Shooting in Low Light(Pub)

tenlientl · Oct 15, 2008

Most of you guys might know how the lighting in a pub is. I guess it depends, but lets just say "the average"

I was shooting at like 1,000 ISO, 1/25 shutter, my biggest aperture for my 18-105mm. No flash. It sucked.

What do you guys do in these condition? Do you just go and use flash? I used flash for some(0 to -3.00) of the shots. What do you guys do when shooting a big long group? The person closest to my flash has their face so bright. LR2 fixed that, but I'm still not satisfied.

I'm probably gonna buy a 50mm soon. I heard that's good for low light conditions.

tirediron · Oct 15, 2008

A 50mm lens is good for lowlight conditions, BUT don't forget, on your APS-C sensor, it's got an effective focal length of 75mm; less than ideal for tight confines and indoor spaces. I would use a good, strong flash (SB-800) with a diffuser and bounce card. Indoor flash work of this nature is an aquired skill; spend some time at home and practice bouncing the flash off of various walls, ceiling, etc to get a feel for the results.

tenlientl · Oct 15, 2008

What is a diggusser and a bounce card? What's the difference of SB-800 and SB-600? I hear SB-600 often.

Village Idiot · Oct 15, 2008

Two off camera flashes with optical slaves bounced off a wall or ceiling should light your subjects nicely. You can go cheap and spend about $110 or you can go big and spend about $700.

On camera flash will probably not do what you want from the sounds of it. Even a speed light mounted in the hot shoe will still have problems with light fall off unless you can make the source big enough to cover everything.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

dEARlEADER · Oct 15, 2008

use a fong on a sb600,800

mmmmm.......... pub.....

wchua24 · Oct 15, 2008

ei thanks for the tip guys... i will surely remember that

epp_b · Oct 15, 2008

I wouldn't use flash, it's just annoying. You won't get anything usable in pub lighting with a variable aperture kit lens like that. A 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 would probably be fine. Occasionally, I find it a bit tight, but it's no problem most of the time.

Village Idiot · Oct 15, 2008

tenlientl said:
Most of you guys might know how the lighting in a pub is. I guess it depends, but lets just say "the average"

I was shooting at like 1,000 ISO, 1/25 shutter, my biggest aperture for my 18-105mm. No flash. It sucked.

What do you guys do in these condition? Do you just go and use flash? I used flash for some(0 to -3.00) of the shots. What do you guys do when shooting a big long group? The person closest to my flash has their face so bright. LR2 fixed that, but I'm still not satisfied.

I'm probably gonna buy a 50mm soon. I heard that's good for low light conditions.

epp_b said:
I wouldn't use flash, it's just annoying. You won't get anything usable in pub lighting with a variable aperture kit lens like that. A 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 would probably be fine. Occasionally, I find it a bit tight, but it's no problem most of the time.

You gear list does not include a flash, there for I'm assuming you don't know how to use one. Now that's just an assumption. I could be totally wrong and you could have invented most flash techniques but you could just abhor them since "it's just annoying".

I also feel that you haven't quite read his post. The section in bold states "a big long group". Wide apertures and high ISO's may be able to make use of crappy ambient, but shooting at f/1.4 will barely have more than the subject's eyes in focus, not to mention anything or anyone else that happens to be in the photo. I think he'd probably be shooting with at least an aperture of f/9 to try and get a group in focus. Maybe even f/11 or narrower. I pretty sure that just using ambient is not an option at that point unles the group is inanimate objects. Then a tripod should be suggested.

This one was shot behind a pub. They have a nice big fenced in public area and my friend who bartends there also wanted to go shooting. I was showing her some of the finer points about how it would be impossible to capture something like this without a flash. This is just one flash and an umbrella too.

Camera:Canon EOS
Exposure:0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture:f/6.3
Focal Length:11 mm
ISO Speed:100

Ed: Oh, and I was using a variable aperture UWA for this.

ksmattfish · Oct 15, 2008

I don't know how big a "big long group" is, but I don't see any reason a single on-camera flash bounced of the ceiling of my local bars wouldn't evenly light a pretty good sized group.

The longer you can make the light path the less of a problem light fall off will be. Stand back and zoom in, and bounce the flash off the ceiling a little bit in front of the group.

If you don't have a strobe try this http://www.diyphotography.net/the-party-bouncer-is-back-in-business

TamiyaGuy · Oct 15, 2008

I would, personally, recommend getting a flashgun. An SB-600 or SB-800 would do the trick. Have it bounce off the ceiling or, if that's too high for the flashgun's power, a wall. Having it mounted off-camera can sometimes help too, but I haven't had much experience because I can't use my '600 wirelessly (although you will be able to with the D90). Just experiment, and have fun!

tenlientl · Oct 15, 2008

Thanks for the help. Now I'm gonna need to add a flash in my buylist. The list keeps going and going. Hopefully I can get one at Christmas..

ANDS! · Oct 15, 2008

Get the flash for like 150 bucks used. SB-600. You can also grab an umbrella for pretty cheap. For what you are doing, it's going to be a better investment then buying a "fast" lens.

And yea, direct flash is generally not so hot. A controlled flash (whether its bounced, diffused, or reflected) is much more pleasing.

tenlientl · Oct 16, 2008

BTW... I didn't plan to bring umbrellas and stuff to a pub. It's one of those "lets have dinner, go out for some drinks, etc" lol.

Another reason why I didn't really use flash. It would annoy others.