What happened and how do I solve it?

rosapearl · Aug 26, 2011

First of all, I only take photos for enjoyment...not a professional. My dad had a Rebel EOS 300D with a EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens and built in flash which I inherited. I have taken photos with it for a couple years but never in a low light situation. I took some photos standing at the back of a church up in the balcony and they were too dark. The church was moderately lit. I realize the lens is not super fast, but cannot afford a new one. I mostly shoot in AE mode because (1) don't know much about photography other than taking photos. (2) When I set the camera in another mode I will invariably forget and leave it in that particular mode thereby ruining all the other photos. The battery was fully charged though it is 8 years old. I had taken photos moments before in the church foyer and they turned out fine, but foyer was brightly lit by windows.

So, what could I do in future low light situations? Would an external flash help? Thanks for any suggestions.

Here is one of the photos. Camera settings AE, flash on, f/5.6, exposure 1/60 sec, ISO 400. The second photo is the same after I had lightened it in a photoshop.

tirediron · Aug 26, 2011

An external flash may help, but even still it's only going to be effective to 40' or so. You can increase your ISO further (not sure what the upper usable limit is, experiment and find out where the noise becomes too strong and stay below that). Shooting in RAW will give you more processing latitude, but at the end of the day, photography is about light, and when you don't have enough of it...

IgsEMT · Aug 26, 2011

all of the above + if you know there's a chance of little movement, trying to slow the shutter down would add a bit more light BUT you need to have steady hands for that.

Good Luck

Vtec44 · Aug 26, 2011

I'd use external flash(es) with remote trigger, and put the flash(es) closer to your subject. If that's not possible, I'd up the ISO and slow down the shutter speed.

avajetl · Aug 26, 2011

nice advice guys keep it up..

Railphotog · Aug 26, 2011

Try shooting in P mode, the flash will not automatically pop up as it does in A. See what the viewfinder display says re the shutter speed the camera chooses; if its lower than 1/60th, increase your ISO and/or steady the camera on a railing or such.

Ron Evers · Aug 26, 2011

Maybe you could open your lens to f4 to get some more light. Could be that f5.6 is as wide as the lens would allow @ the focal length used. You really need some faster glass for these situations.

Stradawhovious · Aug 26, 2011

If you are going to get serious about photography as a hobby, I would strongly recommend a fast lens.

I don't know about the compatibility with your particular camera since I'm a Nikon guy, btu I do know that the Canon "Nifty Fifty" aka the 50mm f/1.8 can be had new for about $100.

I strongly suggest it if there is any you can budget for it. A fast lens is a Godsend in low light situations.

DiskoJoe · Aug 26, 2011

Stradawhovious said:
If you are going to get serious about photography as a hobby, I would strongly recommend a fast lens.

I don't know about the compatibility with your particular camera since I'm a Nikon guy, btu I do know that the Canon "Nifty Fifty" aka the 50mm f/1.8 can be had new for about $100.

I strongly suggest it if there is any you can budget for it. A fast lens is a Godsend in low light situations.

I second this. Your kit lens is a piece and needs to be upgraded to something better. A 50mm is a good start.

rosapearl · Aug 26, 2011

Thanks for all the suggestions. Now regarding the new lens/external flash. This camera is 8 years old. Would I be better to invest in a newer camera even if I had to downgrade to a non-SLR camera such as the Canon Powershot ($500.00). I would really like a zoom lens around 18-105. Is there a major difference in photo quality and being able to capture low light photos with digital SLR and nonSLR cameras? Like I said earlier budget is very tight right now, but I just love to take good photos. Would you ever buy a refurbished camera from a Canon dealer?

dakkon76 · Aug 26, 2011

Downgrading from a DSLR to a point and shoot is never a good idea if you want anything beyond snapshots. As others have mentioned - you need some better glass. Start there, since regardless of your camera you're going to need it either way. Then, once you've got something you can open up more and let more light in with... if you're still not happy with the resolution or noise of your existing camera body, you may choose to upgrade it as well. I guess what I'm saying is... regardless of what camera you're using - whether it's $5 or $5000, it's not going to do you any good in low light situations unless you have a lens on the front of it that will let the maximum amount of light in - so start with a lens that will fit on your current camera body. And if you see yourself upgrading to a full-frame at any point, you should probably only get an EF (for Canon) lens and stay away from the EF-S lenses - they won't work on a high end (full frame) camera body.

We're assuming a lot here, so I should back up, since you mentioned the zoom that you did. You're going to want the lowest F number you can get - the lower this is, the more light the lens lets in. The problem is, the lower this number gets, the more expensive the lens gets

That's one reason some people choose to use primes over zooms - because you get a lot more light for a lot less money. I'd recommend staying away from a zoom lens for indoor low-light stuff at first - because you're not going to want to invest $1300 in the 24-70 f/2.8 that you'd need to get good shots indoors. Instead, spend $120 on the previously mentioned 50mm f/1.8 - it lets in even more light than the $1300 lens, but limits you to having a fixed focal length.

Honestly, if you're ok with spending about $500... maybe you need to ask yourself what types of pictures you plan on taking. Low light pictures didn't work this time - but maybe 99% of the time you shoot with better light or outside. In that case... I'd say just plan on staying away from situations like the one above, and start from scratch with a new DLSR. If your current lens has suited you just fine, then keep it and put it on a newer body.

bennielou · Aug 26, 2011

Your dad's camera and lenses are not bad for what it is made to do, which is take decent photos of various situations. In well lit, close situations it can take better than decent photos.

You had four problems you encountered here:

1. Normally, you can't flash in church anyway, so having a flash probably wouldn't have helped. (I see that you did fire a flash, but you were simply too far away from the situation for the flash to make it there. Therefore you need some other things to pull it off. While your dad's camera is a nice quality camera, the sensor is not good enough to really be able to crop into this photo (as it was taken-distance/light) and make it strong.

2. Your lens was not "fast" enough to get the light into it that you needed. But I think you did ok with your photoshop here.

3. Ok, I know that shooting manual can be a super pain in the butt. It's confusing as hell when you first start trying to learn it. And yes, you will often forget at first to change your settings as often as needed or everytime new light presents itself. But once you get used to it, you will never (or rarely) let your camera "guess" for you.

4. Your ISO was WAY TOO LOW for the light in this room which is obvious from the darkness of the photos. Don't ever be afraid of shooting as high as you need to go, however, know that you are going to have to do some noise work on the final image.

Best of luck and keep at it. You really DID do a nice job of bringing it up in photoshop!

KmH · Aug 26, 2011

rosapearl said:
What happened and how do I solve it?

What happened has been explained. The way you solve it, is to learn more about how to do photography.

You have been taking pictures. You would now need to learn how to make a photograph.

rosapearl · Aug 26, 2011

Thank you very, very much. Yes, I do need to know more about "how to take a photo." Not being stubborn, but I really want a close up lens for the times I want to zoom in. So, probably a better choice would be to buy a fast 135mm lens instead of a zoom and to use the 18-50mm for everything else. The reason I didn't set the ISO higher manually (which I think the camera allows) was I was afraid the "noise" would be too much. I am going to start really experimenting with this camera under different conditions to learn. You see, for the past 6 years I have been caregiver for my Dad who was blind after 3 strokes and never had any time to myself. He recently passed away so now I have a little more time. I really, really appreciate the input. I am going to learn how to take photos.

bennielou · Aug 26, 2011

rosapearl said:
Thank you very, very much. Yes, I do need to know more about "how to take a photo." Not being stubborn, but I really want a close up lens for the times I want to zoom in. So, probably a better choice would be to buy a fast 135mm lens instead of a zoom and to use the 18-50mm for everything else. The reason I didn't set the ISO higher manually (which I think the camera allows) was I was afraid the "noise" would be too much. I am going to start really experimenting with this camera under different conditions to learn. You see, for the past 6 years I have been caregiver for my Dad who was blind after 3 strokes and never had any time to myself. He recently passed away so now I have a little more time. I really, really appreciate the input. I am going to learn how to take photos.

I'm sorry to hear of your Dad's passing. My mother in law is in about the same condition as your Dad was and it's hard, so my heart goes out to you and your situation.

As for ISO, this is something common with newer shooters. You have to ask what is worse? Dark photos which gain noise when you bring them up in PS? Or photos taken at the correct exposure with some noise program run on it? Hint....the answer is the second.