What am i doing wrong?

cynder

Hi

i got myself a lumix fz38

im trying to take a photo of my young lady doing a jump (on a horse) and the pic blurs.

im trying the manual settings

shutter speed above 1/1000 tried 1/2000

the aperture can only be set at f8 with shutter speed of 1/2000

the aperture lowest setting is f4 for shutter speed of 1/1000

messed around with iso from 80 - 1600

any ideas?

as im new at this.

the problem is my pics are way too dark. (cloudy/wet day and im taking pics in the indoor arena)

Vorsprung

Flash?

cynder

Vorsprung wrote: »

Flash?

thought of that

But i don't want to startle the horse and have my daughter thrown off.

AnimalRights

Might make a better picture if you were to capture it?

magicbastarder

post an example. do you mean blurred due to poor focus or blurred due to movement?
i suspect it may be too dark for the camera to get a good lock on focus, if it's indoors and the pics are coming out dark.

magicbastarder

just as a point of reference - i'm in a room lit by a 60W bulb, light coming in from the window is much less than the electric light. at 1600ASA, and f8, i'm getting a reading of about 1/40th of a sec.

Gerard93

Reduce Shutter Speed it will allow more light in through Lens and should still freeze the picture mess around until you see whats accepatable and use a tripod

cynder

Because photos were too dark too see anything or make out anything i deleted them, these are the shots i got from quick fire (rapid shots) not great as i want to reduce blur from motion,




F.36
ss 1/40
iso 1600

cynder

I gave up on the side view, you can see why




F 2.8
ss 1/50
iso 1000

cynder

f2.8
1/30
iso /1250

the above shots were taken by rapid fire and i did not use the manual mode.

Kintarō Hattori

Have you tried moving your upper body in line with the horse, rather than snapping when it comes to frame?

Heh not too sure that's clear but do you know what I mean?

cynder

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Have you tried moving your upper body in line with the horse, rather than snapping when it comes to frame?

Heh not too sure that's clear but do you know what I mean?

Can't really as im not in the arena with her, she is with a group of 11, (not that i took a photo of them) also the dam horse moves to quick.


I found i took a better photo from behind as the blur was less. I will try going back when they are in the outdoor arena on a nice day. Cant use the flash around the horses the last time her horse got spooked whe was thrown head first into a brick wall, 5 inch crack in her helmet and a dent in the wall.

MrcValets

im no pro but the focus seems to be on the background . you seem to be using all the right settings like sutter speed etc are you using af

Ghost Train

using a higher iso will help, but will be a bit noisier

avoid using zoom too, for wider aperture

if theres a sports mode on the camera it be worth a try

cynder

magicbastarder wrote: »

just as a point of reference - i'm in a room lit by a 60W bulb, light coming in from the window is much less than the electric light. at 1600ASA, and f8, i'm getting a reading of about 1/40th of a sec.

As im new at this i guess that means that if the shutter speed is its best at 1/40, the faster the shutter speed the darker the picture?????

That would mean i would be better off taking a pic on a bright day and preferably outdoors??

cynder

Ghost Train wrote: »

using a higher iso will help, but will be a bit noisier

avoid using zoom too, for wider aperture

if theres a sports mode on the camera it be worth a try

yep i was on the sports mode and i enabled the indoor settings but it wasn't worth a ****. still blurry.

i played around with the zoom a bit as well.

I tried the 1600 iso and the noise was pretty bad.

Thanks i suppose with a bit more practise i will find my feet.

magicbastarder

grindelwald wrote: »

As im new at this i guess that means that if the shutter speed is its best at 1/40, the faster the shutter speed the darker the picture?????

That would mean i would be better off taking a pic on a bright day and preferably outdoors??

yes and no; the faster the shutter speed the darker the pic, but only if aperture and ISO remain unchanged. you may find that in the above pics you posted, the aperture was at its maximum, so the camera had no option but to use a slow shutter speed to get the exposure right.

nilhg

Lack of light is the problem, you need a much faster shutter speed to freeze action like that, maybe 1/500th, and there's not enough light to allow that, since flash is not an option you'll have to wait to get the shot outdoors.

cynder

MrcValets wrote: »

im no pro but the focus seems to be on the background . you seem to be using all the right settings like sutter speed etc are you using af

Yep im a bit lost with the AF i did read the manual but i focused more on the shutter speeds, apature, exposure and macro settings, what the AF?

saves me form reading the manual:o

i think i have an AF/AE button

cynder

Thanx for all your input, I'll be back next Saturday to let you know how Ive got on.


Much appreciated,

thanks

redto

my 1 cent worth.

pick the middle of the fence and pre focus on it manually, then pan with the camera, ie follow the horse and just as its jumping the fence fire the shutter. in theory the horse will be at its slowest at the top of its jump and you should have a better chance of capturing horse an rider.

I should point out i never took a photograph like this but from lots of reading it might work

smelltheglove

Ok, my advice would be, after you get your focus correct, i.e. focusing on around where the horse would be, you hold your shutter button half way down, move to the horse and move the camera with the horse as you click the shutter, its called pan and blur as far as I recall so if you google you may find a tutuorial. A good way to practice is get your daughter out in the garden, asked her to run from one end to another and practice plan and blur that way.

Borderfox

grindelwald wrote: »

As im new at this i guess that means that if the shutter speed is its best at 1/40, the faster the shutter speed the darker the picture?????

That would mean i would be better off taking a pic on a bright day and preferably outdoors??

Indoors I use very fast prime lenses (a lens with no zoom and is basically a big hunk of glass to let lots of light in) at Horse shows and my shutter speed starts at 1/500th to stop the action and the iso usually starts at 1600 and goes up to 6400 depending on the arena. You can get away with flash sometimes but if its not done well the look is way off and you have the chance for somebody to spook. With the lumix outdoors would be best

This shot is at 1/500th and ISO 3200 in Broadmeadows which is quite dark especially in the winter

cynder

i got one, my first shot, only had the one chance as they were in the indoor arena and said she could go out just to do one jump for me to photograph,


so this is what i got




iso 200
1/1000
F.3
no zoom
maunal settings


Many thanx for all your advice

cynder

looks better cropped

Heebie

A faster shutter speed, or a tighter aperture (higher number) will both make a picture "darker" (A tighter aperture lets less light into the camera at any given time, and a faster shutter speed keeps the shutter open for less time.

There is a total amount of light that makes an exposure "right" The amount of light coming in due to the aperture, adding up over time, eventually will add up to the "right" amount of light total.

The sensitivity (ISO) dictates how much light is necessary to gain the "right" exposure.

The less light you have available, the more light you need to allow into the camera (either at once or over time) to get the right exposure.

If you have a lot of light, like outdoors, you will generally use a tighter aperture and a faster shutter speed, because you have plenty of light available that you don't need it to add-up over time.

In lower-light situations, you need to open the aperture & use slower shutter speeds. (let more light in at once, and keep the shutter open longer, for more light overall.)

Your problem is that you NEED to get to a faster shutter speed to stop action, but you don't have much light. You either need to add more light to the scene (use a flash, or get some other lighting on the subject.), open the aperture up as much as you can (it sounds like you don't have much control over this) change the sensitivity (ISO) of the camera for taking pictures. (I think you said it was at 1000 already.. if you can get to 3200 or 6400 it will help a lot.. but be 'grainy' most likely.), or some combination of these three changes. (because your need is based on shutter-speed, it's the other variables that you have to adjust.)

Oh.. and I now have the Elder Wand.. I bought it at a wand shop in Orlando, Florida last week.

grindelwald wrote: »

As im new at this i guess that means that if the shutter speed is its best at 1/40, the faster the shutter speed the darker the picture?????

That would mean i would be better off taking a pic on a bright day and preferably outdoors??