Hi first post newbie in need of advice please! whats going on here????

[BaileySnapz]

Hi there, brand new here & looking forward to picking up some great advice & tips . Ok im a bit puzzled as to what is going on in my photos.

I think it's noise but there seems to be an awful lot of it for the environment I was in, although maybe I expect too much from my 450D :er:

I was indoors 2 lamps on but the other side of the room, she just started goofing around before I could place her properly, so I just started shooting. To the left was double French glazed doors to the back garden deck area, it was around 5pm almost dusk so no direct light as such.

The lens is a Sigma 30mm f1.4 shot wide open 1/100, ISO800. It was the first time I shot with this lens in those lighting conditions. Almost all the photos I shot that day even the ones where I placed them in direct light of the lamps are awful & most of them wide open except a few where there were 2/3 kids in the frame.

if you guys could tell me your thoughts Id appreciate it!! bear mind I am still very much a beginner & it could be just very badly exposed but then I don't understand how to get good exposures when you need the at least 1/100 for kids, probably faster actually & it was a f1.4 lens so only alternative was to up to ISO1600 which is the highest setting & I'm presuming would create more noise??? it will be obvious which is SOOC the WB is off too!! Anyways here she is..............

 

[KmH]

You need more like 1/250 for moving kids or a person walking.

Since our eyes don't work like a camera does, what is sufficient light for our eyes falls way short of being sufficient light for a digital camera.
That is why flash is so bright.

Another issue is that if a photo is under exposed, increasing the exposure post process makes image noise more visible.
Generally the solution is to add more light. Quite a bit more light and strobed (flash) light works better for shooting moving people than does constant light (lamps).

While a flash on the camera can add more light, the color temperature of the flash and the color temperature of lamps in a room won't be the same.
That is a 'mixed light' situation and white balance is likely to be an issue, and only incompletely correctable post process.
The simple solution with mixed lighting is to gel the flash to the color temperature of the other lights in the room, assuming all the other lights in the room are the same color temperature.

 

[texkam]

You have discovered the end limit of your gear. That's about the best you can get. As noted, your underexposed original will yield even more grain than a properly exposed shot. Time to consider a speedlight.

 

[BaileySnapz]

Thanks for your replies. Im upgrading think to the 7D do you think the result would be much better than this cranking up the ISO to get the right exposure? I really prefer no flash. Im torn between the 7D & the 5D mark ii swaying more to the 7D simply because I just cant justify the extra cash on body & needing new lenses when im not making any money out of it.

 

[texkam]

Also look at the new, less expensive 650D.

 

[KmH]

Using flash gives you options not available when not using flash.

The biggie is being able to control the ambient light exposure separately from the strobed (flash) light exposure. By under exposing the ambient light, and a correct exposure of the strobed light on your subject, you can really make the subject 'pop' from the background.

The next big advantage is being able to use the short duration of the flash of strobed light to stop motion.

Strobist: Lighting 101
http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

 

[BaileySnapz]

Thanks againg guys. KmH In the midst of that link seems like a good read so far cheers!