Camera magic: using low light to create atmospheric images

Photographs taken in low light have a unique appearance and atmosphere. They are muted, less cluttered with everyday details, and their colours and tones often have a strange, almost ethereal quality. Areas of shadow can enhance their overall mood and create a sense of mystery. Low-light photography can transform an ordinary subject into something unusual and compelling.

Documentary photographer and Canon Ambassador Evgenia Arbugaeva specialises in creating magical low-light photographs that are rich in atmosphere. Darkness is a central element to her style, and she's used her techniques in diverse locations around the world, from a remote meteorological station in northern Russia to a semi-abandoned scientific research institute in Tanzania.

Evgenia has been working in low light since she first began taking photographs. Initially, it started as a necessity – she was brought up in Tiksi, a town in northern Russia that's inside the Arctic Circle – but later it became an aesthetic choice.

"In the Arctic, the polar night is a few months long, so all winter there is no light," she says. "There are so many different shadows and tones that are invisible to our eyes that the camera can pick up, and for me, the camera became a tool to capture these tones. As I continued working with low light and darkness, I realised it was shaping my work. In a strange way I feel it kind of guided my style and helped me find my own photographic language."

Here, Evgenia talks about her experiences of working in these conditions and offers her tips for great low-light photography.

Working in low light requires a more considered approach to photography. "It has made me work slower, because you usually need a tripod and the long exposure takes time," says Evgenia. "I have to be really careful and selective about what I photograph, but at the same time, working slower means I pay more attention to details."

Evgenia uses her experience with low-light photography to capture her images using manual exposures. She says situations in which she's combining artificial and natural light are the most difficult to get right. "The balance of light intensity is always a challenge when photographing in low light. Artificial light is always brighter than natural light in these conditions, so there's this very fragile balance to keep."

Evgenia uses a variety of light sources to create atmosphere in her photography. She sometimes uses artificial light, including tungsten light and hand-held torches, but ideally prefers natural sources. "I like natural light rather than artificial light because then the act of taking a picture becomes an experience rather than my own construct," she explains.

For her past projects, Evgenia mainly used the Canon EOS 5D Mark III (now succeeded by the EOS 5D Mark IV) and the Canon EOS 5DS R. However, she recently began using the mirrorless Canon EOS R5, which has expanded the variety of low-light images she can shoot.

"The EOS R5 changes everything, really, in terms of low light," she says. "It has such amazing image stabilisation and high ISO performance that you don't need a tripod in some situations. It's really liberating, because it gives me more chances to capture fleeting moments, rather than always being restricted to carefully setting up my camera. I'm really excited about changing my process of working in low light."

Evgenia usually pairs the EOS R5 with the Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8L IS USM lens, but also the RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM. The wide apertures on these lenses, together with 5-stop optical image stabilisation, are an important benefit when working in dimly lit conditions.

Sharpness is particularly important for Evgenia, as she prints her images at large sizes for exhibitions. "Previously, if I was hand-holding and shooting at slower than 1/125 sec I'd be worried about camera shake," she says. "But now with the EOS R5 I can go slower and my images are still sharp. As I print big, I don't usually go over ISO4000, though that's playing it safe – I know the EOS R5 can easily handle higher ISOs for editorial work or smaller prints."

When you're shooting in near-darkness, what you see with your eyes and what the camera's sensor records can be quite different. For Evgenia, the unpredictability of the results is part of the magic of low-light photography.

"It's always so hard to tell what will really work," she says. "Sometimes you can see what looks like an amazing picture with your naked eye, then you take the shot and it doesn't work. At other times, it's pitch dark and you're shooting into the space and hoping something will come out, and when you see the image it's beautiful.

"I'm amazed every time I take a picture with a long exposure and the camera captures something I didn't see – it's so exciting. It's like the camera is a kind of magic wand that helps me capture things that are invisible."

"Often the original colours that the camera captures, even if they're not completely accurate to what I perceived, give me clues about how to build the tonalities in other pictures. In post-production I aim to just help those colours to shine more, rather than make them something else."

Shooting in low light and creating well-exposed and aesthetically pleasing images is a skill that takes time to develop. "My main advice for photographers working in low light would be to have patience, not get frustrated with technicalities and just keep trying," Evgenia says. "If you're in difficult conditions and it's cold and dark, it's easy to give up. But low-light photography requires experimentation and really taking time with your camera.

"I'd also advise that you remain open to anything invisible that becomes visible to you. The camera picks up some very subtle things that add to the images' atmosphere. Then, when you see your images on a computer monitor or in large prints, it's just such a fulfilling experience."

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