25
votes
How can I avoid this blur during taking indoor party pictures?
The blur is caused by the people moving while you were taking the photograph with a slow shutter. Honestly, I think it improves this particular photo a lot: it shows that the people are dancing, ...
- 1,340
21
votes
Accepted
Does over- or underexposed give the most life-like post-edit results?
Overexposed areas have a sharp cut-off when the maximum pixel value is reached. You have a completely white area if this happens in all colour channels. There is nothing you can do in post to recover ...
- 7,151
21
votes
How to know you've outgrown your equipment?
How many of Henri Cartier-Bresson's photos were taken using autofocus?
How many of Ansel Adams' masterpieces were taken with a camera that had an internal light meter?
How many of Walter Iooss, ...
- 175k
20
votes
Accepted
What's the best way to light up a subject that's far away?
The idea is I will be down below, looking up at them to take the photo, so a flash would be useless.
Only if you limit yourself to a camera mounted flash.
The key to such a shot is to get the ...
- 175k
19
votes
Accepted
Solve unwanted white "waves" and "Pacman squares" in low-light picture - post using Google Photos
This is known as "banding". Dark parts in the picture have a small range of values (in a JPG, you only have 256 values per color), when you lighten them, you increase the gap between consecutive ...
- 20.6k
17
votes
Accepted
How do I take a photo so the moon doesn't have bright "rays"?
The "ray" effect is known as sunstar. There are 2 conditions to achieve sunstars :
use a narrow aperture (like f/16).
point camera to small and bright light source.
You achieved that effect very ...
- 710
16
votes
Does over- or underexposed give the most life-like post-edit results?
Neither. Underexposure means that you did not deliver enough light and you are losing information in shadows. Overexposure means that you delivered too much light and losing information in highlights. ...
- 5,215
15
votes
Accepted
How much does the Camera Model/Age matter when purchasing?
It really depends on what you want to do with the camera. After all, there are many great photos that have been taken with older cameras, both when they were the hot new model and when they were no ...
- 175k
15
votes
How to know you've outgrown your equipment?
No you're not a bad photographer for questioning your equipment
But Yes you can outgrow your equipment. Granted Michael Clark's answer is correct about some of the greats not having some of the ...
- 4,864
14
votes
How can I avoid this blur during taking indoor party pictures?
Honestly, the biggest problem I see in your picture is not the blur, but the badly clipped highlights. Next time, try shooting at, say, -1 EV (which will also reduce the exposure time, and thus the ...
- 4,703
14
votes
Accepted
Blown out blue/red light making photos look out of focus
The general fuzziness and lack of detail in these photos is mostly due to being lit primarily by one strong color.
Your camera's sensor has what is called a Bayer color filter array on it which ...
- 565
13
votes
How can I take pictures of active children with a DSLR in low light?
Your exposure is a function of -
The amount of light reaching the subject (with the quality and direction of the light allowing you to control the effect)
The shutter speed (too long leads to ...
- 622
13
votes
How can I salvage photos from a party in a dark room?
A great deal of what makes a professional photographer; professional - is that they are able to capture great images in a wide range of different scenarios (especially true of event photographers). ...
- 46.5k
12
votes
Blown out blue/red light making photos look out of focus
Shooting under dim LED lighting now common in small performance venues can be challenging to put it mildly. What often happens is that most of the light is from only a narrow part of the visible ...
- 175k
12
votes
Accepted
What's the best technique to take brighter photos in demanding low light conditions?
Are any of these options preferred, or is there an even better option/technique out there?
Photography is all about tradeoffs. You can compensate for low light by using a longer exposure, or ...
- 31.7k
11
votes
Are there add-on lens accessories which collect additional light, as a parabolic microphone can be used to gather more sound?
There's already something that has been invented to collect light for photographs. We call them lenses. In order to collect more light, the front element of the lens must be larger for the same focal ...
- 175k
10
votes
How do I choose a lens for a "glow in the dark" indoor/lowlight event?
Either of the f/1.8 lenses will do. So will the EF 24-105mm f/4 IS.
The 50mm will give you a little more room than the 85mm to use a slightly longer shutter times before camera movement becomes (too) ...
- 175k
9
votes
How much does the Camera Model/Age matter when purchasing?
The next camera will certainly be better but each moment you wait is a missed opportunity for photography. Improvements are incremental from year to year. Last year's model are almost as good as this ...
- 103k
9
votes
What could be causing focus problems in low light?
The problem is lack of enough light to create enough contrast between the darkest and brightest parts of the scene within the area(s) covered by your active focus point(s).
The reason you are ...
- 175k
9
votes
What exposure was used for successful pictures of the "blood moon"?
I bracketed mine between iso 800 - 1600 to be safe. I was using a Canon 650D (crop sensor) with a 55-250mm STM lens on a tripod. My favorite picture ended up being at iso 1600 @ 1/2 second. Since the ...
- 1,401
9
votes
Accepted
How can I take pictures of active children with a DSLR in low light?
The answer @eftpotrm gave is pretty comprehensive, but let me highlight the single piece of advice that is by far the most likely to give you the desired results:
Get a lens with a large maximum ...
- 4,634
9
votes
How to avoid star-trails
Shoot as wide open as possible.
Get into you car and drive as far away from light polluted areas as possible. This will make a huge difference in what you & your camera can see on the sky.
Try ...
- 133
9
votes
Accepted
How do I capture artificial light sources better?
As you have discovered, your camera is limited with regard to the brightest and darkest details it can capture at the same time. In order to keep the lights from 'blowing out' you must limit exposure ...
- 175k
9
votes
Moving Subjects in low light
If the photo you wish to take requires using 1/800 or shorter exposure times, apertures narrower than f/5.6, and ISO of no more than 400 there's only one way to take the images you want in less than ...
- 175k
9
votes
One camera unable to focus in low light, different camera, same brand model, has no problem
One possibility to check - is the AF assist light turned off or failed on the problem camera? You say the settings are the same - have you checked all of them, including ones hidden in the setup ...
- 3,003
8
votes
Nightclubs photography, setup to capture the real mood and atmosphere?
I've shot over 40+ night clubs world wide.
Yes, you need a TTL cable and a TTL flash. Off hand flash works best. Just leave it on TTL move and have fun. A flash IS NOT OPTIONAL unless you have a ...
- 187
8
votes
Accepted
What causes vertical lines on digital photos taken in low light?
The vertical lines are a type of noise called 'grid noise' or 'read noise'. It is noise caused by 'dark current' in the electronics of the sensor and the camera's electronics that amplifies the analog ...
- 175k
8
votes
Why don’t low light cameras just use bigger sensors?
With a large sensor
the sensor is more expensive (the production cost of a sensor grows at least as fast as its physical area).
the whole device is bigger, and requires bigger lenses, that add to ...
- 20.6k
8
votes
How do I take a photo so the moon doesn't have bright "rays"?
Opening your aperture fully, so the actual aperture opening is circular, will get rid of the sunstars - but can give just too much of a halo (even more with a fast prime lens than with a small zoom!).
...
- 7,182
7
votes
How to avoid star-trails
The obvious answer is to use a star tracker. Alternatively, you could just accept the star trails and make a virtue of them. One technique is to gradually defocus the camera during the exposure. This ...
- 1,047
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