The Dark Days are Upon Us Now
It is that time of year again. The time when those of us who live on the far eastern edge of a time zone have to watch it get dark before dinner arrives. This is the time of year down here when you turn on the Cowboys, playing at AT&T Stadium, and see that massive blanket of sun flowing in those huge glass windows on the west side of the stadium. Then you look outside here in East Alabama and remember, it’s pitch black outside already.
Knowing Dallas and Auburn share the Central Time Zone, here in Alabama you feel still feel slightly envious of the folks in Arlington. They get to appreciate so much more daylight there than we do here because of their western proximity to Central Time, right. Well, technically of course Dallas is almost on an equal plane as Auburn geographically, perhaps even just slightly north of Auburn, so we each receive the same number of minutes of light every day. Fairbanks, AK. Those folks have it rough. I really have no idea how the fine folks in Alaska deal with so much darkness in the winter, but that's a whole different level of darkness than we have here in the south.
We did have this bill here in Alabama where we overwhelmingly passed all this stuff to move to Daylight Savings Time (DST) year round. But then it had to pass in Washington since the feds have to allow the states to make this change.
And I thought it did. Until I looked a little deeper.
...the Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021-2022. The act would adopt DST year-round, technically moving forward by one hour what is currently considered standard time. The change would take place November 5th 2023 and would allow those states that had previously chosen to move to year-round DST to make the change.
The bill’s fate in the House is uncertain, however, with no movement on the measure.
Ok, so there it is. It would not take place until November 2023, and we are waiting on the House. Got it. Well, at least it will be light in the morning before 8am starting next week. Surprisingly, this information was not easy to find. Maybe politicians have better things to do right now than mess with the clocks, who really knows.
In the mean time, if you live on the far eastern side of one of the time zones, welcome to 4pm darkness. I’m sure the House will get around to voting on it soon. 🙄
Photography: Shooting in the Dark
So what about photography in the dark? Until a few years ago getting ISO's and shutter speeds high enough for a photo to be very useable was difficult at best. Fast forward to 2022 and camera sensors today are more than capable, sorta.
The First Recorded Photograph
Photography is about "capturing light." The word itself literally means 'drawing with light', derived from the Greek, meaning light and graph, to draw. Even in our modern day digital Photography world the process of recording an image – a photograph – is still the same today as it was in 1827 when the first image in history was recorded. Today we record via a digital electronic "sensor" and memory, but it is still drawing with light.
The lower light (the more darkness) the more difficult drawing with light becomes. It is of course drawing with light, not drawing with darkness.
How a Camera Sees Light
The total range in contrast from complete light to complete dark in photography is called "stops" of light. Think of them as steps from white to black.
Cameras today range greatly in the number of "stops" they can "see." Software advancements give more stops of light to the iPhone in Night Mode, and IBIS (stabilization) gives a whopping 7 stops of light to the new Fujifilm X-T5, but typically, digital cameras can see around 10 stops of light.
That means cameras can see a range from complete white brightness to complete black darkness of about 10 steps, or stops as we say (give or take sensors and various other factors).
How Much Light the Human Eye Can See
Think about how much light there is in a room at night when your eyes have adjusted to the darkness. You can actually see an amazing amount of light. Those LED beacons of light from every electronic appliance in the house are barely visible during the day. But at night we can see the smallest amount of light. It truly is amazing how much light we can see in the "darkness."
The human eye can see around 30 stops of light from complete white to complete black. In fact I would say few of us actually experience a total and complete black darkness, it is just really hard to do with electricity burning. So the contrast range of the human eye is incredible.
Camera Sensor Advancements
The difference between 10 stops and 30 stops of light is where the ability to "draw with light" becomes difficult in photography, and why digital sensors have always been catching up to what the human eye can see. Yet, digital sensors have come a really long way.
My first digital camera was a 1.5mp HP digital point-n-shoot camera I got for free from some loyalty rewards program. It took terrible photos by today's standards, but I still have every image, because they were digital.
I moved from film to shooting serious digital photography with the very first generation of Nikon's DSLR, the D100, at the airport in Las Vegas. Shooting in low light with that camera was nearly impossible. The Nikon D100 (specs) was extremely expensive at the time, had a 6mp 23.7 x 15.6mm sensor (just smaller than today's APS-C sensors) and capable of around maybe 4-5 stops of light. It went to a max ISO (how sensitive the camera is to light) of 1600, and was completely useless at 1600.
In contrast, Fuji's new X-T5 (APS-C sensor size) released this week has a 40mp sensor and goes to ISO 51,200, though nobody would ever shoot it that high.
Of course there are a lot more factors that go into the ability to photograph things in low light. The physical size of the sensor is especially important, but no matter what camera you have, you can still get decent results in lower light situations in 2022.
How to Shoot in the Dark
Getting decent results at night with any current camera is more than possible today. Here are a few things I try to do when shooting in the dark or at night.
Stabilize the camera: this is the single most important thing. Do nothing else but this and result will be better. Use a tripod, concrete, countertop, anything, just don't hold it with your hand, any micro movements with your hands affect the image. This is especially true on a cell phone camera.
Don't shoot in P-mode (automatic): shoot in A, S, or M, anything but P automatic. On an iPhone, tap the center of the brightest area of the screen and pull down the exposure until it looks dark around the source of light.
Use a fast lens: typically f/2.8 or faster would be great, on an iPhone, the wider the lens typically the more light it will let in, so using your "zoom" lens in the dark will yield the worst results.
Use manual focus: focus hunting as it's called won't happen in manual focus. On an iPhone, tap and hold on the point of focus and it will lock exposure and focus.
Shoot in RAW: if you don't know what this is or why it's important then don't really worry about it, but if you can, you will capture a ton more "information" in RAW than a typical JPG can do but it will require more post-processing afterwards. iPhones can shoot in RAW now, and the results can be far better than a JPG image, but if you don't post-process images stick with JPG's.
Low light photography has always been a favorite of mine. I updated my Low Light Portfolio (see below) this week for this issue to give you some examples. These images range from my old Nikon film camera (pre-digital), to my Nikon D100, all the way to the iPhone and a Sony full frame camera. So you can shoot in low light with any camera you have, it just takes a bit of practice.
What Cameras Can See that Human Eyes Can't
My absolute favorite part about low light photography is the ability to capture things the eyes can't see. What is something the human eye can't see that a camera can see? The passage of time in one single frame. A camera can capture lengths of time (called a shutter speed); fractions of seconds, full seconds, minutes, hours. The eye is only capable of see current time passing second by second. Think about that for a while.
There are several ways you can make this happen, and they always make for some fantastic images.
Some examples would be streaks of light coming from:
Lightning
Sparklers
Car lights on road
And the great part about most of those examples is they are relatively easy to capture. It's slow photography. You set your camera to take long exposures and just let it do it's thing.
From my Lightroom Archives
When I was in Dallas several years ago I did this set of images of downtown Dallas overlooking I-30. The streaks of lights with the cars headlights and taillights are what the eye can't see but the camera can. That is the cool part about photography. Capturing something the eye technically can't see. Time passing in one frame. Here is the full high res version with explanation if you are interested. The downtown image below is from that shoot.
Low Light Portfolio – Scott Fillmer — scottfillmer.com This is a curated collection of my photography catalog based around low light photography. Low light photography takes some special attention to get the image sharp, and the light just the way you want it, but it is one of the most rewarding forms of photography. In the past low light photography was made pretty…
Technology: Dark Mode History
Dark Mode. A great controversial topic when it comes to computers and technology. Dark Mode finally came to the iPhone in 2019, but that wasn't anything new. As far back as the 1970s, computers had Dark Mode as the default, but the term is relatively new. There are many benefits to dark mode, but generally speaking, it's better for:
proofreading
increasing reading speed
lower blue light, better on the eyes, especially at night
developing / coding (over 70% of software engineers say Dark Mode is easier on the eyes for prolonged periods)
uses less power
I'm sure you have your own list. I love dark mode. Especially on big bright screens in the middle of the day. Less strain on the eyes over a long period of time is great. If you have never ventured into the dark side of dark mode, give it a try, you may never return.
Thinking Offgrid: The 2003 Blackouts
What can be more off-grid AND dark than a blackout. The blackout of 2003, caused by a cascading failure in the northeast, was really something incredible in the history of electricity. This was not being off grid on purpose of course. If you have not taken a look at this unique time in history, this video by Practical Engineering is a fantastic look at what happened. This wasn't the same thing as the 2021 failure of the Texas power grid, but it has some similarities.
Matters of Faith: Light in the Darkness
I'm not going with the obvious here. When I think of modern day people overcoming darkness, deep darkness, the person that first comes to mind for me is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you haven't read Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas this is the book to read on Bonhoeffer.
Here is a man who was in the deepest darkness of Natzi Germany, imprisoned, and later killed just weeks before the war ended. Even still, he wrapped himself in the light of faith like it was the air that surrounded him.
If he was alive today it would be incredible to see what he would have to say about the church of our day. He was for people. He had no time for corporate idiocy or organized bureaucracy, and he had much to say about the Church of his day.
“If I had been a Jew and had seen such dolts and blockheads govern and teach the Christian faith, I would sooner have become a hog than a Christian." (Eric Metaxas and Timothy J. Keller, Bonhoeffer)
Perhaps one of his most famous quotes in this book was...
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew. And then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak for me.
He spoke up for everyone who didn't have a voice. Ultimately he died in a German prison camp because of it. His story is incredible. It is worth the read no matter what beliefs or ideology you maintain. As a human being who lived a life in this world, and stood by his convictions, he is worthy of the read. I truly think anyone who reads this book will benefit from how he lived his life. And a lot of it was lived in deep darkness. In the end he was completely surrounded by Light.
The Uncategorized
I leave you with this photo I took of myself in an abandon rural church. There is literally (almost) zero light inside this structure when I first walked in. The longer I was there the more light I could see coming in from the window. It provided enough light to take a reflective image.
When you think you are surrounded by nothing but darkness, leave the shutter open a little longer. You will probably see more light than you ever thought was there. Light will always break through darkness, it has no choice.