digitally challenged...

[cryssi]

Ok, so there are no words to describe how lame I am. I was the "official" (and I really should use that term loosely) photographer at our holiday party last night. Now keep in mind, I'm just using an SD400, but ok. Well, apparently I don't know how to use my digital camera, because most of my pictures, well, suck. They are quite blurry, and you'd think I would have figured this out since it happened before. Manual? What's a manual??

Anyway, I doubt I got many useful pics out of the 150+ I took. So I pretty much just embarassed myself and upset others who were expecting something fabulous.

The upside is that most likely, they won't ask me to take pictures again. The downside is how incompetent I look (not good when you are dealing with work!).

I should change my name to "user error"...

Anyway, to end my long-winded ramble, can anyone enlighten me on how to not have blurry photos in the off chance that someone DOES ask me to be a photographer again? Other than RTFM. Oh, and yes, I realize I need an SLR, but that's not quite in the budget yet...

Thanks!
c

 

[YEKCIM]

Well, to start off with, it is possible that the equipment may be the culprit, not you. You may want to try some test shots, outdoors, using available light, and indoor, using flash, to see if sharp results are possible. If the autofocus or lens are damaged, that would result in the blurry pix. Also, and this may be an obvious question, were you using flash at the function you were photographing? Flash generally will "stop action" if properly used; however, if you were not using flash, and there was insufficient light, the shutter speed may have been low. Low shutter speeds and either moving subjects or handheld camera shake *will* result in blurry photos.

Good luck resolving your issue.

~YEKCIM

 

[BeautyLLM]

Another thing to do is check your technique. You may be moving the camera while it is actually taking the picture, thus the blurred look of your photos. In other words, make sure you compose the shot, press the shutter button half way to allow the camera to focus (if the camera has that feature), press the shutter button all the way, release, and then move the camera away from your eye.

 

[cryssi]

Thanks for the tips. The camera works perfectly fine. I truly think it's user error...

It was an indoor function at night with medium to low lighting. I was using the flash. I'm sure there is a setting on the camera for low-light shots, but do you think I knew about that?? Seeing as how I recently discovered the macro setting on the camera...

I think another problem is that sometimes I was zoomed in. Those pics were almost always blurry. I did use the autofocus feature by holding the button halfway, but that doesn't work when the subject is moving. Do these little Elphs have an action function as well?

I have even taken a photography class, but we were mainly shooting architecture with film.

The lesson here is to read your manual and make sure you know how to use your camera before shooting an event.

Thanks again!
c

 

[YEKCIM]

Sounds as if you may have been out of effective flash range. The flash on most digital P&S cameras is very limited in range...

~YEKCIM

 

[cryssi]

you know, you're probably right! Here I am thinking I'm a professional... LOL

That totally makes sense! Thanks!

 

[YEKCIM]

Maybe time for an upgrade...?

 

[Alacrity]

Another possibility, many AF cameras will have a hard time focusing in low light conditions. Sometimes they have a focus assist light. A quick look at a review for your camera says that it has one but it needs to be enabled on a menu. This is different than the flash but looks to be a bright orange LED? (again, according to the review) You might look into that and give it a try. I've had soft focus problems on a couple cameras, even with high shutter speeds, and chalk it up to low light and/or not giving the camera enough time to focus properly.

 

[cryssi]

Maybe time for an upgrade...?

LOL! The camera is not even a year old, but I will run that by DH...

 

[cryssi]

Another possibility, many AF cameras will have a hard time focusing in low light conditions. Sometimes they have a focus assist light. A quick look at a review for your camera says that it has one but it needs to be enabled on a menu. This is different than the flash but looks to be a bright orange LED? (again, according to the review) You might look into that and give it a try. I've had soft focus problems on a couple cameras, even with high shutter speeds, and chalk it up to low light and/or not giving the camera enough time to focus properly.

Thanks, I will look into that!

 

[elizke]

I understand your feelings too well!

I got my new camera last year (a Kodak DX7590) and loved it. Right away had one of my kids' school program, got a seat near front, and thought I was all set. Took lots of pics and felt very gleeful. Got home and saw them on the computer and was really bummed.

First problem: I am over 40 and can't tell with viewfinder OR LCD (which is large!) if the pic is truly in focus. Lesson: Stop after a few, put on reading glasses, and magnify to check focus.

Second problem: Auto will not work in this case very well. Digitals are not good at low light, and being close is the only sure-fire way. When you zoom, you zoom right out of flash range, AND motion blur is worse. (So you are out of flash range, the shutter speed slows down to allow more light, people move, you move- really terrible odds!) Not even a pro can use a digital and overcome these completely without help (flash). Lesson: Read manual and learn more about low light DIGITAL photography and actually use those other places on the dial.

So we recently had the school program again, and I was MUCH happier. The main thing I did was change settings and try all different things. Came home with tons of pics and deleted over half, but was left with some really good ones. Using the camera's low light setting did not work too well, since I was not using a tripod, and you wouldn't either at a party. I did always steady myself on the elbow rest. Gotta be so still when you slow things down to let more light in! I'm learning!! (Yay!) I used Aperture priority, and increased exposure and flash.

One last thing, some may be fixable in post processing. Do you have an image editor?

Just had to respond since I have had SO many similar experiences over the last year. Digital indoor low light is just not great yet, and you have to work around it or get an external flash. You are not alone!!

E.

 

[cryssi]

yes, I had one of our tech guys work on one in photoshop, but he couldn't remove all of the ghosting. I'll look into it a bit more...

thanks again for all the advice!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Just get a low-end dSLR such as Canon Rebel (not XT). You still can get them new for around $500 (body only) and get a Sigma 18-200 zoom lens (another $300), get a 1 Gb Sandisk Extreme card... and you're rolling for $900 (instead of buying another point and shoot and "waste" another $300.

Confused in using the dSLR? Just use the "green" mode... it will still take much better picture than any point and shoot camera on the market.

 

[manning]

Take a look at your pictures and see if any part of the picture is sharp. If so, you focused on the wrong part. Focusing is usually done at the center of the view finder.

If that isn't the case maybe its lagtime. When you press the trigger all the way (take the picture) the camera has to do some calculations before the picture is actually taken. Try this. Take a picture and move the camera as soon as you press the trigger. Then make like a statue and take the picture again. Only do not move for about five seconds (count slowly to five before moving. If it is lagtime the first picture should be blurry, the second sharp.

Lagtime can throw you off. It does't happen with film cameras. This drove me crazy with my first digital camera years ago. I was taking pictures of a parade and had prefocused on one spot. I would take the picture of the floats when they hit the spot and didn't move. By the time the camera took the picture half the floats were out of the picture.