Photo tips cases, portraits by less light (inside)

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PORTRAIT INSIDE

These photos are made at night in a hair salon. The subject was the barber at work. There was sufficient light available, but all of them was down light. Cheklist:

White balance
Exposure (ISO value, shutter speed)
Flash:better not
Composition

In an interior are often light sources present. Check at the beginning of the session if the (skin) color is correct, and change the white balance if it necessary!

If you accept more noise in the picture you can photograph with a digital camera in low light conditions. Each model has its properties about the amount of noise at a higher ISO value. Use the lowest value that results a reasonable shutter speed.
The minimum shutter speed is about 1/20 to 1/30 as your camera is not moving (you use a tripod or you have experienced steady hand and your camera has Image Stabilization). In this case, your subject needs to be still also. In all other cases, the minimum shutter speed is around 1/100 to avoid motion blur.

With a higher ISO value you can use higher shutter speed. Combining these two (aperture is automatically selected) results in a certain brightness. Check the first photos. If you hesitate, use the histogram.

Sometimes you do not know any more: the shutter speed is so low that all the photos are blurred. A higher ISO value is not available or it results a very bad picture.
Try to avoid flash, if it is possible. Flash means always that the atmosphere is gone. Sometimes you can use 'slow sync' flash. This is much less hard than conventional flash. Your camera still uses the same shutter speed but only flashes a little bit at the beginning or the end of the exposure. To use custom flash may also help to get the exposure correct. This is only available on advanced models.
Do you have more lights available? Turn them on and turn the flash off! Everyone accepts 5 minutes unpleasant sphere.

As well an interesting action, the background is even important by photographing inside. Look for positions where the background as evenly as possible. A series of small objects can be very disruptive. If necessary, move some items (ask permission!) With a limited depth of field you can turn the background nicely blurred.

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For a complete description of all issues, such as color and composition, see portraits general.

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