Rboo Loc: Arizona

I have been assigned to take photos at our art gallery tonight.

I don’t have experience indoors or with people. I do not have flash available.

I’m using a Nikon D750 with a 50mm lense with f1.4.

Your advice for 4th of July fireworks helped me to get some passable photos without having prior experience.

Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I would view a tripod as essential to low light photos. Long exposures can produce fine images.

Henlopen Loc: Lewes, Delaware

May also need a polarizer on lens to cut down on any reflections/glare if any glass surfaces are present.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

True, but the OP also indicated people. Even the slightest movement by anyone during a long exposure will be noticeably soft if not outright blurry. Also, shooting a group shot wide open at f/1.4, if that is part of the plan, will likely result in some people being out of focus. We also don't know how much ambient light will be available. Since his camera has good low light ISO performance I would shoot people at a minimum of 1/60 second if not faster and step down the aperture for any group shots. That may raise the ISO considerably depending on available light, but post processing using good software will allow the OP to recover shadow detail and apply NR to to mitigate noise as a result of the higher ISO. It is a compromise, of course. However, it is hard to suggest an absolute strategy until one is presented with the actual lighting conditions and the actual subjects to be captured.

MrPhotog

Interior light can cause color problems.

Bring a sheet of white copy paper. Keep it clean in an envelope. Use it to set your white balance. Not a perfect way to get color balance, but a Cheap and simple way to improve things.

Color of interior lighting can change from one place in a room to another, and certainly changes from room to room. Keep checking for your white balance.

As for people: Be polite, and patient. If you want them out of the way while you photograph an installation—just ask. If you want them as subjects, again, just ask.

If people are standing or individually, take vertical photos. Small groups, take horizontal photos.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Not enough information for specific advice.

What are you shooting at the art gallery- the art on display or some activity involving "people" that you mention your question.

If you are shown an event where people will be moving around, relating to each other, making speeches or presentations with strictly available light, your strategy will have to be based on the volume of existing light or the lack thereof. If you are going to be shoot activities, you will need some depth of field which will necessitate stopping down the lens somewhat, and you will need a reasonably fast shutter speed to prevent motion blur. You will need to boot your ISO setting to a workable level. The use of a tripod will limit your mobility and will not prevent blur due to the people moving about.

If you are shooting the artwork on display, tripod usage and slower shutter speeds will help. You still may want to stop the lens down for some depth of field and to take advantage of the lens's sharpest aperture setting. As for reflection control of paintings with reflective surfaces, pieces frame under glass on glass showcases, you are at the mercy of the existing light as to direction and angle of incidents. A polarizing filter may help. If you are expected to deliver colour-accurate and reproduction quality of the artworks, a more elaborate polarized lighting system and precise camera /subject alignment will be required.

If you explain what is expected in this assignment, I can be more specific,

Rboo Loc: Arizona

It is a reception for 3 artists who have displays in the exhibit that is opening. I have never been to one.

I anticipate people sitting, standing and moving about. I do not know what the actual lighting of the scenes will be. Is their a lighting app for my phone that could get me in the ball park For the various areas in the art gallery?

I’m going into this blind covering for our normal photographer who’s covered a month of weekend assignments and had a chance to get out of town with his wife and kids for the weekend.

Your input is much appreciated.

Rboo Loc: Arizona

Thank you for taking the time to give your input, much appreciated.

Rboo Loc: Arizona

Thank you for taking the time to give your input, much appreciated.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

It is helpful to all of us if you use the Quote Reply feature so we know to whom you are responding.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

You only have a few more hours before tonight so here's a quick fix.

Get to the gallery as early as you can before the event. Set your camera on shutter priority and increase the ISO until you can get a reading from a person's skin tone (face) of about 1/125 sec at about 2 f/stops above the maximum aperture of your lens.

If you are not familiar with these activities, do not try to do everything as grab actions shots. Set up on pose a fee group of the artists, the slavery officials, etc. in front of the displays, looking at the artwork, shaking hands, bump[ing elbows, whatever. This way you will have, at least, usable images for PR, announcements, publications, etc. People can hold still for a few seconds for each shot. Once you cover yourself with some standard "grip and grin" shots, you can take your chances with candid coverage. The artists should not mind posing for a shot with their favourite pieces.

Don't worry about noise at high ISO settings- very large prints or screen images will probably not be required.

Good luck- let me know what happened!

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Getting old. Missed the reference to taking people photos.

As noted above, assuming the photos are mostly for PR purposes they will not be printed large. Maybe one full computer screen would be the most that would be presented (with a slight adjustment for cropping). The D750 should be pretty good at high ISO. I would probably be comfortable with ISO up to 3200. When I was shooting events I would use 6400-25000, but with noise reduction in post. Downsampling (reducing image size) will significantly reduce the noise.

Again, as noted above, don't use f/1.4. (I'm not saying f/1.4 is useless, but that it has its place and this isn't it). The depth of field will probably give you problems, particularly with groups. I would use f/5.6-8. If you want the background blurred that can be done in post, but you can't effectively sharpen something that starts out blurred. f/8 is a sweet spot for most lenses. Small apertures might be a problem in low light but in my opinion, diffraction is overrated and f/16 will produce useful photos in most cases. https://static.uglyhedgehog.com/upload/2020/5/9/455146-diffraction_study_20200509.pdf

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

"Not enough information for specific advice." You took words from my mouth. Indeed there is not enough information. Something I cannot understand, with all due respect, is why assign a person to a job with no experience shooting in such difficult light. Flash is an integral part of a job like that and as a matter of fact more than one could be very useful.

"May also need a polarizer on lens to cut down on any reflections/glare if any glass surfaces are present." A polarizer for night photography? A polarizer will cut the light entering the camera by 2 stops at full polarization.
I believe that the best solution for the OP would have been to say NO and explain the reasons why.

ZtaKED Loc: Lakes Region, New Hampshire & NE Florida

1. Get there early - before the crowd.
2. Scope out the existing lighting. There may be areas better lit than others that may be better for people pics.
3. Take some test shots at a range of camera settings, different locations and different angles to see the effects of the lighting. You might consider an HDR approach.
4. Note the best available settings and use them as the baseline.
5. Don’t overthink the problem. You will never have perfect information.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

In addition to using a remote trigger, tripod, auto ISO, aperture priority and an appropriate shutter-speed, consider using a gray-card for each lighting change to be used in post-processing.