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Mailer feedback: Low-light Photography by Chris Limone Getting good shots in low-light situations can be very difficult if you don't have a flash handy. Here are a few tricks you can use to your advantage. Article rating: 7.00

Hello I’m a newbie to the photo game, I really need help, I have a Nikon D50,and the ISO set to 1600 for fast shutter speeds, I still get blurry shots. I speed skate indoors and we are not allowed to use flash, and there is not much light, I also bought the camera from Ritz Camera and they know nothing, please help.

-Kevin

Hi Kevin,
In the past I've had the same problem. My brother's basketball game was being played in a dimly lit gym and I only had 800 ASA black and white film and a 50mm lens. I compensated by using a slow shutter speed, a large aperture, panning the camera, and pushing the film to 1600 ASA. In these situations, the best solution is a flash, but if you can't use a flash there are other tricks you can use to get a decent image.

Any indoor sport is going to be difficult to shoot because everyone is moving at full speed. Generally, if you want the player to be sharp, the background will be blurry, and if you want the background sharp, the players will be blurry.

If everything in the scene is still, but the light is so low that you need to shoot at 1/30 or less, a tripod will keep the camera still enough to get everything in focus.

For this image I shot on Tri-X 400ASA film in the Metropolitan Museum lobby. The light was too low to hand-hold the camera, so I used a table-top tripod set on the railing.

If a tripod is not available, you might try propping your camera against the wall, or a chair to keep it still enough for sharp focus. When doing this, use a cable release or the camera's self-timer so you don’t shake the camera when you depress the shutter. Also, you should have your camera set to the widest aperture (lowest f-stop number). I will assume in your case that the skaters (in action) are what you want to be sharp.

To do this you need to hand-hold your camera and pan to follow the action with your lens. This means you need to point your camera at the skater and move your arms and body to keep it pointed at them. Wait until they're in the spot that you want them (although location doesn’t matter much because the background is going to be blurry), and with your lens fixed on the skater, press the shutter. Make sure to follow through by keeping your lens pointed at the skater even after the shutter has closed. You should be able to get the skaters (or at least one of them) in focus. The shutter speed can vary from 1/250 to 1/4 second, or even slower if you have a really steady hand.

Even with these tips you shouldn’t expect to get every image in focus, so shoot as much as you can. This way you’ll have more duds to edit out and more good ones to keep.

Focusing tip: With the Nikon D50 you should have the focusing method set to continuous-servo AF and limit the focusing grid to a single box (top, bottom, right, left or center). Continuous-servo AF will enable the camera to maintain focus on a single skater as long as you have that skater in the correct box of the focusing grid. For example: If you chose the center box as your focus control, you should aim that box directly at the skater's chest.

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	good Posted by: pavan Jul 23, 2006 @ 9:7 AM EST
	The kid asked a great question and I had this same situation and the advice given was fantastic as I found out through trail and practice. Posted by: Joe Mohn Dec 17, 2006 @ 11:37 AM EST

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