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Need some advice

  • 11-07-2008 10:22pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 842 ✭✭✭


    Ugh, I was just down taking some shots of fire throwers at the arts festival and they all turned grainey and blurred. I was messing around with the settings for ages taking photos but didn't manage to get one nice shot in seventy.

    Anyone have any advice for shooting at dusk?


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,763 ✭✭✭Fenster


    Embrace the longer exposure needed and use it to add a sense of movement to your photos. The image is grainy from the higher ISO needed, so you might take your camera off full automatic and experiment with manual settings.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,483 ✭✭✭Ostrom


    Tough one to shoot, many things working against you.

    Your camera's meter was likely fooled by the flames and background if they were large and bright. If you didnt have a fast lens you were left with a slow shutter. In that case all you do is hike up the iso and open the aperture as far as you can, both of which will leave your image grainy and blurred. Be careful with your focus at wider apertures also, get in close.

    Alternatively, put it on a tripod, but the speeds at which this becomes necessary are also the ones that will reder a moving subject blurred.

    Brace yourself well, hold it steady, bracket. (Forgot to ask if you are using a manual camera!?).


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 842 ✭✭✭Weidii


    Fenster wrote: »
    Embrace the longer exposure needed and use it to add a sense of movement to your photos. The image is grainy from the higher ISO needed, so you might take your camera off full automatic and experiment with manual settings.

    Yeah, I had it set to M, was messing away with ISO and shutter speed, I even sat there for a while taking photos of my feet to be sure what effect the different settings had, but as it turned out I just couldn't get the right...mix?
    efla wrote: »
    Alternatively, put it on a tripod, but the speeds at which this becomes necessary are also the ones that will reder a moving subject blurred.

    I don't own a tripod... really should invest in one. I was, however, using walls and railings as surrogate tripods.

    Aperature is something I didn't pay too much attention to, maybe that's part of the problem...


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 9,047 CMod ✭✭✭✭CabanSail


    Have a look at Exif data on the photo's. It will show what settings were used for that Photo. You can use that to work out what went wrong (or right)

    Were you shooting RAW or Jpeg?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,381 ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    I think the easiest mode to start learning with is Aperture Priority (Av). Learn what each setting does - f/2.8 all the way up to f/22.

    Try to stay away from auto modes.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,483 ✭✭✭Ostrom


    Or a monopod? Easy to carry, quick to set up....

    I tend to keep the camera in aperture priority if I'm not too pushed about what I'm shooting. If light is not an issue, then it gives you easiest creative control. General rules for shutter speeds are 1/200+, put it on a tripod (but this may be less depending on your body or lens (my own Nikon VR can take about 1/60 if I'm steady with it).

    Start by pushing your iso up as far as you can, then get a feel for the creative limits of the different apertures. Watch how you meter in low or high contrast light, and get familiar with the exposure compensation controls.

    But again, if you do a lot of low light street stuff, a monopod may be the way to go?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 842 ✭✭✭Weidii


    CabanSail wrote: »
    Have a look at Exif data on the photo's. It will show what settings were used for that Photo. You can use that to work out what went wrong (or right)

    Were you shooting RAW or Jpeg?


    I have it set to RAW. I'd look at the data to see what went wrong, but I took no pictures worth keeping, so I have nothing to base my judgement off.


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