Hard time taking indoor pictures!

Hello! I am getting ready to do a shoot for a young lady who wants a profile picture with a black background. I have learned a lot about outdoor photography but indoor is kicking my butt! I do not have an external flash and the house I am taking these pictures at has very poor lighting. What can I do to take good pictures?

Do you have a tripod? How about a window that nice natural light comes through?

I do not have a tripod but should be getting one very soon. It is a very small apartment with only a few windows. Not a lot of light coming in.

do you have a F2.8 lens or wider ?
can you borrow an external flash ?
do you have a big light, or can you borrow one ?
failing all above... go some where else to do the shot !

The only thing with using a tripod(longer exposure) is the subject must remain VERY still !

I would find a white wall or ceiling and bounce the speed light off it. Use the window light and fill in the shadows with the flash.

What camera are you using? If I'm not mistaken most all of Nikon's DSLR cameras have a small pop up flash that should be adequate for getting the shot. Even then getting a black background in a small apartment will be problematic without a black backdrop of some type. Is there some requirement that it be in her apartment? Without flash or a lens with an f/2.8 or less is probably more of a problem than it's worth. In the conditions you describe to get good natural light pictures you should use a lens with an f/stop of 1.8 to 2.8, with the f/1.8 being the preference. Nikon makes two lenses that fit that range especially for shooting in small apartments with not much shooting room. They are the 35mm, f.1.8G, AF-S and the 50mm, f/1.8D AF (Both lenses are DX). Of these two the 35mm is a little more expensive but in a small apartment is probably your best bet. Nikon also makes these two lenses in a f/1.4 but are considerably more expensive. You don't say what camera body you are using, I assumed it's a DX type. If it's an FX, 35mm size sensor, then the lens choice will be entirely different. If you would please complete your profile with camera and lens information and we can give you more information on your question.

Joseph Bautsch said:

Nikon makes two lenses that fit that range especially for shooting in small apartments with not much shooting room. They are the 35mm, f.1.8G, AF-S and the 50mm, f/1.8D AF (Both lenses are DX).

Click to expand...

Minor correction: the 50mm is actually FX.

You're right, it has a 46 degree picture angle in FX and 36 degree picture angle in DX. So when using it on a DX body it is in effect a 75mm lens.

If you don't have a reflector then cover a sheet of card with Aluminium foil and also get a sheet of white card. Both will make great reflectors and will give a different amount of reflection to get good lighting effects. If you cannot get enough light with flash or from a window then try using a desk lamp or Standard lamp as a main source and the reflectors to bounce light into dark areas. Don't forget to set the white balance to Tungsten and also use exposure compensation to overcome the black background from over exposing the shot. Start at say EV of -1.0 and then adjust after checking the image and the histogram