeds are available in the market e.g. 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and so on.
Mostly people confuse film speed with the speed of the object it is capturing, like if a faster object needs to be captured (a racing car) then the film speed should be higher like 1600 or 3200 and if a steady object like a person is being photographed then we slow film like 50 or 100 is needed. However, the reality is that the film speed refers to the speed at which the film reacts to light, the faster the film the faster it reacts to light.
The sensitivity of light on a photographic film is measured on many numerical scales but the most updated and recent scale is ISO system.
Evolution of current ISO system
Leon Warnerke was the first person to invent a practical sensitometer to measure the speed of photographic materials. This system known as The Warnerke Standard Sensitometer was invented in 1880 and was commercialized in 1881. This was followed by different systems:
H&D system was invented in 1890 Ferdinand Hurter and Vero Charles Driffield.
Scheinergrade system was invented by Julius Scheiner in 1894.
DIN system was put forward in 1934 by German Institute for Standardization.
Weston film speed rating was invented by Edward Faraday Weston and Dr. Edward Weston in 1932.
ASA was recommended by American Standards Association in 1943.
What is ISO in photography?
ISO is a setting in your camera that will make the photo brighter or darker in camera. Increasing your ISO number will give you a brighter photo and reducing the ISO number will give you a darker photo. The lower your ISO is, the longer your shutterspeed is and the better quality your photo will be.
So, why do we have to adjust the ISO for every photo? Why don’t we adjust the camera to the highest ISO number? Increasing the ISO number too high will increase digital noise in your photos and losing quality. Digital noise is a visual distortion on a photograph, those tiny coloured pixels we see in the photograph is digital noise. In terms of film photography noise is also known as grain. This means that increasing your ISO numbers when not necessary might ruin the photo.
What is shutterspeed in photography?
In your camera there is a small curtain that rolls over the sensor and lets light shine on the sensor in the photo camera to take a picture. The brightness of the image depends on the movement of the shutter. If the shutter moves slower this means that more light will go inside and the image will be brighter.
The unit to measure the duration that shutter allows light to shine on the image sensor is called shutter speed. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, shutter speed of 1/4 means that the movement of shutter is slower than the shutter speed of 1/250, means the image with a shutter speed of 1/4 will be brighter than the shutter speed of 1/250, in the same situation, as it will let the light shine for a longer period of time.
Shutter speed also controls how blurry the photo is. At the shutter speed of 1/4 the photo will be more blur as the sensor will take the picture for a longer time if you compare it to a shutter speed of 1/250.
What is aperture in photography?
In the lens of a camera there is a set of blades that controls the light that enters the camera. These blades can be widened or narrowed down to create large or small hole, this is called ‘aperture’. When the aperture is wide-open it lets more light in to the camera making it possible to take pictures in lower light. Also your depth of field will be smaller.
So if you want a small depth of field in your camera, you need to lower your f-stop or aperture. This can be super useful if you’re taking portraits to create a nice bokeh and a nice soft background. You want to shoot with a higher f-stop or a small aperture if you’re taking pictures of landscapes. With a small aperture your will capture most of your photos as sharp as possible. The smaller your aperture is, the longer your shutterspeed is. Use a tripod or increase your ISO to shoot out of your hand.