3 Tips For Shooting In Low-Light Environments

Live music and church worship environments come with their fair share of lighting hurdles, but if you know how to work it right, you can create some real magic! Here's a few tips for those especially-challenging low light situations.

1. Use A Wide Aperture & Slower Shutter

   You should be an expert at shooting in manual mode so you can make the most of your camera's capabilities. If you need a refresher, check out this post. With a closed-off aperture and a fast shutter speed, your camera doesn't have time to let in enough light in certain environments. If you have a lens in your arsenal that goes as low as f/2.8 or lower, use it! And keep your shutter speed between 1/60 and 1/200. Personally, I know that I have shakier hands, so I can't go below 1/125. Know yourself and know your gear.

   
   

2. Shoot in RAW & Let Editing Be Your Best Friend

   Your camera either shoots in RAW or JPG. Each has its own strengths, but if you're planning on doing any editing at all, you need to be shooting in RAW mode, which gives you more flexibility in post-production.

   
   

   I primarily use Adobe Lightroom to edit all my photos for church & conferences. Even if your photos look dark straight out of camera, you can bring back so many details in editing! I tend to bump up the exposure, highlights, and shadows, and slightly drop the whites and blacks. This creates a really nice contrast plus saves any photos that might look too dark off the bat.

   
   

   My all-time favorite tool in Lightroom for dark photos is the AI Denoise tool. It takes about a minute per photo so use it sparingly, but it can really transform a grainy, dark photo into a clear, crisp one.

   
   

3. Don't Try To Re-Write The Story

   I have an alternate name I like to call photographers - historians. We document stories that are irrefutable because we simply capture what's happening. So, don't try to transform a dark room to a light one in editing. Editing is there to assist your storytelling, not redo it. If you're shooting in a dark room, it's okay if your photos look dark! Find a good balance between enhancement and going overboard.