Low light can happen anytime during the day. It doesn't necessarily mean, it's
just at night. All photographers must deal with it here and there. And it
doesn't matter if you're shooting with your Canon EOS M50 or DSLR or you pull up
your smartphone and you shoot in manual mode. We all need to learn the basics of
shooting in low-light situations. This video was really highly requested so
let's get to it.
For the new faces, my name is Zdenka Darula.
I work as a photographer and I am a former model and a few other things, and you
might want to subscribe to all other videos.
Let's say.... I am a complete beginner. All I have is Canon EOS M50 and the
kit lens which came with it which is 15 - 45 mm lens f/3.5 - 6.3 IS STM.
And I don't have any external flash. I don't have any studio lights.
I'm completely beginner. That's all I really have and I want to know what is
the best settings in low light situations for photography. Now, I'll be
straight up with you. There is no best settings for low light situation, just
because every single low light situation is different. So every single low light
situation requires different setting. But in today's tutorial I'm gonna try to
lead you to find your own best settings in that particular low light situation
and just like in all my other tutorials I'm gonna try to be very simple and very
easy on you so everybody can understand.... yeah, I said everybody.
Step number one. You will forget the automatic mode and you will turn the
dial to the M which is manual mode, because you will be able to bring more
light on your camera sensor by adjusting three things. ISO, Aperture and Shutter
speed. Have you ever heard of the Exposure Triangle? That's what it is.
And also, you will save all your photos not in JPEG but in RAW format, so
change that. Simply because JPEG is compressed and RAW will save more
details in the shadow areas and also if we are off with your white balance then
you can always change it in the post-production.
The first thing we are going to look at is the f-stop. And here it can get confusing. I remember
when I was starting out I always had a problems with that, so just try to
remember the lower the number is the more light you will get into your camera.
The higher the number is, the less light you will get into the camera, because the
lower the number, your lens is open all the way up. You will get more light into
the lens. The higher the number, the more closed the lens will get and you will
get less light. It's always the opposite. I know, It's just, sometimes it
can get confusing. It's always the opposite, so what you want to do is
start with the f-number the lowest you can possibly get and in this case is f
3.5. You have to keep in mind though that the lower the F number the more blur you
will get to your background. The more blur you will get in the photos. Its
depth of field. So if I'm taking photo of a flashlight or a cup or a lamp or
something like that, it will be sharp and the background will be blurry and that's
okay, but if I am in a wedding for example and I'm shooting group of people,
then if I'm keeping it 3.5 the first person will be sharp but then
people next to them will be blurry, so myself when I'm shooting at the wedding
and I'm shooting my DSLR with different lenses I usually crank it up to 5.6
or even higher to make sure that the people in the group are all sharp.
If you are shooting hand held and you don't have any tripod, a general rule of
thumb is that you are not going to go any slower than 1/60th a second to
avoid blurry shots. Now I tried it with my DSLR. I pushed it lower and lower and lower
and yeah, it's pretty much the true for me, for my hands. My shaky hands. So
1/60th a second and up is probably the safe. This applies only to
non moving objects. If I am taking photo of a couple walking in or dancing. I need
to make sure that the shutter speed is fast so I crank it up all the way up.
They say that if you are shooting on DSLR you should match your focal length
with your shutter speed, so if you are shooting on 50mm lens you
have 50 millimetres there you should use your shutter speed 1/50th. I don't know I
tried it and I still feel a little bit safer to go with the 1/60th. Let's
move on to the Canon EOS M50 and 15 - 45 mm lens. I tried it.
I tested it. I took a whole bunch of photos. I tried to go slower and slower and
slower and here is the number which worked for me and my shaky or steady hands.
Maybe you should try that and start and see if you can go with that speed or if
you need to go faster, you can even try to go a little bit slower.
Keep your ISO as low as you possibly can. Only increase it, if you already max up
your shutter speed and aperture, because the more ISO, the higher ISO number is
the more light you will get into the camera, but the higher ISO will get the
more noise and grain it will get into the photos. But don't be scared of grain.
You can have a little bit grain in the photos, sometimes it adds something
special and it is always better to have a little bit grain in the photos then
having blurry photos. Plus if you use Lightroom and Photoshop you can get that
grain much lower. I tried to play with the Canon EOS M50 and the kit lens
and I tested different ISO numbers. Here is the number I feel comfortable
personally to go with. When I uploaded it on a computer and played with it in
the Lightroom and Photoshop and edited it a little bit, I think, it looks pretty
decent. What is very interesting. I went to Facebook Canon M50 group and I asked
other owners of that camera what ISO they would feel comfortable
with to go up to. You know what's the maximum ISO. Everybody gave me a
different answer. So it really depends on your personal taste, what you like.
Take few test shots, upload it on your computer,
zoom in and see how you like it, if that's something you can go with.
I know that tripods and monopods can be sometimes annoying and they are in a way. We
all want to shoot free and such, but if you're taking photo of a non-moving
object, you can pretty much shoot in any exposure length when it comes to tripod.
For example, if you are taking photos at night, sometimes the exposure can be over
30 seconds long, so you need to have a tripod. Also to avoid the camera shake
you know as you are pressing the button, it is the best if you use timer or you
can connect your camera to your smartphone via Wi-Fi.
It would be a good idea to learn how to read histogram because when you shoot in very low
light your LCD screen can get very bright. Brighter than usually and that
way if you are reading your histogram and you know adjust your exposure, you
will avoid clipping highlights and shadows.
If you have problems focusing, then try the manual focus. Zoom in, focus, zoom out.
Take the photo or even shine a light on your objects, half press your shutter,
turn off the lights and take the photo. What I would tell you personally that
don't stress out over the settings. As long as your clients enjoy the photos,
like the photos, and as long as you upload the photos to stock and they get
accepted and sold, you got it. When I shoot weddings
my main focus, focus is to have the emotion into the photos, the real story
in the photos or just make the photo very interesting. If I'm a little bit off
with settings, who cares? You know next time I'll get it right. If there's
someone who's telling you that they are the best in the settings they're
probably full of it. Wwe all make some mistakes. We all might make a little bit
different photos which it actually don't work sometimes. The main is to have fun
with photography, be very creative and it will eventually come to you. It will
eventually be automatic. Just keep in mind that the story is the main thing
you should really concentrate on when it comes to photography. Well, that's all
when it comes to low-light basic settings for photography. Please give me
thumbs up if you liked today's video and subscribe to all future videos. Don't
forget to hit the bell notification button to get notified when the next video
is up. Don't be shy to say hello in a video comment section below. Let me know
how you're dealing with low light situations, if you have any extra tips
they will be greatly appreciated. We all learn from the comments sections below
as well, so don't be shy to comment. Also let me know I would love to hear from
you what everything you would like to learn when it comes to M50. Is there
anything important right now you're looking for?
I'll make video about it so it will be very helpful if you can comment that
as well and I'll see you in the next one. Have fun shooting..... Cau... Ahoj....
What you didn't see when I was filming... I had my lunch, drank all the coffee
checked all emails... but the video is finished I'm fed, I feel good.
See you next time.