In the last few years digital photography has made tremendous leaps forward when it comes to shooting in low light situations. Previously, whenever you pushed the ISO in order to capture more light in a photo, the image would have an unattractive amount of digital noise relative to how far you were pushing the camera. A little bit of noise can be romantically cast as “grain” and celebrated as a throwback to the film days where gritty 400 or even 800 film would generate those grainy textures. In the digital realm, you can only take that romanticism so far before it starts to look really bad.

As a result, many shooting situations have demanded the use of flash, and while there are many amazing ways to utilize off-camera flash (the subject of a later article), often the use of on camera flash compromises the vibe and look of an image. With the advent of the Nikon D3s, Nikon has pushed the outer limits of what you can get away with when pushing the ISO. Canon has quickly followed suit and photographers are starting to enjoy low light shooting performance at a level that film was never able to accomplish with such outstanding results. Still, if you really push the limits you will continue to get the ugly digital noise, but the range for shooting clear images in low light has drastically increased.

Two recurring situations where this new technology has given me an edge  is when I am shooting wedding photography and live music/event coverage. Some locations where indoor wedding ceremonies are held benefit from shooting with higher ISOs, but it is the wedding reception photos where I see the biggest difference in performance and results. Being able to compose images with available light provides phenomenal opportunities for creatively capturing the action and atmosphere of a wedding reception or  event with an abundance of dynamic activity. Being able to shoot without a flash also enables you to be less intrusive while capturing images while also maintaining the “look” and “feel” of the event without imposing an artificial light source that completely changes the appearance of the scene.

If the camera technology continues to advance at the rate it has been, photographers are going to be able to capture images in unthinkable situations in no time.

Victoria Wedding Photographer | Dean Kalyan