low light photos?

[jeljohns]

What is the best way to take pictures in a bar/club without ruining the atmosphere? I got the nifty fifty lens thinking it would help in this area since it has a larger aperture. I tried to take pictures in a bar with low light and all of them are blurry and thus crappy. I didn't want to use my bright pop-up flash because it would blind people, draw attention to me, and ruin the mood. So how does one take pictures in low light situations?

 

[Jaszek]

bump up the ISO and make sure you have the aperture set to f/1.8

 

[Big Mike]

Using a large aperture and high ISO can help you get faster shutter speeds, but it will depend on the amount of light and the amount of movement as to whether that will be enough to get sharp shots.

You might consider using an alternative light source. The built-in flash on just about any camera is going to give you flat, boring lighting. If you can get a flash that can tilt & swivel, then you could bounce it. Better yet, if you could get it off the camera, then you could control the angle & direction of it.

Another option might be a hand held video light.

Or maybe you just have to be more watchful of the ambient light and get shots when your subjects are lit better. But the bottom line is that if there isn't enough light for a photo, you don't have a lot of options besides adding your own light.

 

[Village Idiot]

Buy a full frame camera that works well at 6400 ISO and a lens like the 50mm f/1.0

 

[Jaszek]

or 12800 ISO

 

[LaFoto]

Are there cameras that can shoot as if they worked with twelve thousand eight hundred ISO film???????????? Twelve thousand? Woah!

 

[tsaraleksi]

There are cameras that can shoot at ISO 25,600

 

[bigtwinky]

While using a high ISO (1600 on a Rebel) and a nifty fifty at 1.8 would work in most situations, if the place really has dark and almost non-existent light, then there isnt much you can do with your current setup.

Maybe look into getting pictures where people are around more light areas, such as a pool table, video poker machines, around the bar,...