Indoor portraits with low-light

As a photographer, you get so many questions from people about taking pictures. It's hard to keep up with all of the emails.

A friend of mine, Noemi, blogs whenever she is asked a question...so I am copying her. Thanks!

Today, I was answering an email about indoor shooting.

So - when you shoot a family/kid inside a home, what settings do you use?

Never under 1/100 and as close to f2.8 as possible. It depends on what lens you have.

Do you shoot aperture priority or manual? I have been choosing manual because I sometimes like to let a little bit more light in than it seems to allow with the aperture priority setting, but sometimes I get it too light as well.

Yes. I shoot on M most of the time. Sometimes, I'll shoot aperture priority to check out what the camera tells me...but then I'll generally change to M again.


What do you set your ISO at generally - I'm sure it depends on how light a room is. I have just been playing around with it a little bit. I remember when you were at our house, you didn't use a flash at all.

I don't like to shoot higher than ISO800 if possible. But, sometimes you have to and then you just need to be intentional about making things artsy and grainy.


When you do bounce the flash - do you just point it up at about a 45 degree angle?

No, I do it straight up at the ceiling. Most of the time, I bump it down -1/3. You can do that pressing the "Set" button on the back and then the "-" button once. Tell me if you can't find that. If your subject isn't too close to you and isn't close to a wall, you can flash straight on.

One of the very best things to do, is find a window with as much light as possible and shoot there.