Professional photographer Anok Deb shares his tips on mastering low light photography
Through the constant rethinking of what nighttime means to him, 20-year-old London-based photographer Anok Deb, also known as Emriys on social media, has mastered the art of low light photography. That’s why, as part of our partnership with Huawei and its global smartphone photography competition Next-Image awards 2020, we couldn’t say no to the chance of speaking to Emriys about the awards’ category ‘Good Night’ in order to understand the process behind capturing low light scenes using a Huawei smartphone.
Nighttime has always had something special about it, and capturing these glowing moments is an art in itself—an intricate balance of lighting, exposure and finding just that perfect moment. Using the Huawei P40 Pro to show the Positive Power of Creativity, Emriys shared his best tips on mastering low light photography.
Good Night: Emriys’ top tips when shooting in low light settings
“Previously, I’ve always taken my photos during day time or sunset. I was never a big fan of low light photography but lately, I’ve been totally loving it. Everything changes at night. Everything seems so lonely, and yet so beautiful.”
For his submission images for ‘Good Night’, Emriys explored his hometown of London as the sun went down and the night came in. He shares how he chose his subjects and what features he used to capture them. “For example, in this image, the city looks so isolated but so beautiful at the same time. The glow coming out from the light is truly beautiful—you can never imagine getting a shot like that during day time.”
Using his Huawei P40 Pro, and keeping in mind the challenges that come with capturing that perfect night shot, Emriys tells us how he played with the phone camera’s different angles, allowing him to capture the image’s depth, even when the light was scarce. “I used the wide-angle camera to get the maximum field of view. By using the Pro mode on the camera app, I was able to shoot these images in a RAW format, which allowed me to be more flexible while I was editing the images without losing any quality.”
The best tips for capturing low light images
“A lot of the photos I take in low light are actually from my smartphone. The night modes on smartphones in 2020 are insanely good! Sometimes I prefer the look of an image taken on my phone to the one taken on my camera. I currently use the Huawei P40 Pro and I think it has the best camera in the market at the moment.”
“Huawei’s technology gives my pictures so much more precision than any other smartphones can. The Night Mode is pure magic—it can even capture what the eyes are not able to see,” Emriys adds.
“For this shot, I wanted to make it look like it came straight from a high-end DSLR camera. I used the aperture mode and set my aperture to F2. This allowed me to create the out of focus blur behind my subject making the subject look crisp and the image look more professional.”
Turn the ordinary into something extraordinary
In order to capture the shot, Emriys needs to see something special in his selected location, highlighting nighttime’s true beauty. And it might seem obvious to some, but inspiration is the key element to creating a powerful image. For Emriys, “photography is all about capturing experiences. When I snap a photo, it’s like I’m freezing time and I get to capture a moment that is gone forever; impossible to reproduce. It’s also an act of observation. I like to find something interesting in a totally ordinary place, and the fact that I am the only one seeing it excites me.”
“One thing I’ve realised over the years is that, in life, you don’t get second chances. Everything moves so fast that if you blink, you miss your shot. And I see that as a challenge,” explains Emriys. Building confidence in your art and your skills is part of the journey towards expressing your creativity through photography. And for you to really reach this kind of level, as important as practising can be, having a creative eye must be your number one priority at first.
Taking photographs has been with Emriys all his life but it was only two years ago that he finally decided to see where it could take him in his professional career. Since then, Emriys has left his part-time job to focus on his passion and has been on a mission to capture every experience he goes through in order to share it all with the world.
