Digital Camera Shooting Technique

[yihsun]

Hi, recently I just got a brand new digital camera (Canon S400) and started to play around with it. I'm quite surprised of this new S400 that it has so many adjustable features. I tried to learn more about shooting a better pictures at night or where background light is too strong...etc, but I couldn't find any sites that are helpful. Would somebody recommend me some useful sites about shooting techniques? It's not easy to understand (for an beginner like me) which combination of ISO speed, shutter speed,...etc to use for shooting a night picture or so. I found that it looks better with flash off for night shots but it blurs easily (if i shake even just a bit).....

thanks

 

[Yoshi]

For night shots I use a tripod with a remote shutter release. As far as shooting parameters I like a slow ISO speed like 100, an f stop between 8-11, and a long exposure time.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Since you don't have to pay to get pix developed just expirement<sp?> w/different settings and see what you come up with. That's what I did when i got my s50. I'd take a bunch of pictures of the same thing, but w/different camera settings.


Lethal

 

[aka1nas]

Well your canon has itty bitty little lens, so it is going to be a little handicapped for night shooting. You should definately use a tripod, as I don't think you will be able to get much out of it in those conditions otherwise. as far as the camera settings go:

ISO: lower number is for brighter light, higher for less light. But here's the trick......higher ISO ratings tend to generate more noise in digital cameras, so you may wanna set it lower than you normally would for a night shot and photoshop it later until it looks right.

Shutter: How long the shutter stays open. Quick shutter speeds produce less blur, but light has less time to get into the camera. Long shutter speeds are more usefull for night shooting as you give the camera lots of time to soak up light. This is why you need the tripod, to keep the image from blurring from your hands shaking while you hold the camera for 3 seconds straight!

Aperture: How open the lens is. The wider the aperture, the more light gets in the camera. Lower F-stop indicates a wider aperture. F2.8 is normal for a digital camera, and I think your S400 does F2.8 at its widest setting. The advantage of having a wider F-stop is that you can use a faster shutter speed and get the same amount of lighting but less blur. A few digitals have an aperture of 2.0 and below and these are usually a bit better for night shots, but your canon should be usable if you use a tripod.

You pretty much have to turn the flash off while shooting at nigth as a digicams flash isn't strong enough to illuminate what you want to shoot. Turning the flash off will produce blur and also noise. Taking a longer exposure while using a tripod will eliminate blur, but you will probably get a lot of noise in your photo. At this point shooting techniques aren't going to help you much more and you will need to start using digital techniques on your computer to process the photo. Look up flaw frames at dpreview.com and read their tutorial on how to use them. They are a method to filter out the noise your camera produces in photoshop and it makes a huge difference with night time photos.

 

[yihsun]

wow, first and foremost, thank you all very much for giving me such valuable information, gotta print it out for reference^_^ (mannual doesn't have such clear explaination, it only tells you how to change the settings) I've tried spent lots of time taking pictures with different combinations of parameters on the same object, although I can tell there're differences, but it's still difficult to comprehend these stuff.

So basically a tripod is what I need for night shots, rite?! I'll then need to use a longer shutter speed to capture more lights and a suitable ISO speed to balance the brightness and noise (and turn off the flash). rite?!

Sorry I just came up some more questions...

This question might not be smart but..just wanna ask..., what's the best parameter for taking night shots (or places with insufficient light) if I don't have a tripod?

How about if I wanna take a night shot with someone in it? If the flash is off then it'll be too dark to see the face of the person.

What about if I'm facing a strong light source (like sun light during day time), would adjusting ISO and shutter speed help produce a higher quality photo? since I think simply using the flash makes the picture looked unnatural (looks like the object is copy-and-paste on to the background)

Last Q is how about taking a shot on sports or car racing...etc something that is moving?

Thank you all again, these are some questions that burdens me for some time, thanks and I'm really appreciate of your help.

 

[billandopus]

Originally posted by: Yoshi
For night shots I use a tripod with a remote shutter release. As far as shooting parameters I like a slow ISO speed like 100, an f stop between 8-11, and a long exposure time.

Hah! I think you still confused him.

"f stop" - what the he....?

Anyways, for the original poster I sympathize as i'm still learning about my Canon too.

I've been checking out the various sites like Kodak, dpreview, imaging-resources etc for tips and tricks about how to maximize your digicam.

Good luck.

 

[Yoshi]

Another good site for tips etc is photo.net.

A few more thoughts on night shots: Don't sell yourself short on the tripod for sure, this is the only way to eliminate camera shake in low light conditions. Another thing you will want to do for night shots with a point and shoot is use the timer feature, the one where you push the shutter button and 2-10 seconds later the picture is taken. Why, you will move the camera enough with your finger pushing the button to produce camera shake even with the tripod. Canon's AE is pretty good, just put your camera on a tripod with the flash off in Auto mode and shoot.

A few general thoughs:

1. With a digital point and shoot your best bet is to shoot with the dial on Auto.

2. If you really want to play in manual mode use the lowest ISO number possible for the conditions for the best results.

3. If you really want to play in manual mode with your camera's lens avoid shutter speeds less than 1/100 of a second, use flash when needed.

4. Action shots will be tough with your camera, shoot in continuous drive mode with the dial on Auto and see how it does.

 

[yihsun]

ok, ic, shaken the camera seems unavoiable and tripod is a must for shots in low light conditions. So Yoshi you suggested that it's better to use the auto mode under various conditions and use flash if needed rite?! So you mean I should trust the auto mode that it'll optimize the settings during shots. Furthermore, should I trust the AiAF 9pt auto focus or just turn it off ? since sometimes it doesn't seem to focus on my desire object during shots. One last thing, in the flash mode, there's a feature called 'slow-synchro', when should I use this? On the mannual it says that this will adjust the flash time to slow shutter speed. Does this mean that I'll have to adjust the shutter speed to low in order to use this? What's the purpose and how should I use it??

Thank you all again, I checked out many sites already but still don't get it... you guys are great!

 

[Yoshi]

Yeah, due to the restrictions of the lens system on most point and shoot cameras you are best off using Auto (AE=auto exposure) mode and let the camera decide the proper shutter speed. Aperture settings on a p&s are typically pretty limited and are for the most part a moot point, I think my Canon A40 almost always shoots at the largest aperture in auto mode because I never hear it switch.

Slow-Synchro flash will attempt to illuminate an object against a dark background that is propely exposed. For example a portrait taken inside of a dim lit restaurant or city street at night. The subject will be properly illuminated without loosing all the background detail.

I would leave the 9pt auto focus enabled. Read up on focus lock and experiment to take advantage of this system.

 

[Wiktor]

I like night shots too And I don't use a tripod - I just place my camera on something that is stable
I usually leave the shutter speed and aparture on Auto (actually I use a special night photography mode, it adds noise reduction and turns off the flash).
I found that it is important to change the color balance towards blue (don't know if your camra has that). The pics will look much more impressive.
One other thing I found that you mentioned is slow synch., yes it's very nice. You can use a long exposure time (slow shutter), move the white balance to red and use the flash - and the pic will look like there was no flash used at all! Just like you see it with your eyes in low light conditions (but not when it;s dark without any light source).

Best to try things yourself and learn your camera. Good luck

 

[aka1nas]

For shots with the sun behind the subject, using a fill flash setting will help somewhat and make it look more natural. Your manual should tell you what the symbol for it looks like. Adjusting the ISO and closing down the aperture would also help if the sun is very bright. Sometimes having less light actually helps bring out more colors if you are shooting something like a sunset for example. Every camera is a little different, so playing with it is essential until you get a feel for the way your camera shoots.