Night and low light photos.

Are you continually frustrated by your inability to capture precious moments in low light situations? Well, there are some things you can do about it and this post will focus on those solutions. I will try and keep this as simple as possible and please believe me that I am not a camera expert but do know enough to share some things I have learned. Ok, lets get started. In very simple terms, to get better pictures in low lights you need to have a slower shutter speed which allows the opportunity for more light to be captured and combine this with the equivalent aperture setting. Shutter speed and aperture are the two variables at your disposal which allow you to control how much light reaches the film to ensure you record a correctly exposed image. These to items are set by the exposure modes on your camera, some cameras will have very limited modes while others provide a number of options. Many cameras these days have a shooting mode titled 'night mode' or 'slow-sync mode' obviously these are your easiest options. But be aware that the specs. of your camera may render night might incapable in a lot of situations, here is why. Check your camera specs. for the lowest available shutter speed, if it is only 1/2 or 1 second you will be in trouble in some cases because a longer exposure time is usually required in low light. Of the other available modes, the two best options for low light are probably aperture priority and metered manual. Aperture priority is very versatile for all situations especially low light. Before we describe this mode lets state generally what aperture is or means. Aperture is the lens setting on your camera often the (f/number). What this does is sets the depth of field in your picture, basically do you need to ensure sharp focus from the front to the back of the picture like a panoramic shot or have it focused sharply on a limited area. To have sharp focus form front to back you set your aperture to a small setting like f/16 or higher and for focused you set it to a wide aperture like f/4. Ok back to aperture priority, this mode allows you to pick the aperture setting and the camera will choose the correct shutter speed. This is good for low light because it is the aperture setting that controls flash exposure not shutter speed. As for metered manual it is how it's described as you manually choose all options. Obviously this is slower than using other modes and takes a little practice but there is a tool to help the learning curve. Most cameras when set in this mode will have an indicator in the view finder, usually a + & - sign with a needle or flashing leds or lcd scale which tell you if you combination of aperture and shutter speed will provide a correct exposure. Let's close this, hopefully you've got a better idea of how to improve your low light pictures or at least understand which areas you need to focus on in your camera guide. Please do read up and practice as I promise you will get better pictures and thus a better scrapbook. Enjoy