After a long look at my low light candids from the last several years, I decided to make a project out of getting the best pictures possible using only the available light.

Available light is a great way to convey the mood of a scene.

The light that is present on your subject and in the background of a scene is a very important to how your brain sees the image. The color of light is also very important. The only way to capture this ‘message’ is get a picture that reflects the feeling. A flash changes the color of the light, kills the background and slays the mood. Step back, shut your flash off, hold your breath and take a great image.

High ISO turns up the sensitivity of the digital sensor.

Taking pictures in low light usually results in a more grainy look to the digital image. This digital noise comes from the sensor making an image with less than an ideal amount of light. High ISO noise can be removed using software meant for this purpose. The results can be phenomenal. Do a google search for high ISO noise and you will find several progams that will help.

Shutter speeds are longer when there is less light.

Shutter speed is how long the sensor is exposed to the light. When you take a photo in low light, the shutter stays open longer. You must take this into consideration. Find a way to brace your camera when you are taking the picture. Using a monopod can help tremendously. Hold your breath and gently squeeze the shutter. It is a very good idea to take two or three shots when you have a long shutter speed. This gives you two or three chances to get it exactly right!

Aperature is how wide the lens opens up to let in light.

All lenses have a maximum aperature that is part of the characteristics of the lens. The wider the aperature the better that it does in low light. The trade-off here is that the wider a lens opens up, the less depth of field that you get. This is good and bad. If you are taking a portrait of a single person, you focus on the closest eye and shoot the pic. The eye is sharp, the other eye is mostly sharp and the background goes out of focus. This is a good look for a single person portrait or candid. The problem lies when you have more than one subject. Whatever face you focus on will get sharp treatment, even faces three inches farther away from camera may not be acceptable. If you make the facial distances from the camera equal you will get excellent results.

Even with its problems, available light photography will reward you with some excellent pictures that the flash would have killed.

Mark

Both of the photo sets below feature available light photos.
Cedar Rapids Night Life
St Lukes Christmas Party