Taking Photos at School Concerts

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This past December most parents of elementary school aged children found themselves sitting in poorly lit gymnasiums or auditoriums. Trying to get a good photo of your child on stage performing can be frustrating with our small point and shoots cameras with their weak flashes. It’s simple to fix this with a few quick changes of the settings on your camera.

I took this photo earlier in the show with my cameras flash on and ISO set on normal. What is ISO you ask? I will talk about that later. You can see the children’s eyes glowing and it’s just too dark. I am sure this looks familiar!

I took this photo of my son Wesley and his class with my flash off and ISO set at 800. When turning the flash off it is very important to hold your camera still. Any shaking can cause the photo to blur. You can see some blur on the bottom of this photo where the children were swaying.

I am learning something new about my camera everyday. I do not know all the technical terms, but ISO is something I can explain. Basically the higher the number the more light your camera takes in and lower the number the less light your camera takes in. If you are in a low light situation, like a school concert, a higher ISO will make your photos seem brighter. There will be some “noise” which basically means your photo can look a little grainy. Not always a big deal for your everyday photos. Here is a great article explaining your ISO setting a little more in depth.

Please feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions about your cameras settings. Not all point and shoots give you the ability to change your ISO setting, but I am more than willing to help you out. Also let me know any other camera or picture taking questions you have.

Happy picture taking…Wendy