Camera Labs

Hi All

I own Canon 50D and i love it..

But coz of my lack of knowledge on handling nice photographs , some of my photos taken at nights are actually turning out to be blurred.

At nights.. i usually skip using flash as this will keep the natural effect away from the photo.. Hence i rely on ISO keeping it at the max ie 3200(if it is too dark) .. And most of the times i use the mode Av or Tv as i can have command on apperture and shutter speed.

Can someone give me a wonderful tip where i doesnt have to use flash but take some excellent pics when necessary?

As usual .. i am sure i'll get some useful tips from the genius surrounded by me in cameralabs..

Cheers
Manu

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Canon EOS 5D mk III|Canon EOS 7D | 70-200 F2.8 L IS II USM | 400 F5.6 L USM

Just to let you all know that i dont own a tripod yet.. but will this be of any difference?

Regds
Mano

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Canon EOS 5D mk III|Canon EOS 7D | 70-200 F2.8 L IS II USM | 400 F5.6 L USM

my friend you should use a tripod . Very important to keep the camera perfectly still once it is focused till the shot is taken. Even a slight movement can cause blur.

If you do not have a tripod yet then try putting the camera in a spot where the camera feels no movement at all. Even while pressing the camera button to take a picture might be a movement that could cause some blur , so be careful.

check out Gordon's workshops. I think you should print them out too and keep them in your camera bag.
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Michigan medical marijuana

The rule of thumb is that your shutter speed should not go below 1/<focal length(cropped)>, which means that if you use your lens at 50 mm (crop factor 1.6 makes it 80 mm) your shutter speed shouldn't go below 1/80, or you can get camera shake. Stabilisation can add 3 stops of compensation, meaning 80/2^3, or just divide your shutter speed by 2, 3 times.

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

If you've already got your shutter speed and aperture where you want them, there's not much else you can do without a tripod or flash.

Maybe try practice some advanced handholding technique.

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Graham
Flickr

Thanks goldengloves and grahamnp for your suggestions.

Citruspers.. your explanation bowled me completely.. it is a complete bouncer for me.. ..

But i would like to know what you are trying to explain me.. can you explain the same in a layman's terms please???

Sorry for being so amateur....

Regds
Mano

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Canon EOS 5D mk III|Canon EOS 7D | 70-200 F2.8 L IS II USM | 400 F5.6 L USM

You need equipment.

1. Get a tripod.
2. Get a faster lens (wider aperture, at least f/2.8, prefer f/1.8 or f/1.4)

Personally, i REFUSE to use a tripod/monopod UNLESS for night photgraphy of the moon or stars.

I teach myself to hold the camera as steady as possible. I have gotten prestine LONG exposures up to 1/8 to 1" handheld. I usually shoot water with an exposure of 1/8 to 1/6. Depending on how strong the waterflow is.



Good luck! Youve got some good answers on the thread.

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"If I want a 'snapshot'... i will use my phone.."

My Photos:
http://mistycreek.deviantart.com/

you can usually pick up a 50mm canon f1.8 or f1.4 at a decent price. It really is a great lens to have for a variety of things especially portrait work.

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Flickr
Model Mayhem
Facebook

Hi Manu,

I'd think again about using flash... If you haven't been shooting long, chances are that you think of flash as the ugly white light that blasts the subject and leaves everything else to drown in darkness. But there are a few tricks to keep the (beautiful) natural light in your shots, even when you use flash. Give me (or us of course) a shout if you'd like to know more, but here's a few short hints:

-set your flash sync to rear curtain sync (check your manual)
This setting means that your flash will fire at the end of the exposure instead of the beginning

-set a longer shutterspeed
In dark conditions I start between 1/5th and 1/20th of a second. Together with rear sync flash this will let your camera suck in the (good) natural light before freezing motion with the flash. You will get motion blur, but your subjects will still be rendered sharp by the flash. Colours and ambient light will also be rendered much better.

-raise your ISO
To keep shutterspeeds at a reasonable length and still collect as much ambient light as possible, raise your ISO until you get a good mixture.

For an example click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brunoaxhau ... 5/sizes/l/
This image was taken in a pretty dark tunnel although the light was very warm and nice. Without flash the subject would have been hopeless to freeze but I also wanted to keep the ambient light. So I basically did the above, shutterspeed around 1/5th, rear curtain flash sync and ISO up around 800 or more (don't remember the exact settings, sorry)

Of course you can do longer exposures with flash set to front curtain sync (which would probably be the standard setting) but then the motion blur of moving subjects would be on the wrong side. (People would seem to be walking backwards etc.)

An external flash is nice for this of course but you can do all of this with a pop-up flash as well! In fact, for shots of parties etc all I carry is my D90 with a cheap 18-55mm and it's pop-up flash. Doesn't get in your way and works like a charm.



Hope this helps a little,
cheers
Bruno

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Feel free to check out my website at
www.brunoaxhausen.com

What Citruspers is basicly trying to give you is a rule of thumb for at what shutterspeeds you generally no longer can expect to get a sharp picture without a tripod. 1/ focal length. So if you zoom in as much as possible on your 18-55 lense (if that's what you have) you would have to use a tripod for any shutter speeds longer than 1/55:th of a second. This is however complicated by the 1.6X crop factor on most dSLR's.
Either way. Shooting at night without a tripod or a flash must be damn near impossible.

If you don't have a tripod, or didn't bright it with you, simply look for somewhere to balance the camera, like a fence, or a post or a coffee cup on a table! I'm forever balancing my camera on things. Then use the self-timer to take the shot so you don't wobble the camera by pressing the shutter release.

I used this technique for this tutorial:

http://www.dslrtips.com/workshops/How_t ... ater.shtml