How Can i improve this?

djtyrrell · Nov 22, 2006

Hello all,

i have been reading some of the stuff on the site about looking for simple stuff to photograph so i thought candles are nice and easy but could anyone give me some pointers on how to improve this pic. I only have a sony cypershot so i am limited to manual adjustments but this pic was taken with iso at 400 and exposure set on zero. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks all

Stu

xfloggingkylex · Nov 22, 2006

candles I find are really hard to take pictures of, in fact anything with fire AND a subject is difficult. First you have the white balance problem, since the light put out by fire is probably around 1500-2000K it is a good deal warmer than tungsten light. The next problem is exposure. you really cant get a good flame AND the subject lit equally well.

Having not shot candles but for a single shot (to see how the lighting worked) I cannot offer you any suggestions for improvement, just know that you have picked a fairly difficult task.

Puscas · Nov 22, 2006

First tell us what you think is wrong with this picture. Or better: what do you want to improve? Is it light, composition, color....? Is this close to what your picture should look like, or is it nowhere near?

pascal

djtyrrell · Nov 23, 2006

it just seems a bit grainey but my dad said when you dont use a flash and put the iso up it naturally will however i have seen much clearer pictures of candles, is it possible for me to improve it with the limited amount of equipment and technology i have

Cheers

Stu

Big Mike · Nov 23, 2006

I'm actually surprised there isn't more noise than there is. Digicams like yours, have very small sensors...which is a big reason why they produce so much noise...especially at higher ISO settings.

If you use a tripod (or any support) and use a remote or the self timer...then you should be able to keep the ISO at 100 (or what ever is the lowest)...this will help with the noise.

djtyrrell · Nov 23, 2006

thanks guys i will have a go and see what i can do

Cheers

Stu

djtyrrell · Nov 23, 2006

right, just had a little experiment, both pics were taken with iso set at 100, the second i used slow sync flash, i only just been getting into phototgraphy lately i want to no which one is going down the right track.

cheers

stu

plus i have added a few more just for show and tell lol

Big Mike · Nov 23, 2006

In the first one...the White Balance is off. The indoor lighting is making it look too yellow/orange. It also looks a bit dark (underexposed). The 2nd one looks better to me because the color is better...and it's well exposed.
It's a good balance between flash and ambient exposure...but you have to be careful with flash. The on-camera flash will usually make images look flat...so try not to use it as your main source of light.

The 3rd shot is a perfect example of where you could have used the on-camera flash. The camera thinks that it's bright enough...and it doesn't need flash...but the front of your dog is still quite dark. The background looks OK...but if you had forced the flash to fire...the front of the dog would be lit up as well...it would probably look really good.