Low-Light Photography

Low-Light Photography is important for shooting weddings ceremonies, events and other special occasions. In a low-light setting such as indoor photography, you may need to adjust you digital camera's ISO (digital film speed). Most digital. SLR cameras today (in particular, Nikons and Canons) let you shoot at very high ISOs with little visible noise. You can almost guarantee to have blurry photos because of slow shutter speeds of low-light situations. The best choice when dealing with these types of situations is to increase the digital film speed (ISO).

So how high should you go with increasing the ISO digital film speed? Well, it all depends on the type of camera you have. Nikon and Canon digital SLR cameras are have built-in ISO speed that can go as high as 1600 in most situations. However, the basic settings to get the job done is to set your camera ISO to 800 in low-light settings. By using these settings your can avoid camera shake when holding your camera in low-light situations.

Shoot with a Faster Lens

Another important tip to use while shooting in a low-light setting is to use your fastest lens if available. The best choice is to use a lens with the largest available f-stop (f/1.4, f/2.8, or f/3.5) which provides more light by allowing you to shoot in lower light without blurring your images.

The shutter speed is measured in seconds or in fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (i.e 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30). In most cases, you are probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.

If you are using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in). Shutter speeds available to you on your camera will usually double with each setting. As a result you?ll usually have the options for the following shutter speeds - 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 etc.

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