Firstly, what is a “low key” image?
Low key images are often described as dark, moody,
classy or even sinister
A broad definition is that low key images have plenty of contrast and dark tones. Images are often described as dark, moody, classy or even sinister. In the pre-digital days, getting the exposure correct on transparency film where the highlights that define the subject had to be light but not overexposed, was a challenge that involved careful use of light meters and polaroid. Modern cameras with immediate feedback and histograms, that show at a glance where the tones of the scene lie, have made things much easier, especially when you’re controlling the light source such as with flash or in a studio.
The natural opposite of low-key is high-key—lots of light tones like a bride in a traditional dress shot in a pristine white studio.
With “low-key” in mind I revisited a few of my images that weren’t shot with that in mind to see if I could Photoshop them to be darker, moodier and vastly different from what I originally shot. Playing like this always leads to new knowledge about the software, which feeds back into your photographic sensibilities next time you’re shooting. And it’s fun to see how far you can push pixels into places they were never meant to go.
The slideshow below can be enlarged with the button lower right.