“I used this old-school exposure trick to make these flamingos look like they were photographed in a studio!”

Flamingo photographed against a dark background to create low-key effect.

You would be forgiven for thinking I took this shot of a flamingo in a photo studio with lights and a black background. However, for this shot of the flamingo in late winter sunshine at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK, I used a classic ‘low-key’ photography technique. 

It’s easier than you might think. First you need subjects to be a lighter colour and brightly lit by the sun, then position yourself so backgrounds behind the subjects are in deep shadow. With the correct exposure for the light levels on the bird, you can render the darker background to appear totally black in the shot.

It’s also easier to achieve this sort of low-key look with jet-black backgrounds when using a long lens so you can isolate subjects against the backdrop in dark shadow. Using a Canon EOS R5 full-frame mirrorless camera, I shot at around 400mm with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM super telephoto zoom lens.

In Manual exposure mode, I dialled in around one stop of underexposure, ending up with an exposure of 1/4000 sec at f/7.1 at ISO2000. The high ISO was to obtain a fast shutter speed to freeze the twitchy flamingos in motion for a super sharp result.

Canon EOS R5 with Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS. USM1/4000 sec at f/7.1,ISO2000. (Image credit: Peter Travers)

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