Chicago
Track Your Order
0
7 Camera Settings for Low-Light Photography
- Adjusting ISO is crucial for capturing great photos in low-light conditions. Keep the ISO as low as possible to avoid graininess, but raise it when necessary. Compensate by adjusting shutter speed or aperture.
- Use continuous shooting mode to increase your chances of getting a clear image in low-light situations. It is especially helpful for fast-paced events or outdoor nighttime photography. You can still save blurry photos later.
- Consider using Aperture Priority Mode to widen the aperture and let more light into your camera. This mode is great for capturing unique images like bokeh portraits. However, consider the subject you're photographing before adjusting the aperture.
- Learn to use the lighting meter to determine the correct levels of exposure. Aim to stay close to 0, but dropping to -1 is sometimes acceptable.
Considering that photography is all about lighting, capturing great pictures in situations without much light requires you to adjust your camera settings accordingly. There are numerous settings you can play around with, and we’ll outline the most essential ones today.
1. ISO
ISO is a crucial aspect of the exposure triangle (what is the exposure triangle in photography?). This setting determines how bright or dark your picture is, and you’ll usually need a higher ISO when capturing images in low-light situations.
Many photographers shoot anywhere from ISO 400-1,000 for low-light conditions. If you’re taking photos in overcast weather, something around the 400-640 mark will likely work. But at night, you’ll probably need to bump this number higher (unless you’re using a tripod).
Despite needing to raise your ISO, you should still keep the number as low as possible. Past a certain point, your images will become more grainy. You can use AI features in Lightroom to fix this, along with some manual sliders—but it’s much better to get things right in-camera.
Note that when you raise your ISO, you’ll need to compensate by dropping your shutter speed or making the aperture narrower.
2. Continuous Shooting
Handheld photography is normally fine during sunny conditions, but the risk of your photos becoming blurry is much higher in settings with lower light. Even if you use a tripod, you’ll probably still need to deal with a couple of blurry images from your outing.
It’s hard to stop your images from being blurry in low-light situations, and part of it is the luck of the draw. However, continuous shooting mode can help ensure that you get at least one good image from your series of shots.
Continuous shooting mode is especially helpful if you’re capturing fast-paced sporting events taking place at night. They’re also ideal for outdoor nighttime photography. Some cameras let you use this setting via a dial, whereas you’ll need to go into your main menu on others.
The good news is that you can still sometimes save blurry photos. You can read this guide explaining ways to fix blurry pictures if you’re dealing with this issue.
3. Aperture Priority Mode
Besides adjusting individual settings within your camera, you can often choose different modes that’ll help you capture better low-light photos. Aperture Priority Mode is one that you should strongly consider.
When you use Aperture Priority on your camera, you can make the aperture—also known as the F-stop—wider. Doing this will allow more light into your device, and the ISO and shutter speed will automatically adjust. This mode is especially helpful if you’re trying to capture unique types of images, such as bokeh portraits.
Aperture Priority Mode will still require you to think about what you’re photographing. For example, widening your aperture may not make much sense if you want to capture a landscape at night. You can read how to use Aperture Priority if you’re a total beginner and would like to learn more.
4. The Lighting Meter
Beginner photographers often make the mistake of not determining how much overall light is coming into their cameras, but that could easily be solved by learning how to use the lighting meter. And the good news is that the lighting meter is very easy to understand.
What exactly is the lighting meter, then? In simple terms, it’s the meter you see that ranges from +3 to -3. To get the correct levels of exposure, you normally want to stay as close to 0 as possible. But in some situations, it’s perfectly fine to drop to around -1.
You can control the lighting meter in several ways. If you use Manual Mode, the meter will automatically move depending on your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings. But in Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority, you can change the dial on your camera to adjust the other aspects in line with this.
The lighting meter is also known as exposure compensation (what is exposure compensation in photography?).
5. Image Stabilization
Depending on whether you’re shooting handheld or with a tripod, image, and lens stabilization can be either a blessing or a curse.
When you use image stabilization, your camera actually shakes a bit during the process. For this reason, the feature can wreak havoc on your images if you use a tripod. But if you’re shooting handheld, it can actually help to ensure that your pictures are clearer than they otherwise would be.
You can normally adjust your image stabilization settings via a button on your camera. You’ll know whether it’s turned on or off because your screen should notify you.
6. Self-Timer
Even if you mount your camera on a tripod, taking instant images can result in your body moving the camera too much. And when that happens, your chances of getting clear photos will significantly reduce.
One easy way to mitigate this problem is by using the self-timer feature on your camera. You can often choose whether you want a two or 10-second delay after you click the shutter button. This gives you enough time to move away from the device and enough time for your camera to capture the scene without too much shake being involved on your device.
7. Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is one of the first aspects that beginner photographers learn to control with their camera. And in low lighting, you will often need to use a slower shutter speed than in situations with normal light.
Slower shutter speeds will let more light into your camera and enable you to capture your scene correctly. But one problem that frequently arises is that your photos are much likelier to become blurry without a stable surface.
Many photographers stick to the rule of the same shutter speed as their lens focal length at most (e.g., 80mm = 1/80th of a second). But with smaller lenses, I’ve found that you can sometimes halve the shutter speed (e.g., 50mm lens = 1/25th of a second). You may need to experiment, as it’ll come down to your manufacturer and camera model. If you’re taking pictures with a tripod, which is one of the essential photography accessories for beginners, you have much more flexibility.
Take Better Low-Light Photos By Adjusting These Camera Settings
Low-light settings pose several challenges for photographers, but adjusting your camera settings is an excellent way to ensure that you still get great photos. You can tweak the ISO, use self-timers, and even enable or disable image stabilization.
Now that you’ve read this guide, you should hopefully know which camera settings to alter next time you go out to take photos at night. These tips will also work in overcast settings and for indoor photography scenarios where you have limited artificial lighting.
