# High Shutter Speed in low light



## ryan7783 (Apr 22, 2008)

A friend of mine agreed to let me shoot his band during one of their shows in about a week. About 2 weeks ago there was a giant alumni party at the University where I work and they had a band. The party was from 9 PM -12 AM so obviously it was dark save the stage lights and reflections off of the instruments. I took about 100 photos that night of the band and people dancing and all I got were 99 photos of blur and mess. 

Question:

How am I supposed to shoot so that I get good crisp photos in low light? Obviously I can't crank my shutter speed up because then enough light won't get in and I can't drag my shutter because then everything will be blurry. 

I'd like to use as much of the "natural" light in the room as possible.

Here is the 1 photo that came out decent during the alumni party.







please help


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## Battou (Apr 22, 2008)

Open up the apriture as much as possible and maybe use exposure comp.

That's all I can say.


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## Sw1tchFX (Apr 22, 2008)

Crank up the ISO as well.


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## JimmyO (Apr 22, 2008)

Can you use a flash?
But ya, you may want to pick up a fast little prime ( i.e. 50mm f/1.8) and also crank up your iso.


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## Mav (Apr 22, 2008)

Can't see your photo at the moment (firewall issues) but yeah, you need a FAST lens with a large aperture (small f/number) to let more light in.  Either a 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 is great.  In really low light, the f/1.4 is awesome.  Or just use a flash with your existing lens.  You can tune your camera settings and flash output to still get a pretty natural looking photo even with the flash.


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## Village Idiot (Apr 22, 2008)

High ISO and fast glass with IS, VR, etc...

Keep in mind, even if you get a f/1.0 aperture lens, you're not going to want to shoot at the widest aperture. It'll still be a bit soft and you're always going to have such a shallow dof.


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## Big Mike (Apr 22, 2008)

#1 Large aperture
#2 High ISO
#3 Add your own light (flash etc)

Sometimes there just isn't enough light, even when you have maxed out all of your options.  

Keep in mind that you want to set your exposure for the light level on the band, from the stage lights.  If there is a lot of dark area around them, that will trick the meter into thinking that you need more exposure than you really do.  So set your exposure to for the band (probably the lead singer etc) and let the background stay dark (if that's what it is).


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## Garbz (Apr 22, 2008)

VR and IS do nothing if your subject is moving. Be a man and up the ISO and use noise reduction software afterwards. My "noisy" D200 takes perfectly acceptable ISO3200 photos when I print the result 8x5. DO'nt expect it to look good at 100% zoom on the screen though.


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## Village Idiot (Apr 22, 2008)

Garbz said:


> VR and IS do nothing if your subject is moving. Be a man and up the ISO and use noise reduction software afterwards. My "noisy" D200 takes perfectly acceptable ISO3200 photos when I print the result 8x5. DO'nt expect it to look good at 100% zoom on the screen though.


 
But when you can get a correctly exposed photo at 1/70 while shooting with a 200mm focal length or while using an aperture wider than f/1.4, then it does a lot.


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## ryan7783 (Apr 22, 2008)

It's funny right after I posted this, I got to the part in "Understanding Digital Photography" by Bryan Peterson that addressed this. High ISO it is...and I always have my kit flash - that and I have the 50mm 1.8 ... only thing is it doesn't auto focus on my camera


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## JerryPH (Apr 22, 2008)

Garbz said:


> Be a man and up the ISO and use noise reduction software afterwards.


 
Yeah, be a man, for pete's sake! 



Garbz said:


> My "noisy" D200 takes perfectly acceptable ISO3200 photos when I print the result 8x5. DO'nt expect it to look good at 100% zoom on the screen though.


 
Depends on the pic and software used to clean them up. ISO 2500 I can clean up to look near indistinguishable from ISO 100 and ISO 3200 clean up to about ISO 300 or so... that means damn good pics.  Noise Ninja and/or Noise Image work fantastic.

I'm talking near pixel peeping levels too!


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## Garbz (Apr 22, 2008)

Yep noise ninja is what I used too.



Village Idiot said:


> But when you can get a correctly exposed photo at 1/70 while shooting with a 200mm focal length or while using an aperture wider than f/1.4, then it does a lot.



Yes but 1/70th will not freeze a band. Unless it's a mum and dad folk band which sits still all day. That's the point I was making with IS. Oh and seeing how he has permission to photograph he most likely won't be shooting from the cheap seats (assumption I based my IS will be of little help comment). The crux of the arguement was still don't be afraid to up the ISO. f/1.4 and IS will only go so far. Especially if you have no f/1.4 lens.

If only they made a 28-70mm f/1.4


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## ryan7783 (Apr 23, 2008)

Garbz said:


> Yep noise ninja is what I used too.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I had him put me on the guest list for May 24 so I have about a month before the show to prepare.

I'm actually, as of right now, going to be on stage and in their faces. 


Ok so high ISO and a quick lens. I have the f/1.8 and but may jump on a 1.4 if I gather the funds by then (month away). I'll actually be shooting the Canon 40D by then too. I'll probably get myself a good flash - thank you, economic stimulus check   
anything else I should consider?


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## Village Idiot (Apr 23, 2008)

Garbz said:


> Yep noise ninja is what I used too.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
The picture from the above venue looks pretty dark. I've shot shows like that and I'm lucky to get 1/30 as a proper exposure. At least with IS, motion blur would be the issue and not motion blur and camera shake.


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