Night photography

[JWJ]

First off let me say that I'm new to photography with an SLR. I just got my first one last Thursday. I'm learning more every day but there is one situation that continues to elude me, and that is night photography. At this football game I was at, the photos I was taking were great... when the sun was up. As the sun went down I started getting blurry pictures due to the shutter speed slowing down. What is a good way to capture action photography with bad lighting, without a tripod? Is it impossible?

[dcclark]

It's possible, and there are several possibilities.

The cheapest way is simply to crank up your ISO -- if you have an entry-level DSLR, you can set your ISO to 1600 or 3200, and that will help keep your shutter speeds relatively fast. Make sure your aperture is as wide open (small f/number) as it can be, too. The downsides of this are that your images will be very grainy from the high ISO. You also may not be able to get things fast enough this way, even at a high ISO.

The better solution is to get what is called a "fast lens" -- fast means that its maximum (widest open) aperture is very large, such as f/2.8 or f/1.4. For sports, the usual recommendation is to buy a constant aperture f/2.8 lens, such as a 70-200mm f/2.8. With a big aperture, it will be much easier to keep fast shutter speeds, and with a telephoto focal length, you can get up close and personal with the action on the field. The downside is EXPENSE! Constant aperture telephotos are typically very expensive. If you can be closer to the field -- or are willing to deal with not getting photos as close up -- you colud buy a MUCH cheaper f/1.8 or f/1.4 50mm lens. These aren't nearly as telephoto, but they are also faster than a telephoto.

Option 3 is to live with the long shutter speeds, and go for artistic motion-blur photos. OK, that's probably not a solution you want to hear. :P

Hope that helps! If I've tossed too much jargon at you, feel free to ask.

[Ceit]

A novice myself, I look forward to experimenting with your advice. Cool

[JWJ]

Thanks for your help, dcclark! That is some great advice! I did ramp up the iso but it I still couldn't get the shutter speed fast enough without leaving the pictures under-exposed. I wasn't aware of the "Fast Lens" I'll have to look into that some more. Thanks again for your help! If anybody else has some ideas, that would be cool too.