5 GB worth of blur…
- This topic has 27 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated Mar 1, 2010 at 4:04 pm by
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I just got back from visiting my brother and his family, most importantly, my 18 month old nephew. I had absolute hell getting sharp, non-blurred images. I used everything I had at my disposal, but I could not get quality focus and non-blurring when it mattered most. Do any of you guys have any “toddler tips” or tips otherwise that will stop the action of small ones. I will say that all shots were done indoors, with no light other than what came in from the large sliding glass window, reflecting off of the completely snow covered ground, and my flash. And I was using a tripod most of the time.
Dusty, kids in low light is always going to be hard work with f4 lenses.
(kids anything is hard workwww.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
What David said especially the kids anything part, second only to mothers of the bride.
No portrait expert here but you have a bit of extra room on ISO/noise removal software in so much as generally you dont want to over sharpen skin. Worded another way, many people will spend alot of time “smoothing” out skin with various techniques. While you dont want to go overboard its not like other types of images where you are concerened with preserving fine detail.
These shots are for yourself and your family, not for commercial so its better to have noise, than blur and you can be a little more agressive with your noise removal.
Hi Dusty,
I am not sure what the protocol is on the site ito non-flyfishing pics but the best would be to post one or two of the “bad” pics along with the EXIF info intact.
If you set your flash to ‘slow sync’ (not sure what it’s called on Canon), then it will fire at the end of the exposure, thus getting you appropriate background saturation but freezing the action. Whenever I am trying to hit a moving target indoors, that’s what I do; there may be blur, but it will be “behind” the action. You see this all the time in National Geographic; for some reason they love that effect, I suspect because it conveys motion.
Also, and not to plug a competing brand, but ever since the new Nikon D700 came out, the indoor ISO performance on those cameras has gotten ridiculous.
…unnecessary from a functional perspective, but from a aesthetic/artistic perspective….?
😉
I know what you mean though Zach – the technology is staggeringly cool. It’s making me lust for another body upgrade (have had 3 in the past 2 years).
Kendal
Also, and not to plug a competing brand, but ever since the new Nikon D700 came out, the indoor ISO performance on those cameras has gotten ridiculous. I shot a few frames with a D700 and a 50mm f/1.4 over Christmas (granted, a great increase in cost over your system, but the color performance was astounding. At 6400ISO, still there was no noticeable noise. It was the first time I’ve ever thought that flash might indeed be unnecessary one day.
Zach
Very true Zach! Last night I did a portrait session in low-light using both the 700 and 50 1.4 and I was pleased with some of the shots taken without flash.
Dusty,
As mentioned, post a couple of examples so we can see. I photograph kids a lot 😉 I have not run into this type of issue when using flash. Even with ISO 200, and 1/500 at f5.6, my images come out sharp with enough light from flash. I also use a number of different diffusers and bounce the light. Your flash is more than sufficient to light the subject. What mode are you shooting in? If you are shooting in AV mode (Aperature-Priority), this could be causing a noticeable delay and causing the motion blur. I guess we will see that if you post the exif data on one of your shots.
While I appreciate the higher ISO quality at 3200+ with my camera body, I rarely need to use it, especially when combined with a nice speedlite. I am pretty sure you will be able to stick to under ISO400 when you are shooting the kidos and you will want to if you are going to be doing print enlargements for the house.
Thanks for all of this guys. I did turn on the the 2nd curtain function for the flash, but as you will see in the example below, the background gets no light. I had been using the 50 mm wide open, but decided to get some shots with less DoF. Then I tried to freeze the action with a higher shutter speed, but with the speed lite on I could go no faster than 1/250th Shutter Speed.
f/4
1/125 SS
ISO 400
17 mmD.
Dusty –
Bounce the flash directly off the ceiling. With a little kid you’ll have a lot of fill to make up (because he’s low to the ground) so you might want to punch it up some. If you hammer someone in the face with flash, you will [s:3nmuc96x]make them cry[/s:3nmuc96x] make them look like they live in a cave. But if you bounce off something white (ceilings are perfect), you can get a really nice, diffuse effect. In that situation I would shoot at ISO800 with my flash pumped to +1.0 and aimed straight up.
Zach
Errr, maybe the boy doesn’t like Skoal ???
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Seriously –
Dusty, IMHO if the background isn’t great I think it’s best to concentrate the shot around the subject.
I do like the shot and think the fact the kids crying and holding the Skoal is cool.
Here’s a couple examples shot indoors with ambient light –
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Errr, maybe the boy doesn’t like Skoal ??? ;D
Yes, David, my nephew came to the realization that his father chewed women’s product, and he cried. Poor lad. 😉 (I tried to show my Bro the way of Cope…)
I threw up the latter example b/c it showed the blur I was fighting. What y’all have said re. the ISO, I think, was my culprit. I have read much re. my camera body, and I was unwilling to go past 400 ISO. (Great justification for a 7D!)
Aside from my unwillingness to go past 400, the light was no good, unless the subject was very near the sliding glass door. And DA, that first image is awesome!!! I love how the light wraps around his face, and I have tried to do so. Is that only nat. light? And I have to credit Dr. O for introducing me to wrapping light. I think I get it once in a while.
Sometimes I wish cursing at the camera would in fact make better pictures, ha. It’s a tough juggling match when in low light and shooting for friends and family while trying to avoid looking like a photographer. David, you make it look easy (as expected)! Great shots.
One thing to remember with low-light ambient “event” photography is the relation of f-stop to focal length. In other words, not all fast-glass is the same. A 50mm f1.4/1.8 has a different compression (i.e. feel) vs a similar fast 85mm or 105mm. Both will capture light well but the longer focal length will be better at portrait/photo-documentary. A fast 85mm lens is high up on my wish list! Also, with a 50mm prime like yours you have to move in close the subject to get a good crop which creates challenges with the lighting and also the comfort of the subject. At that point, like David said, forget about the background and just focus on the eye and let er rip. Since I don’t shoot children I can’t comment on the specific challenges they pose.
Lately, I have abandoned my hot shoe flash at events and just shoot ambient. Manual mode generally. Here is an example from a party the other night. 50mm f/1.4, 1/40 sec, 2/3 EV, ISO 3200, and a neighbor who is very comfortable in front of the lens allows helps. Steady hands are required at that slow shutter speed. Time was 9pm in a basement with only the overhead light and a table lamp. She was placed slightly to camera right from the lamp until I saw the light starting to wrap around her face. Image is straight out of camera with a bit of white balance correction and sharpening.
Dusty,
LOL . . . here are examples of low light event photography with the iPhone. A motley pair for sure, complete with chewing tobacco documentation.
the light was no good, unless the subject was very near the sliding glass door. And DA, that first image is awesome!!! I love how the light wraps around his face, and I have tried to do so. Is that only nat. light?
Dusty, he’s very close to a picture window, but it’s a very grey day.
(the shot is done at 200 ISO @ f 1.2)www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Neal, that stuff is NASTY !
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Everyone–
Your insight has been very helpful, and it has made me realize some of my mistakes. I appreciate all of your help and kind words.There is one thing that is still eluding me though: many of you commented on a higher shutter speed, which I tried to some extent. The problem was, however, that when I had the flash connected I could not go any higher than 250th. I read about this in the flash manual but do not know how to circumvent it or make adjustments otherwise. Should I remove the flash, or just bump the ISO
Thanks,
D.
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