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How to Take Good Low Light Pictures Without a Fast Lens

Light is one of the key elements in creating good pictures. The amount of light that hits the digital sensor is controlled by how long the shutter stays open and the amount of light coming through the lens aperture. When you are working in low light situations and don't have a fast lens (one with a large minimum aperture to let a lot of light through), you will need to change other settings on the camera to get a good picture.

Things You'll Need

Tripod

Instructions

- 1
  Turn the camera on and set it to "Aperture priority" by turning the exposure mode dial located on the top of the camera to "Av" for aperture value.
- 2
  Turn the dial located by the shutter release and set the aperture to the widest smallest number. This will set the lens to its largest opening.
- 3
  Hold the camera up to your eye, press the shutter release halfway down to engage the camera's metering program. The camera will now give you shutter speed it needs to take a properly exposed picture.
- 4
  Attach the camera to a tripod if the shutter speed is 1/30th of a second or less. Depending on your ability, you may be able to handhold the camera at this shutter speed or less. If you are unsure, then attach the camera to a tripod. If you do not have a tripod or need a faster shutter speed, then you'll need to adjust camera's light sensitivity.
- 5
  Press and hold the "ISO" button and turn the dial by the shutter release to increase the camera's ISO. ISO is the camera's light sensitivity setting. With each increase in ISO setting, your shutter speed will also increase. Increase the ISO until you are at a shutter speed you can use to take your picture.

Photography