How to shoot in low light

I’ve always been uncomfortable with low-light situations, to the point of becoming obsessed with natural light.  There are also lots of times (especially during wedding photography) where is is impossible to use your flash, or if like me that you just don’t like the look that flash lit photos give.

Here are a few tips to make the most of the light, and avoid blurry or really grainy photos.

Lenses

Investing in good lenses is, in my humble opinion, one of the most important things you can do. The lower the f-stop on your lens, the more light it will allow into your camera and therefore it will allow you to use a faster shutter speed and then will help you avoid blurry photos.  When you’re first starting out you tend to use the kit lenses which will be around f/5.6 and though perfectly adequate when you’re just learning, wont help much in a dark church!  I use canon lenses and started off with the kit lenses, progressed to the 50mm f/1.8 and then upgraded to the 50mm f/1.4. I’ve now got my eye on the 50mm f/1.2 (though might need to save my pennies for just a little while longer!).  I also use a 17-35mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 and they’re invaluable when it comes to low light situations, as having just a few extra f/stops makes a huge difference.

ISO

Don’t forget your can also raise your ISO to make your camera more sensitive to the light.  The only problem with higher ISO is that you might experience a bit of noise in your photos (or speckledy bits)  which is fine if you’re after an atmospheric black and white but could be quite distracting in the photo.  Full-frame DSLR’s like the 5D Mark II  and III are capable of raising the ISO without creating too much noise, however if you have a crop-sensor camera you’ll see much more noise.

Tripod/Monopod

Using a tripod of monopod will help you keep your camera still and will allow you to use a slower shutter speed.  The only problem is that moving them around isn’t always practical, so look for other ways of steadying your camera.

Post-Processing

If all else fails, there are ways of using Photoshop or Lightroom’s  for noise reduction can be  helpful if you find that your photos have a lot of noise from using a high ISO. Try shooting in RAW, rather than JPEG, when you are in low-light situations, as this will give you more control in your post-processing. Be careful not to make your photo’s look over processed.

{Maryanne Scott, owner and Photographer for Maryanne Scott Photography, wedding photographer in Yorkshire.  Portrait & kids photography covering the Yorkshire region.  Published cookbook author, married to Andrew, loves chocolate, mayonnaise and red wine (but not all at the same time). }