Low quality photos in indoor low-light setting

[interlude]

I use a Canon 7D with EFS 17-85mm lens and I am very very new to photography.

I want to improve on the quality of photos in indoor low-light settings where flash is not allowed, as they are currently turning out pretty poor and I am not sure why.

In this particular photo, I had it set to ISO/1600 and F/5.6. I also tried ISO/1600 and F/4. This was equally poor in quality.

Can anyone advise me how to make sure my photos are crisp in low-light indoor settings, where I can't use flash?

Really appreciate any help - Thanks

 

[fjrabon]

It looks like your problem here isn't so much settings as you missed focus or your shutter speed was too slow. What was your shutter speed for these shots? The noise in them is there, but I don't think that's what you're missing. I think you missed focus and/or got camera shake blur and/or motion blur.

edit: on second look, it definitely looks like you missed focus.

 

[SCraig]

I don't think so. The face and hair of the woman in black on the left is in pretty good focus. The shot was 50mm and 1/50 @ f/5.6 and ISO 1600. I think a lot of it was depth of field and/or motion blur.

 

[interlude]

Thanks for the feedback - appreciate it!

The shutter speed was 1/50.

 

[fjrabon]

I don't think so. The face and hair of the woman in black on the left is in pretty good focus. The shot was 50mm and 1/50 @ f/5.6 and ISO 1600. I think a lot of it was depth of field and/or motion blur.

Motion blur would cause everything to be equally blurry. Like you said, parts of it are more and less blurry, which equals missing focus, at least I think. If it's low light, it could have just been his camera was having a hard time focusing from that far away (ie his af assist light would have been useless)

 

[interlude]

Again, here's another shot which is just as poor. ISO/1600, F/4, shutter speed was 1/40. The faces are not crisp at all.

 

[MLeeK]

Go higher in your ISO.
You just plain don't have enough light and your camera can't make more. You have to let light in somewhere! Indoors you will be needing roughly ISO 2500 if you have AMPLE light. MUCH higher in a normal to lower light setting.

 

[MLeeK]

Again, here's another shot which is just as poor. ISO/1600, F/4, shutter speed was 1/40. The faces are not crisp at all.

View attachment 26000

They won't be crisp. Your shutter speed is too slow to hand hold your camera.
Some guidelines for you:
Hand held: If your subject is still life (not alive) and you are VERY steady no slower than 1/80.
If your subject is alive no slower than 1/125
If your subject moves no slower than 1/250
If your subject runs no slower than 1/500

Shutter speed is how long the shutter is open. If it is open a long time it lets in a lot of light, but it also allows the subject to move or the hand holding the camera to shake. In a still image that shake or movement is recorded as a blur. If it opens and closes very fast there isn't enough time to move or shake, focus is much clearer

 

[MLeeK]

Here are some tutorials to really get you started using your camera better Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials

 

[interlude]

Great - thanks for that insight!

 

[Overread]

+1 to what MLeek said. Those are very good general shutter speed guidelines that are well worth keeping in the back of your mind as a good starting point. For scenes like this where you've multiple people not all standing at a fixed still position you'll need that 1/250sec otherwise you'll get random parts blurring from moving body parts, lips etc...

Also note different things moving at different speeds might well result in the un-even blurring effect that some have outlined earlier and which was confused for the focusing being off.

The only other option is to introduce flash to your photography. Not always possible in situations like this where you might not be allowed to use it, but it can help you a lot. Flash, when it can be the dominate light source in a photo, changes how you capture the light in a photo. The best way to summarise its effect is through this video here:
Shutter/Flash Synchronization - YouTube

It might sound confusing, but do watch it through a few times as it does outline the basics of what you can get with flash and why it can change the shutter speeds you can work with.

 

[LightMatters]

MLeeK, I really appreciate your sharing this very informative site -- I hadn't come across it yet.

Here are some tutorials to really get you started using your camera better Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Go higher in your ISO.
You just plain don't have enough light and your camera can't make more. You have to let light in somewhere! Indoors you will be needing roughly ISO 2500 if you have AMPLE light. MUCH higher in a normal to lower light setting.

^^^^that. and/or and make the aperture blades open more

 

[Joves]

Well in the second photo though the only thing in good focus is the screen. But as others have said you need a higher shutter speed. The rule is minimum of one to one, and that is a minimum, you still have to be steady with that. So if you are shooting a 100mm lens the minimum is 1/100. What you really need is support, in this case a monopod would suffice, and then the one to one rule would be fine. Unless you are trying to shoot action shots then forget that you would need something much higher.

 

[TCampbell]

I'm scrutinizing for noise and the ISO noise in this size is very low (I see some, but nothing that jumps out). Exposure looks ok. I'm looking at faces and skin tone to judge that.

Really what I see is just the overall softness. It's not crisp anywhere. In your first image, the lady on the left (black dress) has motion blur on her right hand so I can see the effects of low shutter speed. I'm guessing the real issue is just that your shutter speed was too slow to not be using a tripod. Sometimes you can brace yourself against something ... if I'm at a venue and I can find a support post/column, or a railing, etc. then I'll use that to steady myself.