Low light and shallow depth of field Canon S90 photos

Canon Powershot S90
The Powershot S90 from Canon is what we call a pro-digicam, its a compact point and shoot with full manual controls, and high end features like a wide f/2.0 aperture, and a large sensor great for high iso low light shooting.

Following are some photos that caught my eye, especially since they were taken with a tiny point and shoot rather than a big DSLR.

'Ghosts' by alexbrn, showing a pattern of light from stained glass
  • f/3.5
  • 28mm
  • 1/100s
  • 80 ISO

Ghosts by alexbrn. The color and light in this photo are really unique, nice eye to catch that.

'Heaven' by aurelien, concert photo
  • f/2.8
  • 35mm
  • 1/40s
  • 500 ISO

Heaven by aurélien. Concerts present a challenge because they’re so dark, but the lighting is also an opportunity for photos like this. The photographer took the shot at 1/40s (almost as slow as you’d want to go hand-held), risking blur, and even with a slow shutter speed like that needed to use a relatively wide aperture of f/2.8 and higher than normal ISO of 500 to get a good exposure.

'New Grassn' by koocbor, great example of shallow depth of field
  • f/2.0
  • 28mm
  • 1/320s
  • 80 ISO

New Grass by koocbor. Notice how only the grass in the front is in focus, and everything in the background is blurred. The photographer achieved this narrow depth of field using two techniques: a wide aperture of f/2.0 (only available on a few cameras), and by getting close to his subject while keeping the background distant.

'Escalator' by tetradtx, a low-light wide-angle photo
  • f/2.0
  • 28mm
  • 1/30s
  • 200 ISO

Escalator by tetradtx. The perspective in this photo really draws you in. Again, another low light shot, taken without a flash. The photographer used a wide aperture again of f/2.0, and a slow shutter speed of 1/30s to get a good exposure. The photo is very sharp, impressive if they didn’t use a tripod. The shot was taken at 28mm, which although isn’t as wide as some cameras is still fairly wide and is responsible for creating the wide-angle perspective you see.

Learn more at Snapsort