Be careful that low-key does not turn into underexposure

Monday 24 April 2023, 15:51 by Nando Harmsen | 4,790 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When your photo contains many dark areas and the light areas make up only a small part of the image, it is called low-key.

Low-key is all about having lots of darkness in the image, but it is not about underexposure. So be careful not to mistake an underexposed photo for low-key.

A silhouette of Bruc, our dog. This is a low-key photo. Notice that what is light is also light. It is correctly exposed.
Low-key is fairly popular. It is the opposite of high-key, which is obvious. Every now and then, however, I see photos that have been labelled low-key for the wrong reason. If you look closely, they are actually nothing more than underexposed photos.

Low-key does not mean underexposing. This is an example of what I often see: an underexposed photo labelled low-key.
An underexposed photo may be dark, but it is not necessarily a low-key photo. Low-key does not mean that there cannot be any light areas.

I believe it is actually important to have light areas, because they make the photo more attractive to look at.

Correctly exposing the portrait makes the photo much more interesting. This is what I think low-key should look like. Avoid underexposure.
Low-key only means that dark areas dominate. That darkness makes up most of the frame. It is precisely by introducing that small amount of light that you make the photo more interesting. If you keep everything dark, including the light areas, it is nothing more than underexposure.

Landscapes can be low-key too. Just like this forest path through the woods. Having light areas emphasises the darkness.
That does not mean that a photo with hardly any light cannot be attractive. Rules are not set in stone, after all. Make it functional, and do not make all the light areas dark just because you think that makes it low-key.

Do you ever take low-key photos? Do you make sure there is good contrast, or do you think everything should be dark? Share your opinion in a comment below this post.

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