How to shoot indoors in low light

By Mariya Harley · London · updated August 2026

The order of concessions

Aperture first: open to f/1.8 or f/2 and accept shallow depth of field. Then ISO: 1600, 3200, 6400 as needed. Shutter speed is the last thing to touch and it has a floor — below 1/125 a person moving slightly will smear.

Photographers who protect ISO at all costs end up with clean, blurred frames. Modern noise reduction handles ISO 6400 well; nothing handles a blurred face.

Find the light that is already there

Every dim room has one or two usable sources: a window, a lamp, a doorway to a brighter room. Move the subject to it rather than lifting the whole room's exposure. A face a metre from a table lamp is properly lit; the same face in the middle of the room is not.

Kill the mixed light

Warm bulbs plus daylight through a window produce orange and blue on the same face, which is the hardest correction there is. Either switch the bulbs off and use the window, or close the curtains and use the bulbs. Pick one colour of light.

If you have to add light

Bounce it — flash into a white ceiling or wall rather than at the person. Direct on-camera flash is a deliberate aesthetic, not a default. And a phone torch held by a friend, close to the subject and just out of frame, is a genuinely usable light source at close range.

Focus in the dark

Autofocus needs contrast. Aim at the edge of a collar, a hairline or an eyebrow rather than a flat cheek. If your camera has a focus-assist lamp, use it; if you are on a phone, tap precisely rather than trusting automatic subject detection.