Low light/band photography

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Arculeo on July 2, 2009 at 5:32am

Bump up the ISO, the net result of the lighting effects will only be enchanced by the mood and color of the lighting, the graininess or noise of the shadows will help soften the image and make the scene even more pleasant. .Also, you may want to consider adding some blur to the scene, evoking movement-action and drama. D

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Permalink Reply by Matt Needham on July 2, 2009 at 8:12am

High ISO, fast lenses, manual exposure, raw.

Don't be afraid of high ISO. For all the talk of noise my Canon DSLRs are super clean at ISO 3200 compared to any high speed film I ever used.

f/2.8 is often barely enough. Consider getting some fast prime lenses.

The meter is going to be fooled more often than not with the bright stage lights and dark backgrounds. Use manual exposure, take a few test shots, and check the histogram.

In my opinion most of the high ISO noise problems are caused by in-camera processing. Learn raw processing and not only will noise be less of an issue, but push processing becomes an option.

EOS 5D, 50mm f/1.4, pushed to ISO 6400

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Permalink Reply by Rozalind Williams on July 2, 2009 at 8:19am

Does this have flash on it?

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Permalink Reply by william wasp on July 2, 2009 at 8:28am

i have found using flash in a dark/multi lit club scene will kill a good picture.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Needham on July 3, 2009 at 4:40pm

The dark corners are vignette added in processing. I thought an old timey look suited this band.

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Permalink Reply by Alan on July 2, 2009 at 8:40pm

I think it depends on the club,
That very well could be a spot on the band? A lot of times you do not need flash or high iso if there is a spot on them.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Needham on July 3, 2009 at 4:24pm

Nothing but available light in the photo above. There is a regular bar light hanging above them (not a spot or stage light). Check the Exif data: "Flash = Flash did not fire".

EOS 5D, 1/30th @ f/1.4, available light from a camp lantern. I don't really know what I was really rating this at, but way beyond ISO 3200. The histogram from the original raw was all the way up against the left side.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Crowe on July 5, 2009 at 1:34pm

This is an amazing image at ISO 6400. Did you use a noise reduction program separate from Photoshop? Great work!

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Permalink Reply by Matt Needham on July 6, 2009 at 3:58pm

I have Noiseware Pro. I don't use it very often, and prefer a light touch; I dislike the plastic, over-noise-reduced look more than I dislike noise.

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Permalink Reply by william wasp on July 7, 2009 at 10:28am

matt, great pic. bill

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Permalink Reply by william wasp on July 2, 2009 at 8:27am

hi,

i shot the austin nightclub scene for a couple of years. i found that shooting a high ISO, leave room for blur/or not with the timing, yielded excellent results for me. my feeling was that a very static shot of the austin muicians did not capture the moment, as it were. i was shooting a canon 10D, both wide and zoom for different effects. pls see my images on this site bill wasp

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Permalink Reply by Alan on July 2, 2009 at 10:20am

Hi Liz,
You may want to check out my photos also. I shoot often with and without flash. Sometimes its necessary to use flash from a distance and still get a great effect. other times not, it depends on the venue and how much lighting they are putting on thier stage. One place has no lights for the band, its like they are in total darkeness. Lower shutter speeds in that case will cause blur becuase the band is usually moving quite a bit. Their heads bobbing, guitars swinging etc.
I use around a 800 ISO mostly. And a lot of times shoot auto, FOR THE SHOT, sometimes you do not have time to fiddle with your settings.
Just a beginners input,
Alan

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