Good indoor shots w/o flash

[JKF]

So we went to the local Chinese New Year celebration thinking it would be a good place to get some good pictures, and I did, but not as many as I would have liked. I think more of my shots should have come out, but I do not understand what to do to my camera to make them come out, especially when flashes aren't allowed.

It was very brightly lit eventhough it was indoors, especially with the stage lights. I was shooting pics of dancers and tried several different camera settings. The sports setting did not do much to freeze the pictures, so I switched to manual mode and set my aperture to the lowest number and my shutter speed kicked up to stop the action. I also had my ISO set pretty high. These pics froze the action, but turned out very very dark.

I have a Nikon D80 with a 18-135mm lens. Is this simply a matter of getting a lens that has a wider aperture? I'm pretty new to photography so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to play around with settings yet - I only got my camera about a month ago.

Thanks for any tips you can give me!

[Daniel Bates]

The 18-135 isn't a very fast lens, no. So if you want to get really good low, available light images, you'll need faster glass and high ISO values. When I shoot night sports, I shoot at f/2.8 and ISO 3200 and still have trouble freezing the action sometimes.

[Paulo]

Hi Julie. Post a few of the images you took (especially the ones you were disappointed with) along with the camera setting. It makes it easier to offer options.

From advice I've gotten from this forum and basic 'trial & error', I've learned that since photography is "all about light" aperture and shutter speed go hand in hand. Remember that whether you're manually setting your aperture OR shutter speed, you can only adjust one or the other to a certain extent based on the capabilities of your lens. The ISO speed needs to be fast enough to allow the sensor to collect data with the aperture and shutter speed you chose. I'm slowly experimenting with manual myself so I'm sure others will correct me if I'm giving your wrong data.
I shoot Aperture Priority most of the time on my gear. For low light situation, I will set my aperture to the widest my lens is capable of and see what the camera shows for my shutter speed after I meter. If the shutter speed seems to slow for me to hand hold the shot without blurring, I'll keep bumping up my ISO setting until I get to that minimum shutter speed needed. If I like the capture but feel it needs a little lightening or darkening, I use the Exposure Compensation button to + or - to my taste.

[kenw]

Instead of Av (aperture priority) I use Tv (shutter priority) along with a fast lens and higher ISO. This will ensure stopping the action since I can select the shutter directly, and with a suitable ISO, the camera will select the Av needed. But as mentioned, it can only select Av values that are available, hence the need for faster lenses. For indoor + no flash shots I use a 50/1.8 or a 20/1.8.

I prefer this for moving subjects as freezing the movement (ala Tv) is more important that DoF. (usually....) And most fast lenses are sharper at less-than-max Av anyway. If If the camera NEEDS f1.8, it will take it, if not why not get the improvement of f3.5?

When using Av for this, you have to keep watching to make sure the shutter is fast enough. With Tv, you KNOW it will be. It's much less futzing in the heat of the action.

For bands and such I usually stay 1/125 and faster, ISO 400-800 (and up) and let the Av fall where it may. Dancers might need 1/180s shutters depending on the speed of movement.

[Paulo]

That makes a lot of sense, Ken. Thanks for sharing. The subjects I generally photograph are usually not fast moving. So for me, I prefer to control the DOF but I can see where Shutter Priority makes more sense in these situation.

[kenw]

exactly, as always: "it depends"....if freezing the action is important, Tv; if DoF, then Av.

[Reuel]

Julie,

As you've figured out, the "sports" setting on the D80 is not for indoor action. It's for outdoor sports. It forces the camera to use the sunlight white balance setting and the continuous focusing setting and then prefers a high shutter speed over a small aperture.

When I shoot ballet in the theater, I use a 50mm f/1.8 lens and either S or M mode so I can control the shutter speed directly to make sure it's at least 1/125.

It's going to be very difficult to get good manual exposures indoors without some reliance on the meter. Your eyes fool you into thinking the light is bright because they've adjusted to the dark room. The meter still works in M mode, it just doesn't control the exposure. Meter something on stage that's mid-tone (mid-gray, or caucasian skin) and work from there.

[xjben]

Go buy the fastest lens you can find...either a 2.8 short zoom or even better, I think Nikon has a 50mm 1.8 like Canon does. You can shoot in much lower light with those lenses than a standard lens...especially with higher ISO. Just if you shoot high ISO be sure to expose your pics well to avoid too much noise, especially on a Nikon from what I hear.

[mickmcco]

Nikon has both a 50 f/1.8 and a 50 f/1.4 and it appears the 1.8 is sharper wide open, at least according to a recent test I've seen.

Even better news is that the 1.8, new, is just over $100 ( I just ordered one to use indoors with available light taking pics of my new granddaughter).

[JKF]

Thanks for all the replies everyone - you pretty much summoned up what I was thinking. Good to know I guessed right!

Upon further review of my pics, I had lots of pics in the 1/100 sec range and in the 1/800 sec range, but not many in between. I wish I had taken a little more time to think thru things - that's hard to do in the heat of the moment when you know the shots will be gone in a few minutes!!

I appreciate all your input.

PS - Mick, if you can, keep us updated on how you like your lens when you get it!

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by JKF

Thanks for all the replies everyone - you pretty much summoned up what I was thinking. Good to know I guessed right!

Upon further review of my pics, I had lots of pics in the 1/100 sec range and in the 1/800 sec range, but not many in between. I wish I had taken a little more time to think thru things - that's hard to do in the heat of the moment when you know the shots will be gone in a few minutes!!

I appreciate all your input.

PS - Mick, if you can, keep us updated on how you like your lens when you get it!

When shooting in available light without a flash, be sure you look at your meter... You mentioned setting aperture as wide as possible and setting shutter to a semi quick shutter, and then ISO boosted. Was your meter reading properly exposed? If not, then your option is basically as mentioned above.. faster glass or lower your shutter speed.

[LadyShutterBug]

i shoot a lot of weddings in lower light situations... i've got the nikon f/1.4 50mm and the sigma f/1.4 30mm... they are both great for getting what i want with ambient light.

if there is a good amount of light indoors, i can generally get away with not bumping my ISO (or only bumping it a little bit). just be sure to set your white balance according to the main source of light being used... or all of your pictures will come out yellow/blue/pink/not true to the colors you saw with your eyes.

i don't generally shoot in aperture mode... i prefer to shoot in shutter priority (Tv is what it's called on a Canon, on a Nikon it's just "S") if i am going to let the camera do the thinking for me. sometimes, even in lower light situations, you don't need to stop down all the way to 1.4 to get a good image.

[KeithAlanK]

I shoot lots of club gigs with my band, and even though the lights may look bright, they usually aren't.
Our eyes get used to the dark, and because the stage is brighter than our surroundings it seems much brighter than it really is.

Freezing the action with a fast shutter usually doesn't work too well, even at my fastest usable settings of F2 @iso400. Theoretically, completely freezing the action is a great idea, it just doesn't work too well in the real world.
Especially if you don't own a Canon with clean high-iso results, and MY camera is downright ugly at iso800.

I generally set the shutter at 1/30.
It's tricky to go that slow handheld, but I have lots of practice. A tripod or monopod helps a lot, and allows me to go to 1/20 or even slower.

Mainly I want to say that a longer shutter like I use allows some motion-blur of the performers, and this often looks better to me than a complete freeze.
It imparts a sense of dynamics and energy that wouldn't be there otherwise.
I feel that it looks more 'real'.

Waiting to press the shutter until there's a slight pause in the action takes practice, but works well, too.

[arunap]

if nikon has a 1.5 then go for it. It is sure to get you the speed and more light thus avoiding the higher ISO settings.

[AndrewCCM]

One thing to keep in mind with these super fast primes. DOF... Although you can get some great low-light performance, there are many times where I'd choose a slightly noisier image (boost ISO) and a smaller aperture just to be sure I am not too shallow. When using my F1.4 50mm on my 5D, I try and shoot between F2.2 and F4 if at all possible (depending on my subject matter).