Camera Settings

[photogrl30]

Hello there. Im new here. I have been taking photos since my daughter was born in 2006. I LOVE it. I have a Canon Rebel xti. The problem im having is that i just cant seem to get a grip on what settings to use in certian situations. Its driving me crazy and making me feel like a total idiot.

I have searched online for others to help me out and give me tips, and i find lots of good free help, but i just cant seem to grasp it when im actually shooting photos. I am a hands on learner so trying to figure it out on my own from reading things im havnig a hard time with. And money is tight since im a single mom trying to make some extra money, so taking expensive classes arent in my budget right now.

My daughter is in gymnastics so the lighting sucks and she is moving all around and i cant get the pictures to come out clear everything is blury. I also take photos of friends and family and im working on getting a small photography business going, but im sure not going to do it if i cant even get the settings right. Since i cant seem to get it right its really discouraging me from taking any photos at all, and makeing me feel like other people wont like them or they wont turn out good.

I need help. Seriously.

I accidently dropped and broke my 50mm lens recently at a photo shoot, so i just have my kit lens, but it works just fine for photos.

Thank you so much if you are able to help me, or point me in the right direction that will be able to help me.

 

[table1349]

Either buy or go to the public library and check out this book. Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera: Bryan Peterson: 9780817439392: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Overread]

I'll second that suggestion. The book itself has some practice examples you can try and gives you a good overview on the three core settings and how to choose them for different situations.

 

[tirediron]

WALK before you run. Start by reading, and then re-reading your camera's manual. Go here and read through the tutorials. Spend some time on YouTube searching out 'How to' vidoes on exposure, composition, and lighting.

Your problem with the gym shots is simple. Not enough light. You can either increase your ISO (assuming aperture is wide open and shutter-speed is as low as it can go), or add more lght. The first thing I recommend people invest in after a body and lens is a good speedlight. Being able to add light to a scene makes life MUCH easier.

As far as the busines goes, put that plan back on the shelf. Study photography, learn your camera inside out, become familiar with all of the different processes and techniques, and intersperse that with studying business practices and entrepreneurship. Running a photo business is much more about the business than about the photography!

A great way to improve is by posting your work in the galleries at the bottom of the page. You will get LOTS of suggestions and recommendations. Some of them may be blunt, but they're all meant to help you improve.

 

[TCampbell]

I'm going to "third" that recommendation on getting the book.

You're looking for tips on the internet. What you really are struggling with is understanding the fundamentals of exposure. There are lots of ways to make sure the same amount of light hits the sensor to create a "correct" exposure, but there's a difference between a "correct" exposure and one that really works for the type of shot you are trying to capture.

The book is going to cover all of that... e.g. WHY you'd go for a faster shutter speed and use a wider aperture vs. using a slower shutters peed and a narrow aperture.

At the most basic level, when shooting action you generally want to "freeze" the action. That means you want a shutter speed which will usually be between 1/250th and 1/500th. If your subject is far enough away that the shot wont be ruined by a depth of field which was too narrow to capture the whole subject then you may as well go for a narrow depth of field (use a low f-stop value). This has the added benefit of blurring out the background and spectators in the background while maintaining a tack-sharp subject. You probably wont be allowed to use flash (it can be distracting) so you may have to boost ISO. That's at a "basic" level.

As you get a bit more comfortable and want to advance a little, you may decide to deliberately introduce a small amount of blur. Blur can help the shot "imply motion" (it's a still photo, but the right level of blur will show that part of their body was moving quickly... generally you want certain critical parts to remain sharp and not blurred (e.g. the face.))

Some of the best shots in gymnastics are set up FOR the shot. In other words... they ARE using a flash... in fact they may be using lots of flashes. The athlete isn't performing in a competition or in front of a crowd, they are performing specifically for the camera and to capture that awesome shot. In those cases you can use flash with 2nd curtain shutter or multi-strobic settings to get amazing results -- things you'd never be allowed to do at a competitive event. Timing can still be tough so they may have to re-perform the action being photographed over and over until everyone is happy that they got the results they wanted.

One more thing... when an athlete is moving toward you or away from you the focused distance is changing. When your XTi is in it's default focusing mode ("One Shot" mode), it will meter & focus the shot, lock in those settings and THEN take the exposure. The subject might now be either closer or farther than the focused distance that the camera locked in. The camera WILL NOT RE-FOCUS. You'll just get a soft shot. You need to switch the camera to "AI Servo" mode when shooting sports. This will cause the camera to continuously track focus (it eats through the battery a bit faster). It also means the camera changes to "shutter priority" mode and stops using "focus priority" mode. That means the camera WILL take the shot when you fully press the shutter (whether it was focused or not.) In "One Shot" mode, the camera will NOT take the shot until it locks focus (but then it wont keep tracking focus as the focus distance changes.)

You'll also find that a lens with a USM focusing motor is MUCH MUCH better for sports. The basic kit lenses and basic 50mm f/1.8 lens don't have a particularly fast focusing motor. By the time the motor reacts to re-focus the lens on their position they'll have moved again... a subject moving quickly toward you or away from you will seldom be in focus because the lens' focus motor wont keep up.

 

[KmH]

The blurry photos are likely the result of to slow a shutter speed. Action sports generally require a shutter speed of 1/500 or faster, though for action caught at it's peak 1/250 may be sufficient.

The slow shutter speed is caused by too little light.

Your XTi lacks sufficient ISO performance, and the 18-55 mm kit lens cannot open to a wide enough aperture for the lighting conditions you have to work with to allow sufficient shutter speed.
The only way to address the lighting situation, without an equipment upgrade, is by using the built-in flash unit (strobed light). Using strobed light adds an additional level of technical complexity to doing photography, and the built-in flash unit does not have a lot of power. Light power falls off as a square function. At twice the distance, only 1/4 of the light power reaches the subject.

It has been demonstrated repeatedly since first proposed in the 1970's that a person's learning preference, like claiming to be a hands on learner, actually has no bearing on how effectively people can learn if other learning/teaching methods are used.

 

[photogrl30]

Either buy or go to the public library and check out this book. Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera: Bryan Peterson: 9780817439392: Amazon.com: Books

Thanks for this I will check that out and probably purchase it!!

 

[photogrl30]

Thank you so much for all your info and tips. They help for sure. I appreciate it very much. I like that you gave some examples, those help me.

I'm going to "third" that recommendation on getting the book.

You're looking for tips on the internet. What you really are struggling with is understanding the fundamentals of exposure. There are lots of ways to make sure the same amount of light hits the sensor to create a "correct" exposure, but there's a difference between a "correct" exposure and one that really works for the type of shot you are trying to capture.

The book is going to cover all of that... e.g. WHY you'd go for a faster shutter speed and use a wider aperture vs. using a slower shutters peed and a narrow aperture.

At the most basic level, when shooting action you generally want to "freeze" the action. That means you want a shutter speed which will usually be between 1/250th and 1/500th. If your subject is far enough away that the shot wont be ruined by a depth of field which was too narrow to capture the whole subject then you may as well go for a narrow depth of field (use a low f-stop value). This has the added benefit of blurring out the background and spectators in the background while maintaining a tack-sharp subject. You probably wont be allowed to use flash (it can be distracting) so you may have to boost ISO. That's at a "basic" level.

As you get a bit more comfortable and want to advance a little, you may decide to deliberately introduce a small amount of blur. Blur can help the shot "imply motion" (it's a still photo, but the right level of blur will show that part of their body was moving quickly... generally you want certain critical parts to remain sharp and not blurred (e.g. the face.))

Some of the best shots in gymnastics are set up FOR the shot. In other words... they ARE using a flash... in fact they may be using lots of flashes. The athlete isn't performing in a competition or in front of a crowd, they are performing specifically for the camera and to capture that awesome shot. In those cases you can use flash with 2nd curtain shutter or multi-strobic settings to get amazing results -- things you'd never be allowed to do at a competitive event. Timing can still be tough so they may have to re-perform the action being photographed over and over until everyone is happy that they got the results they wanted.

One more thing... when an athlete is moving toward you or away from you the focused distance is changing. When your XTi is in it's default focusing mode ("One Shot" mode), it will meter & focus the shot, lock in those settings and THEN take the exposure. The subject might now be either closer or farther than the focused distance that the camera locked in. The camera WILL NOT RE-FOCUS. You'll just get a soft shot. You need to switch the camera to "AI Servo" mode when shooting sports. This will cause the camera to continuously track focus (it eats through the battery a bit faster). It also means the camera changes to "shutter priority" mode and stops using "focus priority" mode. That means the camera WILL take the shot when you fully press the shutter (whether it was focused or not.) In "One Shot" mode, the camera will NOT take the shot until it locks focus (but then it wont keep tracking focus as the focus distance changes.)

You'll also find that a lens with a USM focusing motor is MUCH MUCH better for sports. The basic kit lenses and basic 50mm f/1.8 lens don't have a particularly fast focusing motor. By the time the motor reacts to re-focus the lens on their position they'll have moved again... a subject moving quickly toward you or away from you will seldom be in focus because the lens' focus motor wont keep up.

 

[photogrl30]

Thank you for the link. Im going to check it out for sure. And ill take the advise and look at YouTube!!

Im not planning on having photography as my full time job. I want to focus on the photography and NOT the business part of it. Its not a HUGE deal to me really, but i like to do it so i figure i can make a little bit of money at it along the way. I like that my friends and family come to me to take photos of them. it means a lot and they like what i can do. I will look into posting some of my photos in the galleries too though.

Thanks again!

WALK before you run. Start by reading, and then re-reading your camera's manual. Go here and read through the tutorials. Spend some time on YouTube searching out 'How to' vidoes on exposure, composition, and lighting.

Your problem with the gym shots is simple. Not enough light. You can either increase your ISO (assuming aperture is wide open and shutter-speed is as low as it can go), or add more lght. The first thing I recommend people invest in after a body and lens is a good speedlight. Being able to add light to a scene makes life MUCH easier.

As far as the busines goes, put that plan back on the shelf. Study photography, learn your camera inside out, become familiar with all of the different processes and techniques, and intersperse that with studying business practices and entrepreneurship. Running a photo business is much more about the business than about the photography!

A great way to improve is by posting your work in the galleries at the bottom of the page. You will get LOTS of suggestions and recommendations. Some of them may be blunt, but they're all meant to help you improve.

 

[coastalconn]

If your into the new age of kindles and tablets, this ebook is a really helpful guide and it is only 10 bucks. It covers so many aspects and has video tutorials.. The author has a facebook page and encourages people to upload their photos and there are many helpful people there... Tony Northrup's DSLR Book: How to Create Stunning Digital Photography: Tony Northrup, Chelsea Knowles: Amazon.com: Kindle Store Just a thought..

 

[Tuffythepug]

photogrl30,
I live just north of Sacramento so I'm not far from Lodi. I'd be willing to help you out on some of the basics if you still have questions after doing some reading and availing yourself of the other options mentioned. I have quite a bit of experience and though I am not a professional I've helped lots of people get a handle on the basics of exposure, composition, explaining depth of field, and other important aspects of photography. You can send me a personal message if you want to follow up on this in the future and I'll see how I can help you. Hope this doesn't sound creepy; I'm a happily married father and grandpa and am as harmless as they come.

 

[pixmedic]

photogrl30,
I live just north of Sacramento so I'm not far from Lodi. I'd be willing to help you out on some of the basics if you still have questions after doing some reading and availing yourself of the other options mentioned. I have quite a bit of experience and though I am not a professional I've helped lots of people get a handle on the basics of exposure, composition, explaining depth of field, and other important aspects of photography. You can send me a personal message if you want to follow up on this in the future and I'll see how I can help you. Hope this doesn't sound creepy; I'm a happily married father and grandpa and am as harmless as they come.

look at that pugs face...would a face like that lie to you?
and when you said trying to make extra money, did you mean your trying to make extra money doing photography?

 

[keethjon]

I agree with others that you should first read your camera's instruction manual and be sure how to use the various controls. Also, practice is one of the best things you can do. No one masters any trade, occupation or hobby, without practicing. If you need a little help with the basics of exposure (shutter speeds, lens aperture settings, check the following links. Camera Exposure Basics: Shutter Speeds, Aperture, F Stops, and ISO or The Camera Shutter and Shutter Speeds. Good luck!

 

[MLeeK]

They've all given you a great amount of support and information.
I am going to tell you that you probably aren't going to get good, indoor gymnastics photos with your camera. Your ISO maxes out at 1600 and to shoot in many gyms at a fast enough shutter speed 1600 is just not going to cut it. We're talking more like 3200 in the best gyms and as far as 12,800 in a lot of them.
You are going to need a shutter of 1/500 or faster. The uneven bars/parallel bars will probably require a speed even faster than that.
Max out the ISO, put your camera in shutter priority and set it at 1/500. If you can't get a shot you've hit your limits. The only other answer then is flash or a different camera.

 

[amolitor]

If I were you, I would work with the blurry instead of against it.

Gymnastics is a powerful, dynamic thing. I would try to make images that capture that sense of motion. You have to shoot a *lot*, and at a bunch of shutter speeds, experimenting to find one or two "looks" that work well for you. Best will be moves that include a pause -- a beat or two where the athlete is perfectly still, and then moves, or the other way around motion followed by the pause. Then you capture a soft image of the athlete at rest, together with a misty impression of the motion that come before or after the pause.