How to Get Good Photos in Low Lighting
Low lighting photography... Most of us who shoot photography spend most of our time behind the camera during the daytime when the lighting is prime. Even I am guilty of this, as I shoot primarily during the day to capture natural lighting. Although there is nothing wrong with shooting during the day, sometimes shooting after the sun goes down can make for some unreal photos. Here are a couple of low lighting photography tips that might help you during a low lighting situation. Just be sure to use your leather camera strap to help you get those crisp photos!
Low Lighting Photography Camera Settings.
Our first low lighting tip is to crank up that shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed, the crisper the photo will be. Even though this means letting in less light, there are other ways to compensate for it. A general rule of thumb is to have your shutter speed at a fraction of your focal length. For example, if you are shooting at 50mm, put your shutter speed to 1/50. This will allow you to get a crisper photo. Also, remember to crank the shutter speed higher if the subject is moving. Our next low lighting photography tip is to have a wide aperture when shooting. (1.8 - 2.8) Just like how this creates bokeh during the daytime, having a wide aperture will allow your camera to let in more light. If you do this, remember to slow the shutter speed a bit to compensate. Finding a perfect medium between these two is essential for capturing photos during low light.
More Settings:
Another way that may help during a low light situation is raising the ISO. By raising the ISO, you allow your camera to let in twice the light. Just make sure you don’t raise it too much because doing that can make your photo noisy. I suggest raising it to no more than 400. Although using the settings on your camera is the best way to achieve low lighting photography, investing in these other tools may help as well.
Tripods and Camera Straps:
Using a tripod while shooting in low light can increase the quality of your images. Since the camera will be stable, you can mess around with the shutter speed which can really help you capture some amazing photos. This is how nighttime and moving light photos are captured. Using a camera strap is also pretty important when shooting low light photography. You can use a camera strap to help stabilize your camera or even wrap it around your arm to give your camera extra stability. By using these methods mentioned above, you will see a huge difference next time you shoot in low lighting. Just remember to keep your camera as stable as possible when shooting and have fun creating!
Written by @visualsbyry