06 Oct 2009, Posted by Kay in t Veen in Basics, Equipment, Post-processing, 6 Comments

Shooting in low light situations

This is one of the hardest things for a sports photographer, shooting in low light situations. For example, ice-hockey, basketball or any other indoor sport for that matter. If you are in a NHL Rink for example you have less problems, this is because of the TV lights available at such locations But the normal gyms or rinks don’t have very good lightning, trough our eyes it seems verry bright and nice, but for a camera which only captures a very small fraction of light it gets hard.

Shutter
The minimum shutter speed you have to get is 1/250th. But personally i never us 250th for a sport. 1/320 is the real minimum for me. it depends on the sport i am shooting, Fieldhockey is a fast sport you defenitly need something like 320 400-> for this. and still you wont be able to freeze the action. This gives you some creative possibilities. try play with it.

Aperture
Go as wide as possible. i suggest 2.8 is the minimum here. Past week i shot a ice hockey game at ISO 3200 aperture 2.8 shutter 1/320. I really wanted to go up to 1/400th but this was a real no-go!

ISO
When i am shooting indoor my ISO is always somewhere between 1600 and 3200. i usually start somewhere at 1600 and bump it up untill i reached the right exposure around 1/320th.

Other tips
1. Shoot raw! – Since the reflection of the courts, walls and ceiling is different then just a bare sky, and the light sources are of a different color temperature your white balance will often be pretty screwed. you have 2 options, use a custom white balance with a Grey card. Or just go auto on this and do it in post-production.
2. Keep your histograms in sight. check once in a while if your shoots are good exposed, since you are already in a high iso, boosting up your exposure/brightness with affect your image noise, and give you a hell lot more then just a good exposure.
3. Be sure your shots a really sharp. with apertures 2.8, 2.0, 1.8 your often get of-focus shots since its focussing on the stick, or ball. This gives you a bad exposure. and photos just a bit of-focus can be good in good light situations (a bit of sharpening in post producton) but with these high iso’s you images will suck pretty much.

Good luck! and if there are any questions, feel free to comment on the article.

ISO: 1600
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: f/2.8

ISO: 3200
Shutter: 1/320
Aperture: f/2.8