One of the most frustrating things for anyone who owns a DSLR is trying to capture a low light photo. Whether its a Christmas Pageant or a basketball game we all get frustrated when the light gets dim and our expensive camera is not working the way we want it to. Here are some tips to help you take better low light photographs.
1. Get fast glass.
Something that most beginning photographers do not understand is just how important their lens selection is in regards to image quality. Lenses are even more important than the camera body itself. Fast glass is a photographers term for a camera lens that has a large aperture. Typically, fast refers to any lens with an aperture of f/2.8 or larger.
He is the confusing part, your lens that came with your camera is probably f/3.5-5.6. With aperture size the smaller the f/number the "larger" it becomes. So any f/2.8 is considered larger than f/4.
The difference is in the amount of light the lens lets into the camera. An f/2.8 lens lets in twice as much light as an f/4. An f/4 lets in twice as much light as an f/5.6. So the difference in low light situations is dramatic.
2. Reduce your shutter speed
When you take a picture with a DSLR your shutter opens and closes. That is the clicking noise you hear when you snap a picture. The amount of time the shutter is open is your shutter speed.
With a DSLR you can adjust your shutter speed. A fast shutter speed is great when their is a lot of light. It gives you the ability to actually freeze motion.
A slow shutter speed allows the shutter to stay open for a longer period of time. During that time your camera is collecting light. The longer you allow your shutter to stay open the more light it will collect. But when you leave your shutter open, any moving objects will begin to blur. This is how photographers put a slight amount of blur into moving cars or athletes in motion.
But when the light gets dim slowing your shutter speed down allows you to collect all of the available light for your images. The trade-off becomes how much motion blur is acceptable in your image (this only applies if you have moving subjects in your picture).
3. Bump up your ISO
ISO is the digital equivalent to film speed. It is how sensitive your camera sensor will be to the light hitting it. The lower the light gets the higher you will want to bump up the ISO.
The problem is the higher the ISO, the more image noise you get. Image noise is that little grainy dots you see on an image. This is one of the few areas that the newer more expensive camera bodies dominate the older DSLR's. Each year camera manufactures come out with camera's that are capable of higher ISO's and are able to do it with less noise.
The other issue with high ISO is that you tend to lose some of the fine detail with high ISO's. But I would rather have a grainy image that has lost some fine detail than not have a picture at all.
4. Use a tripod
Since we have already discussed slowing your shutter speed down, I should mention the downside of slowing your shutter speed down. No matter how still we think we can stand, nobody can be perfectly still. We all move slightly. In a camera (especially one with a telephoto lens attached to it) the slightest movement will create camera shake in your images. This camera shake creates a blurred image.
The way to combat this problem is to put your camera on a tripod. This will help to keep your camera stay perfectly still while the shutter is open and help to create sharp images.
5. Use a flash
This is an obvious one, but something that is often neglecting. In a lot of situations a flash may be distracting and not possible. But if you are able to use a flash, it is the best way to capture low light images. But you typically do not want to use the flash built into your camera. You will want a separate flash unit with a diffuser to soften the harsh light coming off the flash. If possible you may want to do more advance techniques like bouncing light off a wall to make the light look more natural.
With these simple steps you should be able to capture some amazing images even when things get dark.
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