Shutter speed tip I picked up at a wedding shoot in Portland

I was second shooting a wedding in Portland last weekend and the lead photographer told me to bump my shutter speed up to 1/250th for candids. It fixed the motion blur I kept getting during the reception dancing shots. Has anyone else found a magic number that works for you in low light?

2 comments

2 Comments

green.jessica2d agoMost Upvoted

1/250th in low light? That feels like you're just trading motion blur for noise most of the time. I'd rather have a little blur than a grainy mess you can't fix in post. For dancing shots at a reception, I usually stick around 1/100th or even 1/60th if I have a fast prime that opens up to f1.8 or f1.4. You get way more usable light that way, and a tiny bit of motion blur on a spinning dress actually looks good, like it shows movement. If your subject is still or walking slow, 1/125th has always given me sharp enough results without pushing ISO into the danger zone.

kevin_adams2d ago

That 1/125th zone makes sense, especially with a f1.4 lens soaking up every bit of light. I've found bumping to 1/160th is my sweet spot for that "just enough blur" look on dancers while keeping faces sharper than 1/60th.