At the beginning of this chapter, I asked if it made sense to write with a black ink pen on a black piece of paper, and of course, most of us would agree that this made no sense unless we were trying to hide our words. Sometimes it can actually be fun to “hide” some of our words, and with this hiding of words, our images can take on new meaning. Images with little contrast are called low key, by the way, yet ironically, some low-key images are extremely surprising!

On a recent workshop in Paris, my students and I were shooting near the Basilique du Sacré Coeur de Montmartre when I asked one of them to pose against a nearby red wall. The result is a low-key composition that offers up the small surprises of a piano bar, a scarf, two hands, and a face covered in sunglasses.

Nikon D3X with Nikkor 24–85mm lens at 70mm, f/11 for 1/100 sec., ISO 100