How to take Night Shots, without Flash or Tripod?

mewstar

mewstar

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Martin
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As title states please?
What settings should I be using?

The scenario is night time horse racing.
They have flood lights, but no flash photography rule.

I mean in the parade ring, not actually racing.

Last time I went It was pointless. Every shot was coming out blurred.
Yet I did notice there were a couple of Pro photographers there, and they werent using flash or tripod.

Any help appreciated, thank you
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Use the highest iso and largest (smallest number) aperture you can.
Click to expand...

And you're probably going to need a lens that opens up to f2.8 and ISO3200 to stand a chance..... certainly not going to be cheap or a job for the faint-hearted :lol:
 
Thanks for the replies....
I did try ISO 1600, but still no use.

I haven't got a f2.8 lens.

It's sounding like a no goer.
 
ISO is really the key here, even with f 2.8 you're going to need high ISO.

What camera are you using? On most modern-ish cameras you should be able to get up to ISO1600 without too much noise. There is also noise reduction software if you need it. Get the pictures, worry about the noise later.

Have you thought about a 50mm f/1.8? They are new from about £100. It would certainly help.
 
BarryG said:
Have you thought about a 50mm f/1.8? They are new from about £100. It would certainly help.
Click to expand...

Just over 70 quid posted on Amazon at the mo!
 
Well, that's a no brainer then!

50mm 1.8 and crank the ISO up as high as you dare!
 
Only two ways to go ISO higher the better, Aperture smallest f number the better

If you've money to burn then on a Canon 50 or 80mm f1.2 on a Nikon your limited to f1.4

In the real world BarryG has it spot on
50mm 1.8 and crank the ISO up as high as you dare!
Click to expand...
 
Many thanks for the info and suggestions provided. My camera is a Fuji bridge camera, so I can't change lenses.

I will try the lowest aperture available though, as well as high iso.

Appreciated
 
mewstar said:
My camera is a Fuji bridge camera, so I can't change lenses.
Click to expand...

With a bridge camera you'll get very noisy images with high ISO, which you have to use. So try and ensure you fill the frame with your desired subject so you won't have to crop, as this'll just make the noise worse. As previously mentioned using software to reduce noise after capture would be very handy. I use Lightroom 3 and find it great for noise reduction.
 
You're not going to get the shots the pro's get without using comparable gear (plus lots of practice).. so rather than try to copy them, look to play to your cameras strengths - or at least avoid its weaknesses.

Stick to the best lit areas - observe where the floodlights are throwing their light, find places where you can brace yourself (leaning against a pillar or on a fence pole can make a difference) and pick subjects between movements when they are still or moving slowly. The horses are constantly moving as they go around the ring - except when they are being mounted, or where they pause to enter the ring. Watch for these moments. The crowd watching the ring are likely to be moving less than the horses circling it, the owners in the ring may not be noving as much. Plenty of opportunity for atmosphere shots.
 
Some very useful advice given. Thanks everyone.
 
Or wait until they are moving, and pan your shots using a slower shutter speed to let more light in. Shoot some wide shots - the shorter focal length and loose framing will let you get away with a slower shutter speed.

If you can't get nice clean, action freezing images because you don't have the gear. Think of what you can get.
 
One thing I thought of, but this needs a real photographers opinion;

What about using the exposure compensation and under exposing slightly? This would give you a dark imagine that you could enhance later in Photoshop or whatever, but it would help give you a little bit of a faster shutter.

I know it produces noise, but would the image be unusable?
 
Massive thanks to everyone who offered advice to my problem. Loads better results tonight . Will upload tomorrow.
 
BarryG said:
One thing I thought of, but this needs a real photographers opinion;

What about using the exposure compensation and under exposing slightly? This would give you a dark imagine that you could enhance later in Photoshop or whatever, but it would help give you a little bit of a faster shutter.

I know it produces noise, but would the image be unusable?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't class myself as a real photographer but I do this a lot. When light is failing I always knock the exposure compensation down a bit, normally as far as 1 full stop. Sometimes it can help a lot and afterwards you can just bump the exposure up in PP.

If you're shooting a person in the dark, then experiment with funky ways to light the subjects face or whatever eg with a street light or something, I did some recently in near enough pitch black where I had the subject using a sparkler to light up his face, got a good exposure at f/1.8 with 1/50th and ISO 400 (I think). Hand held.
 
Difficult, not only are you trying to work under artificial lighting but also a moving target where the light can vary due to the floodlighting. You say every shot came out blurred, did you try panning on the horse or just have the camera looking at a set place?

Maybe it might help to get used to panning in daylight first on a moving subject to get that right then go on to working under different conditions.

When asking questions about settings etc it would help if you mentioned what camera and lens you use.

Realspeed
 
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All of the above advice and invest in a monopod, not as intrusive as a tripod but will definitely help with low-light.
 
Here are two of the photos from Friday night.
On course there was enough flood light, but the parade ring was a lot darker.

My bridge camera surprised me, because the ISO goes up to 6400. (Fujifilm FinePix S100fs)

I did some test shots, on the earlier races, to go through various settings. To then decide what I would go with.
Parade Ring, (f/3.6, 1/100, iso 6400)
cl2.jpg


Course, (f/4, 1/125, iso 1600)
cl1.jpg
 
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Great photos above. I especially like the second of the two. Its a shame that those poles were in the way. :D x
 
Many good suggestions already :thumbs:

As you can't use a tripod, would it possible to use a monopod?
 
ise438 said:
What camera do you have Mewstar and what will you be using the images for are they going to be printed or just display on the web?
Click to expand...

Hello, just low res for Internet.
But if I got an amazing shot it would be nice to get it printed
 
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