Aperture And Shutter question

[Gerschwin]

Just getting my head around some camera basics.....

Scenario question (just like school but without the hot teachers)

Say I'm taking a pic at a low light location - maybe a gig
People moving a fair bit and no flash allowed.
Is this how you would set up for the best chance of a decent shot?

Open Aperture up widest (F/3.2 in my case), experiment with shutter and get as low a time as possible - set ISO as high as acceptable to make use of what light there is.

Or is there more to it?

Obviously there is more to it but do you guys generally experiment before getting the great shots - what if it's a 5 second chance - do you learn to think fast and set accordingly?

Sorry if that's a bit basic :doh:

[Pazza]

What camera do you have? Is it a DSLR?

Assuming it is a DSLR:-

For a gig, I guess you want to set your camera onto the highest acceptable ISO (800 or higher with F/3.2) - make tests in your house with similar lighting - put your camera into Shutter Priority mode (Tv) and test how fast you can take your picture without losing details. I guess you'll get to around 1/60 sec.

Otherwise, get yourself a F1.8 50mm lens - can advise better if we know you camera.

[Gerschwin]

What camera do you have? Is it a DSLR?

Assuming it is a DSLR:-

For a gig, I guess you want to set your camera onto the highest acceptable ISO (800 or higher with F/3.2) - make tests in your house with similar lighting - put your camera into Shutter Priority mode (Tv) and test how fast you can take your picture without losing details. I guess you'll get to around 1/60 sec.

Otherwise, get yourself a F1.8 50mm lens - can advise better if we know you camera.

Ah sorry - missing important details.

Not a DSLR but a Fuji S5600 so can't get that lens you mention.
As I go up in ISO I drop in time is that correct? (at the expense of noise)

[Elmo]

i try not to go higher than ISO800. A lot of bands will only permit you to take photos in the first 3 songs in their set, so being prepared is essential. If i'm shooting a gig where there's a warm up/support act, i set my camera up with them as they don't seem to have the same sort of restrictions as with the bigger bands. Every gig/venue is different so you need to experiment to see what works best.

the biggest piece of advice i was given, was TAKE LOADS OF PHOTOS! - honestly, you'll be surprised what great shots you get when you're not trying too hard to get the perfect shot

[charleski]

In low-light situations I would recommend using manual focusing. Most autofocus cameras struggle to find focus in low-light, unless you have a high-end model, and the shutter-lag from focusing will mean you miss the shot. A bit of practice and you should have no problem doing the focus manually.

As far as exposure goes, it depends on how dark it actually is. ISO 1600 should be fine on most modern DSLRs. If you can get an image-stabilised lens it helps a lot, and some cameras have IS built-in now. Otherwise, you don't want to go above 1/60 or so (less if you're using a telephoto). It's a lot easier to salvage an under-exposed image than one ruined by camera-shake. Learn how to brace your arms while taking the shot, breathe out slowly as you squeeze the shutter, etc. Use shutter-priority or just set it in manual mode.

As I go up in ISO I drop in time is that correct? (at the expense of noise)

Yes, think of exposure in terms of 'stops', where each stop is twice the light of the previous one. An aperture of f8 lets through twice the light that f16 does, a shutter speed of 1/125 lets in twice the light of 1/250, and an ISO of 400 is twice as sensitive to light as one of 200. So if a scene is correctly exposed at 1/125, f8, ISO 200, you'd get the same exposure if you used 1/500, f4, ISO 400.

[Flibb]

If you do have toshoot at high iso, there are tools out there that can help. Neat Image is one, and its free. It might help you recover a shot you couldnt get any other way.

[Bobster]

It's a lot easier to salvage an under-exposed image than one ruined by camera-shake.

while that is true of ISO100/200 its not the case when you get into the more sensitive modes, when you push the levels (exposure etc) you will actually bring out more noise giving you a harder task at removing it..

try it.. go outside and take a pic @ ISO800 and underexpose, then when processing see how much noise you bring out when you adjust the exposure / levels.. and it only gets worse when you hit 1600/3200. when shooting high ISO get the exposure right..

[Pazza]

With your camera, I noticed some gig pics on this forum>

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=465674

You can look at this site for example images to see what settings they had set (s5200 same as your camera):-

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/fujifil...pix_s5200_zoom

[Elmo]

here's some pics i took with my s5600:

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=86688

Red lights are not your friend.

[Bobster]

whoever does lighting for these events i'm sure thinks of the photographers and how the red light is going to effect their shots and has a good chuckle to himself..

[Elmo]

that's what I think too. The retard that changed the gels at my bf's last gig is at the top of my hitlist - green AND red! GAH!

[Hans Voralberg]

Never try gig photography b4 but i did some fashion show and the lighting are generally greats Didnt realise gigs are that bad lol

[Elmo]

neither did i till i started photographing them

[Elmo]

right, well got another gig to shoot tonight, never shot in this venue before, so should be interesting! They have been prewarned about red lighting!

*edit* Ended up not taking any photos cos the venue was too cramped, they neglected to tell me this tho :/ - Lighting was quite good, however :/