Shooting Indoor Events

Shooting indoor events comes with its own set of challenges. You have to consider that these events often take place in large rooms with poor lighting. In such cases, having a good “fast” lens is probably more important than having a high-end camera—but how fast is fast enough?

In my opinion, f/2.8 is the sweet spot. You might think that going with f/1.8 or even faster would help more, but it usually doesn't. That's because most of the time, you're shooting with a zoom lens—and aside from the fact that zoom lenses with an f/1.8 aperture are practically nonexistent, such a wide aperture results in a very shallow depth of field. This increases the chances of getting out-of-focus shots, especially when photographing multiple people performing at the same time.

An f/2.8 aperture gives you a better balance—more of the scene stays in focus, which is particularly useful when you're capturing groups of people on stage.

Considering all of this, I love bringing my old Canon EF 70-200mm L lens to these events. (If you can afford the RF version—even better! Otherwise look at the used market where you can find very affordable options for good quality glass).

A full-frame camera is a must—and if it performs well in low light, even better. In my case, I use the Canon R6 Mark I, but the R6 Mark II or the R3 would also work very well. All of them are well known for handling low-light conditions exceptionally.

The photos in this article were taken during a recent event in a church, and my ISO ranged between 2500 and 4000. This range can easily be cleaned up using most post-processing applications available today. In my case, I used DxO PureRaw, and I have to confess—this software has freed me from worrying about shooting at high ISOs, even as high as 12,800 or more.

Shot at 12800 in a very dark room without flash.

For Sharpening I use Topaz Photo AI. Recent features added to this software such as Face Recovering help a lot to achieve the highest quality in your pictures. 

As you can see, post-editing is just as important as having a good lens and a quality camera. Most of the time, you’ll spend twice as long editing your photos as you did actually shooting the event. Of course, if you're a professional sports photographer, you may not have that luxury—so having the best gear possible becomes essential.

In conclusion, taking great photos is not an easy task. When you see photographers charging a high price for covering an event, consider the cost of their gear, the software they use, and the hours spent on post-processing. If someone is offering extremely low prices, chances are they’re not investing the time or tools needed to deliver high-quality images. You get what you pay for. 

For new photographers, lenses are more important than cameras and post editing can fix the lack of quality you may get from your cheap lens and camera. A good lens and camera will save you time in post processing.