Bowling Alley Photography Tips

Photography Tips

Deciding on your camera settings can be tricky. This is especially true in dim situations, when a subject isn’t well lit. Add motion to the equation and things can get even trickier. Do you lower your shutter speed and risk blurring the image, or do you raise your ISO? As photographer Jared Polin outlines in the video, he likes to “cheat the system” and has a different approach to tackle this low-light situation:

When shooting subjects in motion in dark conditions, Polin suggests prioritizing motion first. You can do this by choosing a shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze the motion in the scene. As for the aperture, he recommends that you leave it as wide as possible, if your camera’s autofocus is capable of tracking your subject without much fuss. As for the ISO, he suggests that you do not push it too much. It’s okay if the final image comes out underexposed by a stop or two. By shooting in RAW, you can play around with the exposure and get acceptable results.

Regardless of which settings you choose, what’s important is that you fully understand your gear and its ability to handle noise. Take loads of test shots in various lighting conditions by varying the camera’s ISO and understand the limit to which you can push the camera while achieving decent results.

Another important matter that Polin discusses is how we exaggerate noise. Images shot at high ISO appear way too noisy because we pixel peep too much. As he shares in the video, people are least bothered about any noise that make their way into the final print. It’s really not worth worrying too much about a little noise in your images.

What’s your trick to handle noise in your photos? Let us know in the comments.