Low Light

CanonFodder

CanonFodder

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Dave
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Hi

Just a quick question - if I want to take pictures of people in low light (a not very well lit room) without over exposing by using the flash what settings should I use (shutter/aperture/etc)?

I don't have a flash gun as yet (on my Xmas list).

I have a Canon 500D with the bundled kit lens (17-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) and the 50mm f/1.8.
 
If the room is in really low light then you should forget about using the 17-55mm lens. Go for the 50mm with the camera in Apeture mode. This will ten give you what shutter speed it thinks it needs. If this is too slow to freeze motion then I would up the ISO setting in the camera.
 
Though most disagree I find the 500d acceptable at even 1600 ISO for snapshots. Stick the 50mm wide open or use a diffuser infront of the onboard flash. You can make one out of a plastic milk bottle if you don't mind looking a bit silly.
 
50mm at f/1.8 and experiment with the shutter speed until you get what you want. Maybe start at 200 and change as needed based on what you see on the back-screen. Fiddle with ISO too.

Edit: I should have said in manual mode. The best way to learn is to experiment and get a feel for how ISO, shutter speed and aperture work together.
 
PhotoTalk said:
50mm at f/1.8 and experiment with the shutter speed until you get what you want. Maybe start at 200 and change as needed based on what you see on the back-screen. Fiddle with ISO too.

Edit: I should have said in manual mode. The best way to learn is to experiment and get a feel for how ISO, shutter speed and aperture work together.
Click to expand...

vvvv good advice, if its still lacking at like f1.8 iso 1600 and 1/30 of a second keep it in manual at that and use the flash as well that way the nasty shadows it makes won't be too deep so it will look ok ish
 
Your 50mm 1.8 is obviously faster so try that.

With your 17-55 in mind............

What sort of people low light pictures are you looking to take.

Freezing somebody jumping off the sofa is one thing but somebody sat reading a book is a different thing all together.

I saw a thing on TV the other day about a photographer back in the early 1900s taking very slow shots (with small apertures) by getting his subjects to stay very still.

With a tripod and the right poses you might be able to get some ok results.
 
CanonFodder said:
Hi

Just a quick question - if I want to take pictures of people in low light (a not very well lit room) without over exposing by using the flash what settings should I use (shutter/aperture/etc)?

I don't have a flash gun as yet (on my Xmas list).

I have a Canon 500D with the bundled kit lens (17-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) and the 50mm f/1.8.
Click to expand...

i think you will be using the wider end of the lens?
jam your body and elbows or lean on something ...you may get away with 1/20 since the lens is i/s...if you cant get that because of the low light and your aperture restrictions...and i would go for wide open aperture..gives that isolated feel to the pictures..no one is interested in the beautiful wall papers etc...you may then find you can get up to 1/60 or so...
in any event any bad shots will be due to too low a speed..not a wide aperture..if your focus is ok in the first place
apertures are for multi object scenes...the separation with open apertures always lends perspective
 
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