Help with low-light photography

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donkey_kong

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Hi all,

I was at a wedding at the weekend (as a guest rather than a photographer) and was slightly disappointed by some of my images, especially in the church and some of the evening dance shots, i.e. places with low light.

I was using a Nikon D3100 and was using my 35 mm f1.8 prime lens as this would be best suited for the low-light situations. I put my camera on aperture priority mode however, the shutter speed was very slow perhaps 1/15 sec and this was me ramping up the ISO to 3200. Didn't really want to go to the Hi1 or Hi2 settings. In hindsight, I perhaps should have used the flash. I'm not a fan of the on camera flash even at the lowest stength so I avoid it when I can. I've ended up with a bunch of blurry images which I've had to ditch.

Is there anything else I could have done in this situation?

Thanks in advance.

DK
 
If you were shooting at 1/15 @ f1.8 and 3200 then it must have been incredibly dark and gloomy. The only way to stop blurring is a decent shutter speed, use aperture and ISO to suit and if that isn't enough then add some light from somewhere.
 
Did you notice what equipment the pro photographer was working with as I doubt they would need to 'ditch' all their shots?
 
artyman said:
If you were shooting at 1/15 @ f1.8 and 3200 then it must have been incredibly dark and gloomy. The only way to stop blurring is a decent shutter speed, use aperture and ISO to suit and if that isn't enough then add some light from somewhere.
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Ken - the OP doesn't actually say he was USING f1.8, 'cos as you say, it would have been very dark, and if the pro was getting shots without a flash then I can only assume the OP's aperture was stopped down...
 
Thanks for your replies so far!

Ken, you have assumed correctly about my camera settings which wasn't clear in my initial post. It was on aperture priority mode at f1.8 and ISO 3200 which selected the shutter speed of 1/15.

John, I didn't notice the model of camera the pro was using. It was some Canon camera and she was using an external flash.
 
Like they said above it must have been very dark. You really need a flashgun for such situations. When you say you don't like flash you are talking about the pop up a presume which are terrible. If you used a dedicate flashgun you can bounce the light of ceilings and walls to give you a much softer light.
 
donkey_kong said:
Thanks for your replies so far!

Ken, you have assumed correctly about my camera settings which wasn't clear in my initial post. It was on aperture priority mode at f1.8 and ISO 3200 which selected the shutter speed of 1/15.
Click to expand...

That's extremely dark, roughly EV1. And this was in the church?

How was the overall exposure of the shots you take, they may be blurry but don't be in a rush to ditch them until you've had a chance to learn what they're telling you.

donkey_kong said:
John, I didn't notice the model of camera the pro was using. It was some Canon camera and she was using an external flash.
Click to expand...

When it's that dark you've really got no option but to use flash.


But the important things is, did you enjoy yourself?
 
donkey_kong said:
I was using a Nikon D3100 and was using my 35 mm f1.8 prime lens as this would be best suited for the low-light situations. I put my camera on aperture priority mode however,
Click to expand...

the problem with all semi auto modes such as aperture priority.. your letting the camera decide the settings ... this is great for most situations and I use those modes a lot so not knocking them... However when your indoors in a set lighting ...you should decide the settings not the camera as the camera can be confused... shooting a person in church with lit candls.. or bright objects or near them? ....well lots of things to fool the camera into the wrong settings..

indoors or anyhere with constant lighting it would be better to shoot manual...do all the settings yourself..

if you want more advice you would be better posting a picture you didnt like complete with exif so we can investigate proper :)
 
I agree with the previous poster, there is no need to use any auto metering mode, consider using manual in future, as once you have the correct exposure, you're then set, the light doesn't change very often inside a church.

As an ex-wedding photographer I don't recall ever photographing inside a church that was so dark that F1.8 and ISO 3200 would have given 1/15th sec shutter speed. Don't forget that if the church was very dark, then the picture should look a little dark too, it's likely that aperture priority was trying to brighten the photo to a mid grey and over-expose slightly.

Obviously I can't say for sure without knowing what it was like inside the church, but my guess is that settings of F1.8 at ISO3200 and 125th sec would have been fine, and if that was still under-exposed, then either slow the shutter speed to 60th, or go to IS6400. Don't be scared of that ISO, much better to get a noiser photo (that you can turn to black and white and call 'art'), rather than a blurry image!!

Cheers,
Bernie
 
Thanks all for the advice and comments.

Just to clarify, the f1.8 @ ISO 3200, 1/15 was for the first dance. It was very dark, not much light at all.

At the church, I was using my kit lens for the extra zoom, so the best I got was f5.6 @ ISO 3200 getting a shutter speed of 1/25.

I've tried using the 6400 and 12800 settings but, at least on a d3100, they are very noisy which I am not keen on. I suppose I could call it art!

I usually have my camera on aperture priority for easy of use. It takes too long to change aperture and shutter speed! Don't think i'd have the expertise yet to deal with changing two settings instead on one!

Alistair, yes I did have a great time thanks! Free bar until 10pm - can't complain! Actually that's probably why my pictures got gradually worse!
 
Aah, the 1st dance, that's a different kettle of fish altogether!

You've probably been looking at your high ISO images on your monitor, and of course you'll see all the noise. Try printing them and you could get a nice surprise, the noise doesn't show anywhere near as much.

As I said before, don't be put off using high ISO where necessary, especially at something like a wedding in dark areas. I feel photographers tend to fret about the noise much more than the couple do, I've photographed about 100 weddings and use high ISO whenever necessary. I've never had a single complaint about image quality or noise. If the bride or groom looks good in their photos, and they doesn't look fat and have nice expressions, they'll be happy (more or less!)
 
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