Night and Low-light Photography Photo Workshop

    ■   Aperture at f/2.8. Most of the time, for

events like this, you want a lens that can open

up to f/2.8 and sometimes even wider. Having

the aperture set here allows you to concen-

trate on the other settings.

    ■   Shutter speed 1/160 second. This is an arbi-

trary shutter speed that I use as a starting

point every time. If I know where my shutter

speed is to start with, I know which direction

I need to turn the dial. For example, when

photographing a solitary figure giving a

speech, 1/160 second might be just fine and

will freeze the subject, but when shooting the

rock band Metallica, that shutter speed is just

too slow. Because I know my starting shutter

speed, I also know that if I rotate the rear dial

of my camera three clicks I am at 1/320 sec-

ond. From there I can start to work out what

else I might need to adjust to get the proper

exposure.

    ■   Manual exposure mode. This is the key to

getting consistent exposures because in man-

ual mode, the camera doesn’t change the

exposure at all. It doesn’t matter if the expo-

sure settings you use will create a completely

underexposed image that looks solid black or a

completely overexposed image that is pure

white; all the camera can do is meter the light

and tell you if it believes the image will be

under or overexposed. I will continue to dis-

cuss shooting in this mode later in the chapter.

    ■   Spot metering mode. When you shoot in

manual mode, the camera doesn’t change any

of the settings, so the metering mode doesn’t

have any effect on the exposure settings, but

it can help you get close to the proper expo-

sure. Take the scene in Figure 5-15, where the

dark background and the bright white shirt of

the keyboard player in the background could

front lighting and some back lighting can result
in great lighting to photograph in. The subject
pops out and the entire scene looks great.
However, chances are this is not going to happen
often — either the front lighting or the back
lighting will be too bright. The performer is likely
to either have no background details and will
look solid black or will be silhouetted against a
very bright background.

At times, there will also be a follow spot, which is
a spotlight that is aimed at the main performer or
performers on stage. While it is much easier to
photograph a performer when he is lit by the
bright light of the follow spot, it can also lead to
rather plain photos as the follow spot is usually
white. Additionally, when shooting a performer
who is illuminated by a follow spot, the rest of the
stage can look very dark.

Metering modes and manual exposures

The difference between an amateur and a profes-
sional is that a professional can replicate his
results time and time again while an amateur may
get a lucky shot. The key to getting consistent
results is to set the shutter speed, aperture, and
ISO yourself, and use the spot metering mode as a
guide to getting the proper exposure. For photo-
graphing concerts and events indoors or at night,
the following settings are a good place to start:

■   ISO set to 1600. On the camera I use, the

ISO setting of 1600 gives me an image that
has an acceptable amount of digital noise to
me. Older cameras might not be able to shoot
this high, and some newer cameras can shoot
even higher; it is a choice that you will have
to make, depending on the camera you have.