What could I be doing wrong here...

[giorgio]

So I'm a newbie,
I have studied and have the theory, but havne't practiced enough yet as it seems.

On Xmas dinner I tried to take family photos and all but I thought that the quality from te camera itself in manual and no Flash is just awful.
So I put a remote SB600 on a stand, with like a 1/18 power as it was looking kind of harsh.

There was a simple yellow light on the silling too.

why the quality is not good?

Actual Size:

Nikon D80
JPG
Focal lenght 26mm
F/5
1/10
ISO 1250
Metering Mode = Pattern
Light Source = Thungsten
Exposure Program = Manual
Exposure compensation = 0


I shot also some on automatic with builtin flash and came very sharp.



salutes

Giorgio

 

[HikinMike]

I would say 1/10 is WAY too slow for people. Second, with a group like that, f/5 is too much. I would use at least f/8. Your WB is off, but if you took this in RAW, you can change that after the fact.

 

[Big Mike]

Part of the problem is the shutter speed. At 1/10, people probably won't be sharp because they can't stand perfectly still and their tiny movement will cause blur.
Also, if you are holding (or even touching) the camera at shutter speeds like that, the camera will be moving and that will also cause blur.

It also looks like your White Balance was off. Try setting a custom WB and/or shooting in RAW.

Your ISO was pretty high, especially for an older camera like the D80. That would explain the digital noise/grain that we see.

In other words, there was just not enough light for this type of photo, in this location. If you had a lens with a wider aperture, that would have helped, but then you might have to worry about your DOF getting too thin for a group shot.

Using flash would certainly help. Using a flash off-camera is usually a great idea, but with a group shot, it can be tricky. And unless you have an umbrella or softbox to soften the light, it can be pretty hard/harsh.

What I would have done, is to bounce the flash. Maybe off the ceiling or even pointed up and behind the camera so that it could bounce off of the walls and ceiling. This could have given you nice soft light. I would also have used a faster shutter speed to take down the exposure of the overhead light, because it's a different color than the flash and might give people a yellowish tint.

 

[giorgio]

I see, thak you very much.

So more or less I'm getting the idea of the quality of the ISO performance o my D80.

- So.., professional photographers go for the RAW format mostly?
- The photo specs remind me of the Exposure compensation, is that how the ISO is "increased" more than its original amount?, as a way of saying.

I actually could have tried the following...

- Bouncing or using umbrella with the Vivitar at maximum power.
- Increasing speed(1/125limit) and Lowering ISO as much as the light allows

I could buy a 50mm fixed lense, but I'll wait a little because if I decide to replace camera I wouldn't like to have lenses to sell too besides the camera.

I'll keep trying