Event photography low light tips

[abarickman]

I have shot a number of events for my church in their main chapel and have another event coming up soon. In the past I have achieved good, but not great, results and want to see if there is anything I can do to better my results. The issue is that I have to use ambient light since I cannot use flash due to the size of the auditorium and nature of the events. Here is the space I am shooting in.



I shoot with a Canon 40D and will use one of the following three lenses:
1) 70-200mm F4L IS
2) 100mm F2.8
3) 24-70mm F2.8L

The 70-200 is the best lens to capture what I need but its slow at F4 so I need to use a monopod and shoot at ISO 1600 and I am still normally at about 1/60 of a second (thank goodness for IS). This produces some motion blur and missed shots.

At ISO1600 the 40D is decent but loses a lot of detail, the noise I don't mind and I have Noise Ninja. I am thinking I am going to try to shoot using my monopod and my 100mm as much as I can and see if I can shoot at anything less than 1600.

Does anyone have any tips that maybe I have not thought of? For instance can I shoot at a lower ISO and underexpose and then push it in processing or will this be worse? I imagine that concert photogs have these same problems only worse. How do they do it?

[candleman]

you've mentioned prettymuch everything i can think of.
wide open, high iso, pushing in post... no flash sux. but thats life.

using the shorter focal lengths wil allow you to get away with slower shutterspeeds too and not have handshake blur.

underexposing then "pushing" in post can create more noise.. but with noise ninja (or even ps ni=oise reduction) you caould probably get acceptable results.

i'd drop the iso a little, and shutterspeed a little.. that would give more keepers and less noise.
IMHO... looking at that shot.. you can get away with a bit darker.
there are bits on the stage that are blown out they are so bright.. so, expose a little more to the left, the congregation will be duller, but stage better exposed..
thats what i do at my church anyway.. but ours is almost pitch black with lights on stage only.. i'm allowed to use flash... but limit that to the beginning when people are still getting into the swing of things so to speak.

[abarickman]

Thanks Candleman. How do you use flash at your church? Is it just on camera or can you set a flash on the stage with remote trigger?

[candleman]

i drop one where i want it on the stage, then wait for the moment i want from there.
i just anticipate the stage diving or whatever paintings are waived around.
but i stay up front and use the 50mm f/1.8 anyting else of mine just wont work.

never had much success with the on-camera.. the walls are red/grey and the roof is too high.
i avoid flash as much as possible..


if you are really struggling you might need to go to the 50mm ..but really.. a 24-70 IMHO is ideal.
maybe just rest on a balistraide, against a wall, or sit and ude your knee as a monopod.
it all adds up eventually.

all the best

[JohnBrainard]

I've had a lot of fun taking photos in Church. I'm looking forward to this year's Christmas play.

The Vacation Bible School leaders wanted some photos of the kids singing during the worship service, so I bounced a couple of flashes off of very high ceilings and it worked pretty well. I had my ISO up to 800. I had also experimented with my flashes up in the balcony and think they could work with a little more effort.

I don't think I've come away with anything as nice as your example above, but I've had some success.

[abarickman]

Well the conditions were even tougher that I thought they would be. As you can see from the pictures the sactuary was very dark. I had to shoot with my 100mm 2.8 and 24-70mm 2.8 wide open and at ISO 1600 nearly the whole time. I sure wish I had a 5D mk II and a 70-200 F2.8L IS.

[candleman]

excellent

exposure looks really good now, it keeps the mood of the stage.

well done

[LoveDSLR]

Originally Posted by abarickman

I imagine that concert photogs have these same problems only worse. How do they do it?

Originally Posted by abarickman

I sure wish I had a 5D mk II and a 70-200 F2.8L IS.

I'll not even use my 5D Mk II (ISO 3200 max) + 70-200 f/2.8 L IS but my D3 + 70-200 f/2.8 @ ISO 6400 max. The 5D Mk II AF is not that great.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by LoveDSLR

I'll not even use my 5D Mk II (ISO 3200 max).

may as well buy a D5000 and get the same ISO capabilities

[inkista]

Originally Posted by abarickman

For instance can I shoot at a lower ISO and underexpose and then push it in processing or will this be worse?

You can achieve a higher shutter speed that way, but at the expense of added noise. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it isn't. This is a shot at a panel where they were giving a slide presentation, so I was literally shooting int he dark. I shot RAW, underexposed by three stops, maxing out my iso and aperture, and I brought it up maybe a stop and a half in Lightroom. Even with some noise reduction applied, noise is visible, but there's very little motion blur. You pick your battles.


Canon XT/350D. EF 135mm f/2L USM. iso 1600. f/2. 1/80s.

I imagine that concert photogs have these same problems only worse. How do they do it?

With fast primes and bodies that do high iso. You may want to consider giving up zoom for wider max. apertures. There's a reason a lot of people like an EF 85mm f/1.8 USM.

I routinely use a EF 135 f2L USM with my XT to shoot available light at Comic-Con. Because the 135L is extremely sharp wide open and it's fast and accurate to autofocus, I have no fear using it at f/2 nearly all the time. It makes me very happy.


XT/350D. iso 800. f/2. 1/1000s.


XT/350D. iso 1600. f/2. 1/250s.