Taking pictures in low light conditions

[Jerrilyn]

Recently, a co-worker of mine took photos with her digital SLR (CanonXTi, I think) at our high school prom. The gymnasium was rather dark, but had small lights strung thoughout. She said her photos were bad, but that she asked the professional photographer hired to take couples photos what she could do to make it better. She said he made an adjustment to her camera and it helped, but that when she set it back to auto, she didn't make a note of his settings. I told her he probably first set the ISO to about 800, then set the camera to Tv to give it a moderately fast shutter speed so that the lights wouldn't blur. This would open the aperture to bring in more light, wouldn't it? I'm sure she was only using the on-camera flash because using say a 430EX or a 580EX would have eliminated much of the problem by providing more light. Also, the light from the flash would have more of a "stop the action" effect wouldn't it?

[Edmund]

I dont have any Canon gear but if you want to take pictures in low light with the on camera flash I would set the ISO up to the highest (say 400-800), largest f-stop availabe on that lens (set camera on aperature preferred mode), Adjust white balence to flash if shooting JPEG, give it a try . look at histograhm and see what you get.
Eddie

[H2O Junkie]

It (the external flash) also would have created massive shadows in the photos shot. Shooting photos of that nature takes some practice. As the ISO increases, so does the grain seen in the photos. It isn't too bad if one knows how to take it out. But with someone who is just learning that can be a pretty formidable obstacle. Odds are he bumped ISO and maybe changed the white balance a little. I would recommend you have your friend break out the manual and experiment. Learn what changes affect what and how. Experiment with the flash, existing light, white balance, custom white balance, etc. My poor wife has been the guinea pig so many times for my camera it is ridiculous. But if I didn't do that, I wouldn't learn.

[Not4wood]

More then likely he raised up the ISO, and to keep more light moving thru the aperture and probably kept the Shutter speed about a 60th of a second this way you could also get a little bit of ambient light in the shot as well. Without fear of a blurred shot.

If it is the XTI, you get a good picture with a little bit of noise with high ISO speeds. Remember, we are here about Elements and using the Noise Filter isn't a bad thing in trying to make over a shot. Its not difficult and the noise filter isnt too bad really. Using Nik is a lot better but payware is a bit much for me anyway after all the money I spent on my new equipment. LOL

Shooting in Raw also helps.

[lexcell]

I think everyone is correct in that the photographer probably did raise the ISO a bit but, if she had pinpoint lights in a dark room he also may have dialed in some plus exposure compensation to brighten the image up a bit.
Without knowing what the photographer did we are all speculating but, everyone has given some great advice on the things your friend should try next time she shoots in low light.