The SECRET To Sharp Images In LOW LIGHT: How to set Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO (Photography Hack)

The SECRET To Sharp Images In LOW LIGHT: How to set Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO (Photography Hack)

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[MrAndreyALi]

"when the light is not changing, dont use aperture priority"....it's good lesson for me. thanks man!

[BokehMarket]

I have to say Jared, this is one of your best videos. You took a complicated issue, simplified it, and educated your viewers like a good teacher would. Kudos, best video I've seen all day.

[adamaj]

You're always cranking that contrast, lol. Jared's like, "We'll add a little contrast." (cranks it to 70) lol

[PPISAFETY]

This was a very useful video. I'm a dinosaur who was a newspaper photographer in the 70's and generally have used digital cameras only as convenience tools for snapshots in recent years, making mild corrections using the built-in photo editor n Windows.. To be honest, I didn't really understand what Lightroom or Photoshop were for. Now I get it, at least partially. It looks to me like you are getting your last stop of light electronically using a computer program, like we used to get ours with chemicals when we "pushed" our film. Correct?

I can't get over the fact that modern digital cameras can be set to ISO 6400 or even higher, and can shoot at 10 frames per second. When I think about us shooting basketball with thumb-wind Nikon F's loaded with Tri-X and doing manual focus, I wonder how we brought home any images at all, much less enough to run one or two keepers in the paper every day. I'd love to go back in time with a modern DSLR and a good lens and see some of the old photographer's reactions to it. I remember guys who were still using TLRs back then.

[muddyexport]

Being recently retired from 42+ years of computer programming, your use of the Exposure Triangle and the associated logical math involved to get the shot as close a possible in camera prior to post is the main reason I started following you and buying your videos. You were the first, and so far only person, who employed logic to getting it as close as possible in camera. Thank you.
PS -- I really missed not having the Raw Talk fix from last week but understand feces occurs as well as multiple "Nor-Easters'.

[SCtester]

I'd just like to point out that it depends on the camera - some more expensive full frame cameras have near perfect ISO invariance, meaning it doesn't impact the photo much to increase the ISO vs increasing the exposure in post. I believe the Pentax K-1 and Nikon D750 are some examples of ISO invariant cameras.

[robwasnj]

The best tip in here was setup your camera fully, the light doesn't change. As many have said pushing the photo later will likely produce the same results as exposing correctly in camera due to iso invariance. I don't think underexposing slightly will help much with noise on most new cameras, however it may help guard against blown highlights. Adding more light, getting a faster lens or larger sensor all weigh in heavily towards a better result. Also filling the frame with your subject, spot on focus and smooth subject tracking and finding the absolute minimum shutter speed you can get away with.

[st.michaelthearchangel]

Just a quick story for some encouragement for anyone struggling with learning photography, or did not understand this video: I fell in love with photography about a month-and-a-half ago, and I saw this video about a month ago for the first time, and I was so lost. I have watched many, many videos to learn about photography, and have read many articles too. My knowledge has increased exponentially (all free, because of YouTube and photography websites), and, thanks be to God, I now understand what Jarred is saying in this video! It's truly amazing. :D I really didn't think I would ever come to know photography.

Fall in love with something, or someone, and you will care.

Keep at it, folks. :)

[joetes]

Just started taking pictures and I appreciate you taking the time to do this.

[BillFerris]

Basketball at the high school and college level can be a pretty fast-paced sport. Using a shutter speed slower than 1/800-second to capture more light will reduce noise in the image...but at a cost. Rather than capturing the athletes frozen in mid-motion, the slower shutter speed may add too much blur for your liking.

As Jared states, you're f-stop isn't getting any faster than f/2.8 so, that's locked in. Use pre-game warmups to make some test exposures to select the slowest shutter speed that adequately freezes the action. I think the choice of 1/800 was probably solid. 1/500 would be too slow for my taste...but that's a personal choice.

With your shutter speed and f-stop set, your exposure is set. Regardless of the ISO you use, you're not capturing any more light or adding more noise.

You've got a couple of options for managing ISO when shooting sports. One, is to use the pre-game test exposures to select an ISO and lock that in. Another option, is to shoot manual (shutter speed and aperture) plus auto-ISO. The reason you might choose to go with auto-ISO is the possibility of inconsistent lighting in the venue.

The light level on the court will be consistent at professional and top tier college/high school arenas. It's not uncommon for there to be inconsistent light at lower tier college/high school venues. During pre-game, ceck the lighting from the 3-4 locations you're most likely to use during the game. If lighting is consistent, do as Jared suggests and lock in an ISO. If it's inconsistent, use auto-ISO to allow your camera to adjust to a darker area.

Keep in mind that adjusting brightness in Lightroom (or your image editing app of choice) is basically the same as using a different ISO in the field. You're not changing exposure. That's set when you choose the shutter speed and f-stop for the shoot. Whether adjusting ISO or "Exposure Comp" in Lightroom, all you're doing is changing post-exposure brightening.

If you're not happy with the visibility of noise, there are tools in Lightroom that can mitigate this. In the Develop module, go to the Detail panel and increase "Masking" in the Sharpening tool. If you press the Alt button while adjusting the "Masking" slider, more of the image will look dark as you increase masking. The dark areas won't be sharpened. Increase the mask until the out-of-focus background is black and only the featured athlete is outlined in white.

Adding this mask should reduce the visibility of noise in the background and lower the visibility of noise a skosh on your subject. It's a useful tool to de-emphasize noise in photos that, by their nature, don't capture an abundance of light.

[Jim.Andersson]

Unless I'm way off in my technology and physics knowledge you could as well have increased the ISO another 0.875 stops (to 9375 or whatever the closest amount the camera allows) and have the same result. As far as I know you are doing the same thing in post production, simply adding gain. You only have to watch out for clipping highlights.


Underexposing in camera and bringing back in post should theoretically get the same results as increasing the camera gain (ISO) the same amount.

[KeemoRicablanca]

I miss this kind of tutorial from you. I say it's never wrong to go back to basics and re-visit the things you've learned before.

Thank you, Jared! 🤘

[patriciabourque]

I shoot with a Nikon D750 with a F2.8 and those numbers are spot on with little to no adjustments, in an "Arena" lighting, pro basketball. Incandescent lights flickr so that is my challenge, shooting in 3+ multiples & all are slightly diff in color

[brianrobertson]

This is a great video. I can’t tell you how self conscious I am when it comes to shooting action in low light and inevitably having to deal with noise in my images. Especially when it seems everyone else is shooting these clean/pristine photos. Glad and relieved to know I’m not crazy!

[Bill-NM]

Fro...I like a lot of what you say, but there is NO WAY to "cheat the system" to get less noise in the image. I've shot 1000's of indoor high school sports photos, which, because of poor high school gym lighting, is, IMHO, the hardest place to shoot sports photos (OK, night high school football games are right up there).

There's only three things a person can do...buy a faster lens, buy a camera with the next larger sensor size (or a more modern, and probably better sensor of the same size (if your APS-C camera is 5 years old, get a new one...check the "low light - sports scores" at DXO Mark), or get better noise reduction software. That's it...there are NO shortcuts.

Shutter speed...

HAS to be high...esp when using focal lengths of, say 100mm or higher...the more zoomed the image is, the more camera shake will be an issue AND of course a person is ALSO trying to freeze the action. All that said, 1/800th is a minimum (perhaps at wide angles that can be reduced to 1/500th...maybe). Because if there's motion blur in the image from too low a shutter speed, the image is tossed out no matter how well noise was controlled. Believe me, I've tried to eek out a 1/2 stop here or there to fight noise...slowing the shutter down is a bad idea...unless the action is slow, and/or the focal length is wide...then MAYBE 1/500th will be OK.

Focal ratio...

As fast as possible, anything slower than 2.8 is pretty much worthless. I shot with an 85/1.8 and 135/2 for a while...that helped.

ISO...

With the above two set, use whatever ISO you have to to get proper exposure. Like you said, you could under expose some to try to reduce noise, but really, when you raise the exposure in post so the image looks properly exposed, the noise is gonna come right back. I think this is what reviewers call "ISO invariant sensors"...the noise is there no matter the ISO a person uses in the actual exposure, as when the image is brought to proper exposure in post, the noise makes itself known.

Shooting indoor high school sports is VERY hard on a camera...which means it's expensive to get really good images...full frame sensor, fast glass, and good noise reduction software (DXO's "prime" noise reduction, is IMHO, the best out there).

[africanchildren]

So after listening to this video like 3X. I decided to completely set my camera up before a shoot using this video as a guide. Then I did the check three shots at the beginning of my shoot to check my setting. It totally changed my photography game. Thanks for the tutorial.

[TheUberSchattenjager]

This is Jared's genius at full power. There are a lot of really good photography youtube channels but very few rise to the level of actual output that Jared executes. His photos are killer! Others are good for sure, but Jared takes images that connect - then he takes the time to help us learn how to do the same. Understanding theory is one thing (and important) but the artistry is what sets photographers apart, and Jared has both at master levels.

[mrjohnbaseley]

The fact you take time out to help one of your 764k subscribers to help others make their photography better says a lot about you. Thanks for your insights.

[keithshenkin]

Finally, I have the answer why my 'prize photos' from the air show were so grainy... Terrific video - thanks, Jared.

[Bobgolf]

Hey Jared, a suggestion for this gentleman. I used to use a pair of zoom's for basketball (24-70 under the basket and 70-200 for mid court and far basket) both of which were f/2.8 lenses. At some point I began to think about the distances involved when sitting under the basket, did the computations for 35 and 50 mm lens and realized a 50 mm f/1.8 would work great. The 50mm lens has a great field of view under the basket while still maintaining a shallow depth of field and you can shoot at f/2.0 to gain a complete stop. I also use an 85mm f/1.4 (set at f/2) if I am out on the corners. The best news - you can buy a Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8 on eBay (used) for under $100. Gaining a stop in these conditions is a lot!