Tips for shooting without a flash

At this point, I've done a number of shoots without a flash. This shouldn't ever come up, but we know that some venues don't allow flash photography. You'll find that many performing artists want photography of them "in action" but without a potentially distracting flash.

Here are some tips to help.

1. Set a high ISO setting (400, 800, 1600). This can be problematic because of colour "noise," but most cameras will have a filter or custom function you can set to reduce noise, particularly in long exposures. Some cameras have ISO expansion. Mine goes to 3200.

2. Set a slow shutter speed. This is a problem if the subject(s) are moving quickly. Practice moving the camera with a moving person during the exposure if this is an issue. Anything slower than 1/60 (one sixtieth of a second), I use a tripod for. If you don't have access to a tripod, you can try a few things to reduce camera shake and blurred images.

• stand with your feet shoulder width apart
• brace your back against a wall or your arm against the top of a chair
• hold the camera a little bit away from your face to avoid jarring
• use the timer setting if you have one (or be smooth and careful hitting the shutter button!)
• use the camera's built in setting for reducing shake

3. If you use the automatic settings, most cameras have a night portrait setting that uses a flash. You can set the aperture priority and turn the flash off or detach it.

4. Use a custom white balance or light temperature setting. A lot of indoor and night photography has a yellowish tinge from the various types of lights in use. This can also be corrected in "post-production." I'm only familiar with digital photography, but there are, apparently, dark room techniques to adjust colour temperature as well.

5. Take wide-angle shots. Unless you have to shoot tight, you may want to shoot more of the room than just one person. Bringing light sources into the frame gives you a brighter exposure. It can cause other problems, but we'll deal with those another time.

6. Focusing. It's so hard to do in the dark. Most auto-focus settings (I use Canon's EOS autofocus, usually in one-shot or AI servo) cannot achieve focus in low-light or low-contrast settings. If you can't bring another light source, you'll have to focus manually. You don't really want to use a manual focus setting with a flash unless you've got a pre-flash setting for red-eye.

That's all that comes to mind. Questions?