Low-key is an edit, not underexposure
Monday 24 March 2025, 15:51 by Nando Harmsen | 5,210 views | 6 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
We all know the terms high-key and low-key. These are photos that are mainly made up of highlights (high-key) or shadows (low-key). This is not overexposure or underexposure, though. I explain how I edited a low-key photo.
I often see photos labelled low-key and think: they're just underexposed. There are no light tones in them at all. Even things that would normally be white have a dark grey appearance.
Low-key is not underexposure. It is a photo that mainly consists of dark tones. So mainly the tones that sit to the left of the middle in a histogram. That does not mean there cannot be any highlights in it, though.
A photo must be suitable for editing into a low-key image. The photo must already be dark. But it must not be underexposed. The exposure has to be right. The low-key look comes from the edit.
For this example, I chose a puffin against a dark blue background. The photo is exposed for the light parts, so it is correctly exposed. I cropped it to keep the second bird out of the frame. This creates a nice portrait.
After cropping, it is a matter of editing the photo. The head can be made a little lighter, while the breast should be darker, with a gradient down to very dark. The contrast needs to be optimal. In Lightroom, I achieved this edit with masks.
Although low-key photos can be presented perfectly well in colour, we often associate low-key with black and white. I think that would also look very good with this photo. I decide to create a powerful black-and-white version of the photo.
If you have set the exposure correctly, you still have the option of not turning it into a low-key photo. That is of course fine too. The choice is yours. But if the photo was already underexposed, it becomes very difficult or even impossible.
About the author
Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.
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6 comments
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Donald Willemsen wrote on Monday 24 March 2025 at 22:25 | replyI mainly have experience making low-key portraits in the studio and in black and white. With a good lighting setup in the studio, you almost immediately get a low-key photo that you don't have to edit into it again in post-processing. Of course, it doesn't work that way when you photograph outdoors in nature. After all, the light often comes from several directions there.
Translated from Dutch. -
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Bob wrote on Tuesday 25 March 2025 at 11:20 | replyWith strong contrasts in nature (usually not desirable, but definitely handy now), you can also create low key in the field. Just think of a great egret in the sunshine against a dark bank, for example.
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Thierry Hoornaert wrote on Wednesday 26 March 2025 at 13:20 | replyWith high/low key, may the background be purely white/dark, or is it supposed to remain entirely within the range? I recently did a photoshoot with a white background in which the model wore an (almost) white dress with even whiter accents at the seams. The photo was predominantly white, without being overexposed. It was praised by the group as a perfectly exposed photo, but rejected as high-key. Same for the black background and dress.
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Nando
wrote on Thursday 27 March 2025 at 00:51
| reply
Without seeing the photo itself, it's impossible to judge that. I do know that the criteria of groups, clubs and individuals sometimes take strange (and extreme) forms.
Translated from Dutch.
Pure black or white should usually not be a problem. It does depend on the image.
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