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Wedding Photography Lighting?
I took pictures at my friend’s weddings and I use a d200. I also have a sb800 flash. The lighting was somewhat low during the reception when I put the photos on the computer they are very grainy. How do I make the photos extremely clear in low lighting. What settings do I use? The lense I use is a Nikkor 18-70 mm. Indoor photos seems so grainy, and my friend asked me to take photos at their wedding. Most of them turn out wonderful, I just have problems with the low lighting.
To judge whether or not the pictures were properly exposed, check the histogram of the original file. If the histogram has all the weight of the image smashed up against the left side then your pictures don’t have enough exposure. When you compensate in Photoshop it will only intensify the noise.
Not every camera deals with low light the same, but generally most do well with ISOs under 400. At ISO 400 and above you’ll notice more digital noise. Another thing that will cause more digital noise is long exposures (we’re talking more than 30 seconds).
Your sb800 is a good flash, but flashes only go so far. Your guide number tells you how far the flash will reach–but you do have to divide that number by 2 (don’t forget the return trip to the camera). If you bounce the flash off of a nearby wall or ceiling you get a softer light, but you also increase the distance the light has to travel. Not to mention the wall and ceiling absorb some of the light as well.
Wide apertures are another way of bringing down the effective exposure time (hens the noise), but they also affect the picture. The wider the aperture, the more the background will be out of focus while your subject is in focus. Most of the time in weddings and portraiture this is exactly what you want. Just be careful you don’t go too far or the eyes might be in focus and the tip of the nose will be out of focus. It doesn’t happen often, but there are occasions where it can.
When all else fails, you can use Noise Ninja or Neat Image to reduce the noise in post production. These tools are not silver bullets, but they can help you make use of some pictures that would be otherwise toast. Noise reduction will cause your pictures to look soft, so you can’t be too zealous. If you need to sharpen things back up after you apply the noise reduction use an UnSharp Mask (USM) with a wide radius to make the edges crisper.
nikon d7000 Unedited Sample Pictures at different ISO
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