People photos in low light

[Sing141]

Most of my photos are outdoors, or indoors with flash. I was asked to take photos of several characters in a play during a rehersal where no flash was allowed and no lights except spotlights above and in front of the subject so raccoon eyes and other dark shadows on the face, etc. are about unavoidable.

Two photos are attached. One with some LR adjustments and the other without. I was using a Nikon D300 in RAW +jpeg. My lenses are 70-200 f2.8 and a 18-50 f2.8. I did use a tripod when I could but subjects were moving and not static so I was also juggling shutter speed and aperature. I see now I could maybe have gotten away with f2.8 at 1/100 to lighten the attached a little. Any suggestions for getting better photos in these conditions. This photo was taken at ISO 400. I could probably go to ISO 800 and maybe higher but they also want to keep the background as dark as possible.

Any suggestions for taking photos in these conditions or with post processing in LR or PS4 would be appreciated

Thanks,
Sing141

[blumesan]

No flash allowed and you are stuck with the available lighting. You don't have a lot of options. Increasing the ISO to 800 or even 1600 would help (and may not have that much of an effect on the background; that could easily be darkened by pushing up the levels in PS). If you don't need too much DOF, opening up to f/2.8 is also a good option. Also both options will give you a bit more latitude with the shutter speed for moving subjects.

[Sing141]

Thanks for your reply. That's about my thoughts on this too. Maybe it's more of a question about what can I do in PS or LR rather than when taking the photos.

[blumesan]

I would certainly try the other options first before resorting to PS or LR. When significant areas of the image are underexposed any manipulation in post processing will increase noise and degrade image.

[R. House]

In photoshop you can check Levels or do Curve adjustments. You can make a mask for the background to darken or keep it dark as exposed. Here's an example (you did ask?) Keep shooting RAW/NEF file as you will have more latitude and I would experiment with raising the ISO (maybe 1600), you can always darken the background in post.

[Sing141]

Thanks for comments. I took quite a few photos of several different characters in the play - no flash allowed and same lighting situation - The photo I attached was just an example. About the only thing I didn't try was the 1600 ISO because of noise. Guess I need to do some experimenting . . . Is noise worse at high ISO requiring less PS levels/curves processing or worse at low ISO requiring a greater amount of PS processing? I will be taking more photos under similar conditions and will experiment a little.

[blumesan]

High ISO certainly increases noise, but with modern DSLRs like your D300, you should be able to push the ISO up to 800 without an appreciable increase in noise. This will allow you to brighten up and otherwise manipulate areas in the image without being overly aggressive in PS. In my opinion this is preferable to shooting at lower ISO and trying to make up for the underexposure by aggresive post processing.