4 tips for shooting indoors in low-light

I know this time of year is probably tricky when it comes to shooting your outfit photos because it's cold - so I wanted to share a few tips on shooting inside with natural light. Most of my blogger shoots are outside so we have lots of natural light to work with - but on the occasion that we shoot inside and/or I don’t want to use my flash here are a few ways you can shoot in darker locations with only natural light:

ONE :: Find the brightest spot in the room - this is usually near windows or doors. If I can shoot backlit - where the bloggers back is towards the light - I’ll expose for her face which is the most important part of the photo. This way her face is more evenly lit vs having half of her face towards the window and half towards the dark room, which can create shadows.

My manual settings for this photo were: f/1.4, 1/100s, and ISO 1250.

Sage Weinglass of The Witty Housewife

TWO :: Shoot at a really wide aperture like f/1.2 or f/1.4 so you can let in as much light as possible & get that blurry background. Use your lens's widest aperture (the smallest number) and that will make the image a lot brighter!

THREE :: Use a higher ISO like 1000 or 1250 - however try not to go too high or you’ll start to lose quality in your image and have more grain in your photos. If you like grain, you can always add it later in editing!

Ali Hollins Barshop of To and From Gifts

FOUR :: Sometimes you have to envision the end result of the edited photo…before you take the photo. I know that sounds weird, but sometimes I’ll take the best possible photo I can with the given lighting and even if it looks a little dark straight out of camera, I know I’ll be able to brighten or adjust the coloring in Photoshop. Yes, it’s great to get the image right in camera, but sometimes you need a little editing magic ;)

I hope these tips are helpful on your upcoming indoor shoots!