Shooting small group in low light.

[PinkDevil]

I am using a 50mm f1.8 for shooting in low light of 2-3 person. I am not sure what other settings I should adjust apart from setting the aperture.

On a low light condition I will need to use a big aperture. But say I am taking a picture of 2 person from the sides, one person will look sharper than the other.

If I am not using flash, what is the correct way to shoot it. Or do I need to shoot at a smaller aperture and bump up the iso?

Thank you for your comments.

 

[catchlights]

I am using a 50mm f1.8 for shooting in low light of 2-3 person. I am not sure what other settings I should adjust apart from setting the aperture.

On a low light condition I will need to use a big aperture. But say I am taking a picture of 2 person from the sides, one person will look sharper than the other.

If I am not using flash, what is the correct way to shoot it. Or do I need to shoot at a smaller aperture and bump up the iso?

Thank you for your comments.

if you want to have more depth of field to make sure everyone in sharp focus, use smaller aperture, but you need to lower your shutter speed or increase ISO to compensate.

if you want to shoot hand held, or keep the people from motion blur, use higher shutter speed, but you need to use wider aperture or increase ISO to compensate.

if you want to keep photos from noise free, use lower ISO, but you need to lower your shutter speed, or wider aperture to compensate.


so you see which is more important to you,
if to have enough depth of field is more important,

you can shoot with tripod and ask your subjects to hold still thru out the exposure time.

or

ask every stick their face together parallel with camera sensor plane, so you can shoot with wide open aperture still able to have enough depth of field.

or

use flash.

 

[derrickder]

Just as above, and in addition to what you have said, if having a noise free image is important, you can stick to a lower ISO if your body or lens has image stablisation.

 

[Rashkae]

Just as above, and in addition to what you have said, if having a noise free image is important, you can stick to a lower ISO if your body or lens has image stablisation.

Image stabilization will not magically create more light. He would still need a slower shutter speed, thus a tripod would be handy.

 

[Shizuma]

you can shoot at 1.8 and not suffer uneven focusing. get your subjects to stand further away. you could get a deeper depth of field

 

[ellery]

ahhhh jeezzzz why do not you just find a location where there is more light ? A group picture needs to be square on, if you want to shoot a line of people from one side you will issues since low light even with high iso still may mean shooting at a wider aperture which gives you less dof. What you are asking about is not really a group pic in the traditional sense but hey digital is free right you try the various combination till it works.

 

[derrickder]

Image stabilization will not magically create more light. He would still need a slower shutter speed, thus a tripod would be handy.

In cases when a tripod isn't available, IS with proper handholding techniques helps as well.

 

[kei1309]

In cases when a tripod isn't available, IS with proper handholding techniques helps as well.

IS counters hand-shake. You forget that people can fidget and passers-by can become distracting blurs.

The best is still to use a flash

 

[G-man]

In cases when a tripod isn't available, IS with proper handholding techniques helps as well.

IS does not eliminate people movements, only the photographer's hand shake, to a certain extent.

 

[catchlights]

I am using a 50mm f1.8 for shooting in low light of 2-3 person. I am not sure what other settings I should adjust apart from setting the aperture.

On a low light condition I will need to use a big aperture. But say I am taking a picture of 2 person from the sides, one person will look sharper than the other.

If I am not using flash, what is the correct way to shoot it. Or do I need to shoot at a smaller aperture and bump up the iso?

Thank you for your comments.

if you insist of taking people in this arrangement, hoping to get sharp focus of two faces in low light situation and without using flash, you can't use the 50mm f1.8 lens.




you can use the tilt function of a tilt shift lens, tilting the lens to move the focal plane to align with the two person's faces, so you will get perfect focus even in wide open aperture.

of course, you will need to use a tripod, and the patience of these two persons, holding still allowing you to adjust the lens till you able to get perfect focus of their face.

however, the maximum aperture of such lenses are usually at f2.8 or f3.5, and lenses are manual focusing and manual aperture setting.

here are the few tilt shift lenses made by Nikon,

http://www.nikon.com.sg/en_SG/produ...al-purpose/pc-pc-e/pc-e-nikkor-24mm-f-3-5d-ed

http://www.nikon.com.sg/en_SG/produ...pose/pc-pc-e/pc-e-micro-nikkor-45mm-f-2-8d-ed

http://www.nikon.com.sg/en_SG/produ...purpose/pc-pc-e/pc-e-micro-nikkor-85mm-f-2-8d

street price is between $2800 - $3000++


another cheaper option is the Samyang T-S 24mm F/3.5 ED AS UMC Tilt-Shift Lens

http://www.artworkfoto.com/samyang-lens.html

street price is $1250.00, cheap cheap only

 

[derrickder]

IS counters hand-shake. You forget that people can fidget and passers-by can become distracting blurs. The best is still to use a flash

Oops my bad. forgot about it.