 Jan Stehle |
Taking Pictures of Baby I enjoy taking pictures of my daughter in natural light. I turn off the flash and use 400 ISO, but sometimes the pictures are blurry or grainy and dark. I usually use the autofocus. Should I use a faster film and change aperture/shutter speed?
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
Are you using a tripod? What are you metering and how?
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Jan Stehle |
I am relatively new to photography, so I don't know much about metering. Could that be my problem? I try to use a tripod, but my daughter crawls and that makes it difficult.
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
If she's mobile then maybe you do need to consider a faster film or at least shooting her in brighter light. I would pick the fastest lens you have. Meter off of her face and open up one stop (if she's caucasian anyway).
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Michael Harrington |
Jan, I suspect since you are new to photography you may be confusing the terms here. By "natural lighting" are you sure you don't mean "available lighting"? 400 iso film with an opened lens (f/stop) in good natural lighting should produce fast enough shutter speeds to stop motion. At any rate, not knowing what type of camera you are using makes it difficult to narrow down the advice, however, if you are using an SLR with AF/AE with custom controls, I suggest you use shutter priority and use speeds applicable to the subjects movements, all other factors taken into consideration, of course. If you are using a point-and-shoot, which has AF, then you are forced to either increase the lighting by getting nearer to its source (sunny window, etc) or increase film speeds. The nice thing about black and white photos is its blindness to light temperatures. Therefore, adding halogen lamplight to the scene (or any electrcal light source)can help you a lot without changing the white balance. Something to consider.
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Jan Stehle |
Michael, You are correct, I meant "available light" (doorway, window, etc.) I have an N65 SLR. I have been using the auto feature,that sets aperture and shutter speed automatically, but didn't know is maybe bumping up the film speed would help. I hear conflicting opinion about the graininess of 800 vs. 400. I just want to stop using the flash and obtain a softer more natural look. I may have to experiment with lighting at different times of day and in different locations. Thanks!
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Michael Harrington |
Jan, Take a peek at these photographs at this website: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=162805 Look at the jet airliner I shot as it passed overhead (300mm zoom lens), and the red coupe. I took them using Fuji's 800 iso. Do you see any objectionable grain? I think you will find grain increases more in dim light, regardless of ISO's.. Yes, it was brilliant sunlight, but still no grain worth worrying about. Use the enlargement feature on the website to blow up the shots and you'll see what I mean. If you bought the N65 (a good camera)with a kit lens as Nikon markets it, then you have the 28-80mm G series zoom lens which does an admirable job for the bucks. It's a tad slow on the open end, but that is a zoom's weakpoint, usually. At any rate, it never hurts to try these films. I find Fuji's films are less grainy than most all others. PS I like to shoot 800 at 600, but you cannot do that with an N65. I know because I have that camera, too. I also shoot with several other Nikon's. Try it, and see!
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Jennifer K |
Hi Jan, My name is Jennifer and I'm a beginner that got my SLR camera mainly to take really nice picture of my young children. Like you, I wanted to use available light instead of my flash. The best thing I ever did was buy a "fast" prime lens. If you are like me, you may not quite understand all the aperture stuff. My other lenses have a max aperture of 4.0 or 3.5. I chose an 85mm f/1.8 and I'm so happy with the photos it has let me capture. For portraits you might prefer a 100mm or 105 or even 135, but look for the max aperture to be at least 2.8 if you want to use available lighting. 2.0 or 1.8 would be even better. These will let you take the picture with less light. I'm a total novice, but that's what I've managed to figure out. Hope that helps. Even my untrained eye can see that my prime lens yields better pictures than both of my zoom lenses, and one of those was over $600. My wonderful prime lens was only $350. I chose 85mm because I can more easily get both my kids in the frame. However, it takes very nice photos of just one child, too. I love filling the whole photo with a lovely little face!
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Jan Stehle |
Thank you Jennifer. All I am trying to do is take great pictures of my daughter and be able to do so using available light, as well as capture close-ups. Your idea sounds great, especially since you know it works. I am trying to educate myself regarding shutter speeds, apertures, etc., but I am still in the beginning stages. Thanks for letting me know about the "fast" prime lens!
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George E. Givens Jr |
Rule of thumb when hand holding a camera is that the shutter speed should be equal to 1/focal length and never hand hold at a shutter speed below 125 (although many people swear they can hand hold down 1/30 second). That is, if you are shooting with a lens at 50mm your shutter speed should be at least 1/50 but I'd opt for at least 1/100. But there is another consideration and that is the speed at which you subject moves. I shot my grandson in natural light and most shots are very sharp but some show movement at the hands. It's not because of camera movement because the rest of the photo is sharp. It is because the subject is movement. For a slow moving baby (relatively speaking) I would not shoot below 1/125. Here is a pic of what I'm talking about.
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