Photography Lighting?

Question: Photography Lighting!?

So the other night I was at a graduation!. The lights were really dim and I could not get a good shot of the stage!. I am not sure how to tweak my camera to adjust for lighting!. I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT!. I am sure this is a very broad question, but what should have done to take a picture the way my "eyes" saw it!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

In a place like a graduation ceremony a flash would be useless unless you are really close!. So what you need to do is use the largest apeture on your lens and crank up your ISO until you can get a fast enough shutter speed!. You may be able to get away with a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second!. Anything lower than that and you will get blurry shots!.
If possible using a tripod or monopod may help reduce the chances of blurry shots from camera shake!. It will not however do anything about freezing motion!. So your best bet is to try to take pictures when the people on the stage are not moving very much!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

well, cranking up the asa isnt always teh answer!. at higher speeds the noise is horrific!.!.!. however, if you shoot B&W, the noise becomes grain!.!. which looks great and gives atmosphere to an otherwise plain shot!.

movement in shots can be good as well!.!.!. heads stay pretty steady, its hands which move, so you get diploma blurring!.!.!.!.

you could use a flash as a fill instead of your main light, balance the flash with the ambient light (plus half a stop) this overecposes slightly and reduces the grain slightly!.

or you could save yourself a lot of bother and do it post shot in photoshop!.!.!.!. where you can adjust the lighting, add fill flash and tweak teh contrast /brightness!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com