Using ISO and Large Aperature Lenses When Shooting in Low Light

When I first got my DSLR, I was VERY frustrated that the on camera flash would not do much good in a relatively dark room.  For example, trying to get good pictures of my kids on an early, dark Christmas morning.  The first thing I did was buy the Canon speedlite, which was definitely a good investment, but I still didn't understand other ways I could manipulate the light.


ISO: ISO is your camera's sensitivity to light.  IF you shoot in one of the creative modes, you can adjust your ISO higher to enhance your camera's sensitivity to light.  Mine goes to 1600.... some cameras go much higher.  You will get more "noise" or grainy pictures, if you are not careful, but knowing how to use your ISO is definitely a good tool to have, especially if you don't have a speedlite.  On a side note, be sure to adjust your ISO back down when you are in a better lit situation, because lower is always better when you can help it (to avoid the "noise" I spoke of above).

Lens Choice: I have always liked my 50mm lens the most of all because it lets in lots of light, and I personally like natural light photography best.  The 50mm is perfect for shooting babies indoors because you can usually get by using decent window light.  I just purchased the 35mm 1.4 because I like the slight distortion with the wide angle, the awesome bokeh (background blur), and the fact that it lets in TONS of light.

I used this lens for the picture below, which was taken just before the sun went all the way down.  The 35mm is perfect for the lighting you have this time of the evening (which for me was very little because there are a ton of trees blocking the sunset).  I turned up the ISO to about 600, used an on camera flash to help to illuminate the subject because it was really too dark to get a great shot of her otherwise without a lot of noise, and manually adjusted everything else so that I could also see the clouds and sky color (I actually shot with a smaller aperture of 4.5, and a shutter speed of 1/160).  Sometimes, you can let too much light in trying to expose the subject, and you end up washing out the background and losing all of the detail that makes the pictures great.  That's why shooting manually (as the previous tip discussed), and learning how to manipulate the light are so important!