Band Picture in a Bar

[Charles Owen]

I took this in a bar with available light. It's been manipulated in Photoshop a bit. The lights were off to the left and would have been cropped in half, so I moved them. There was a head of the fourth band member sticking past the guitar player which I erased. And, that bright light caused a lens artifact that obscured the back member's face, so it is actually from another picture.



Canon T3i, 18-55mm set to 53mm, ISO 3200, 1/30 shutter speed, f5.6, manual focus, hand-held, image stabilization on (wow, does it help...)

The questions I have:

Do the lights work in the picture? I physically moved them in photoshop instead of cropping them in the middle. It would have been nice if the third one was on, but you take what you get.

How can I get sharper images in low light like this? I'm happy that the graininess is not too bad, but the singer's face is just not that sharp. Should I be looking for a faster lens? A tripod or monopod is not really an option in this setting.

Is this too dark?

[ccting]

Wow... i've never been to a bar .... I wander any expert could advice the lighting..

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by Charles Owen

How can I get sharper images in low light like this? I'm happy that the graininess is not too bad, but the singer's face is just not that sharp. Should I be looking for a faster lens? A tripod or monopod is not really an option in this setting.

Faster glass and some flash. Check out John Hatfield on Flickr: Flickr: jhatphoto.com's Photostream

Awesome shots of shows. Up close and personal like you'd be able to do in a bar setting.

[ccting]

Any advice on reading the histogram?