Low light photography

[AndyMan 7]

I tried my first attempt at serious low light photography last weekend.

I was chasing a night CRW team, they had lights illuminating their canopies.

I shot ISO 1600, 1/60th and F2.8 @ 24mm on my Digital Rebel. Predictably, the images were very grainy, but still darker than I would have liked.

I did not use a flash because I wanted to see the canopy illumination.

http://www.windycityskydivingteam.com/pics/29.jpg
http://www.windycityskydivingteam.com/pics/27.jpg

How do people deal with exceedingly crappy lighting conditions and still get good shots without a flash?

I'm thinking as example, a shot in the Bombshelter in Perris illuminated only by glowsticks.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[PhreeZone 20]

I've seen some non jumping pictures with remote flashes. I also seem to recall Mike Mcgowain or maybe it was Norman Kent doing a project years ago with other camera flyers just flying as remote flashes for some night shots.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[namgrunt 0]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

use remote trigered flashes

mount each flash looking up
each slaved to a remote radio trigger
flash would be on jumper or hand held
camera jumper triggers the flashes


think BIG bucks$$$$$$$$$$$$

.

59 YEARS,OVERWEIGHT,BALDIND,X-GRUNT
LAST MIL. JUMP VIET-NAM(QUAN-TRI)
www.dzmemories.com

[ORANGENBLUE 0]

Slow the shutter speed a little and shoot on the largest aperture setting (smallest F stop #) possible. You should be able to slow the shutter a bit without getting blur and the large aperture will alow the most available light hit the sensor. Any time you crank the ISO above about 600 it tends to be grainy. if you have Photoshop you can also selectivly rec\duce the RBG grain with a noise filter.

[AndyMan 7]

How slow on the shutter speed can you really go? I was guessing I shouldn't go any slower than 60 ?

2.8 was my largest aperture.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Fast 0]

Just to reiterate what everyone else has said...

Get a faster lense or remote flashes, or both. There are limits in photography, especially given the nature of our subject matter. You can't go much slower. I mean, really if you want crisp pictures your going to have to go above and beyond ISO and shutter speed / aperture.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[ORANGENBLUE 0]

Ah yes! Thats where experiment comes in. Try 1/30th see what happens. Somnthing you you also might try is shooting at a wider angle 20mm or 18mm. Often this allows for a larger aperture, but you obviously have to fly closer to the formation.

[The111 1]

I am not very experienced with RAW, but I wonder if that could help you revert to a lower ISO? Though you might get just as much grain with the RAW post-processing as you would with the high ISO. TANSTAAFL. I would not think you could practically get lower than 1/60, heck I can't even get a steady hand-held 1/40 shot on the ground, probably. But as another poster said it's worth a shot.

I know you said you wanted to preserve the canopy illumination... I wonder if a weak flash would provide a compromise between giving you more light to work with, but not destroying the lighting contrast from the jumpers' lights. Maybe you could carry a really bright spotlight yourself? I used my Sun D8 dive light once to take a picture of something in the dark, I forget exactly what, but it was very small and it was against a solid backdrop.

I really have no experience with this, so those are all wild guesses. I do know that CS2's "Shadows and Highlights" feature, IMO, can recover dark areas much better than I was ever able to do with just levels/curves. Though I do feel a bit dirty using it as it's so easy and automated.

You could also get (invent) an inverse neutral density filter.

Btw, those pictures are very grainy.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Stumpy 284]

Fast Fast Fast lenses, think big bucks and lots of weight generally, but there is a 50mm f1.4 that is not outrageous, you would just have to be very careful with your framing. You can push to 3200 on the 20d i think as well which gives you one more stop, but not sure i would want to do that.
RAW can help push the exposure to a certain extent, but it can't create image data that isn't really there so you need to do as much as possible.
FWIW, i really like shot 2. I think it would look good cropped about a third of the way up, push the saturation just a touch, and print it onto canvas! That takes care of the graininess!!!!

Never try to eat more than you can lift