The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Companion

CHAPTER 9

LOWLIGHT SHOOTING

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If you’re shooting in an auditorium, your lighting challenge will be a little more

difficult, because a stage usually alternates between very bright areas and very

dark areas. As with sports shooting, your main concern will be to try to freeze

action, so set the camera to a high ISO, use Shutter priority, and choose a shutter

speed that’s fast enough to freeze motion—at least a 30th of a second for nor-

mal speed motions, faster if performers are moving quickly. In extreme low light,

this shutter speed may result in your images being severely underexposed. Don’t

worry about this, as you can always brighten the images later using an image edi-

tor. is will result in noisier pictures, but the only alternative is to shoot with a

longer shutter speed and risk blurring motion.

Both of these situations are well-served by a “fast” lens, meaning a lens with an

aperture that can open extremely wide. An f2.0 telephoto, or a super-fast prime,

such as the Canon 50mm 1.2, 1.4, or 1.8, makes an ideal low-light event lens.

Low-Light White Balance

Low light situations can play havoc with color, both in your eyes and in your

camera. Your eyes, of course, see very limited color in low light. As the light dims,

the color receptors in your eyes cease working, and your vision shifts over to

black and white only. While your vision won’t actually look ...