What max shutter speed for people around bonfire?

[Soonershooter]

I want to take some available-light photos of people around a bonfire and I'd like to keep the ISO setting as low as possible. I know I'll have to put my camera on a tripod, but I don't have a feel for the longest exposure time that I can get away with. Of course, I'm worried that people will move a little bit and my picture will be out of focus.

If the people are seated and trying to be cooperative, how long can I expect them to be still after I say "Everybody, Hold it"? 1/4 second? Perhaps 1 second?

Does anyone have experience doing this?

 

[JerryPH]

There is no one setting. Sorry, but you are going to have to play. I will say this... bonfires are not usually very bright, I hope you have a fast lens and/or a camera that works well at higher ISO, else you will get motion blur.

 

[iflynething]

What kind of glass are you using? To be honest, of you're wanting to try to stop the movement of the people, it's probably not going to happen without a slowsync from a flash. Even then, youre going to get some ghostly.......ghosts looking things

~Michael~

 

[Soonershooter]

To answer the question from IFLYNETHING, I would probably use a 50 mm f/1.8 lens and I could go to ISO 3200. But I think you guys are missing the intent of the original question. I was asking about the slowest shutter speed that I could reasonably use without getting blur. Your answers seem to be more concerned with whether I could get the proper exposure, which is a little different question.

 

[Josh66]

1 second might be pushing it a little, but maybe not... How still can your friends sit?

If some of them can't sit still for 1 second (doesn't sound very hard, but some people just can't stop moving...lol) 1/4 should be doable (if they try to sit still). If they're not cooperating at all I think you'd need 1/40 or faster. It will probably be pretty hard to get a shutter speed that fast though.

You might have to deal with a little bit of blur, or get everyone nice and drunk and take the pictures once everyone is passed out around the fire.

 

[JerryPH]

Depending on your friends to be good photographic subjects while at night... not a good idea. :lmao:

As far as shuter speeds... depends yet again.

- Will you be using a tripod?
- How big/bright is the fire going to be?
- How good is your shooting technique?
- How far away are you going to be from your subject?

I know it is obvious but, you do know that anyone you place in front of the fire will be silhouetted, yes? You do know that if you use ISO 3200, you will have a TON of noise too, right?

As you can tell, there is again no one fixed answer due to too many variables. If you answer all the questions, we can give you the exact info... unfortunately, as you are finding out... there are a lot of variables!

So in the end, the answer is... only YOU can find out once you are there, and even then simple changes like a displacement of 3 feet in any direction, and your settings can change again.

 

[Drake]

Noone mentioned the influence of focal length? Results may be very different when using 18mm and 50mm lens.

 

[McQueen278]

I'd use a flash around 1/8-1/16th power, a 1/60th shutter speed at f/2.8 and an ISO 0f 800.

 

[Soonershooter]

Okay. Let me try to re-state the question with enough specificity that people can feel comfortable with giving a specific answer.

Using only available light, with the camera on a tripod, and two or three seated people attempting to hold their poses, what is the longest exposure time that you have personally used on a photo and still not had a blur problem due to the movement of the subjects?

 

[Josh66]

It depends on how much the person is moving...

If they're asleep you could probably get away with 30 seconds to a couple minutes.
If they're moving around a lot you may need 1/60 or better.

Trust me - I understand what you're asking, but there is no way any of us can answer that without being there.

It doesn't really matter what the longest exposure any of us have gotten away with because your conditions will be different than ours.

If I said I was able to shoot a portrait once with a 3 minute exposure is that what you would shoot everything at?

 

[Josh66]

I'm going to assume you're using a digital camera since you mentioned adjusting the ISO...

Take a picture, say somewhere around 1/40. Zoom in on it on the LCD on the back of the camera. Is it blurry? Bump the ISO a little and use a faster shutter speed for the next one.
If it wasn't blurry lower the ISO a little and try a slower shutter speed.

I don't understand why it is so important that you must know the exact shutter speed to use before you get there. Your memory card can probably hold a couple hundred images, experiment a little.

 

[JerryPH]

Okay. Let me try to re-state the question with enough specificity that people can feel comfortable with giving a specific answer.

Using only available light, with the camera on a tripod, and two or three seated people attempting to hold their poses, what is the longest exposure time that you have personally used on a photo and still not had a blur problem due to the movement of the subjects?

What does the ambeint meter at? There is a big difference in ambient between 6:00PM and 9:00PM, and thats a small 3 hour window of time! (Poor gent, is likely thinking that I am being a bit of an ass now, but really, I feel I am asking pertinent questions!)

Also, don't go too high in the ISO department. Unless you have a D3 or D700, anything over ISO 400 is going to start to add a ton of noise to your picture!

I wonder when it will finally catch that the words "IT DEPENDS" catches on.

 

[McQueen278]

If you can't except that there is no perfect, then stop asking the question.

Move the dial to Program Mode, set a 2 second timer so you don't shake the camera while the shutter is open and press the button. Done.

 

[compur]

Okay. Let me try to re-state the question with enough specificity that people can feel comfortable with giving a specific answer.

Using only available light, with the camera on a tripod, and two or three seated people attempting to hold their poses, what is the longest exposure time that you have personally used on a photo and still not had a blur problem due to the movement of the subjects?

About 1/4 second.

 

[Joves]

Well if they are sitting still for you then you can go as much as 2 seconds at lower ISOs. Best thing to do is to shoot a test shot and if that doesnt turn out try resetting your ISO or shutter speed to compensate. That is how I learned in the film days, I also kept a log of what the settings were. But with digital you can just look and see.
If your pic is too dark then bump up the ISO or hold the shutter open longer. Or even a combination of both. I like using friends for experimentation. As has been said there are no magic settings, it is always dependant on the conditions.