Shooting in low light settings indoors

shakeydude

Hi,

I would really appreciate some help on shooting pictures indoors in poor light settings with a point and shoot. I have a Canon SD 750, and when I try to take a picture inside a church (or a pub) and force the flash off the picture always comes out blurred. I cannot change the aperture settings but I was hoping there was some way to trick the settings to get better results

Thanks,

Shakeydude

AnCatDubh

One suggestion (i'm sure there will be many):

if you are limited in not changing your settings then a tripod is needed and your subjects will need to "freeze".

You are basically encountering camera shake as a result of the shutter being open for what is considered a lengthy period of time. What is considered lengthy? It varies but if you have a fast moving subject even in good light then 1/90 of a second may not freeze the action, let alone if your camera decides for example that you need 1 second to stuff enough light onto the sensor in order to get a good exposure.

If you can actually get near settings for something called aperture priority then open the aperture to the maximum (which is the lowest available number - something like 2.8 rather than 28).

This allows more light in and hence the shutter speed to be increased. This will help a little but may still not be perfect depending on how dark your scene is. Even with a tripod you will still need to try open up the aperture.

hbr

shakeydude wrote: »

Hi,

I would really appreciate some help on shooting pictures indoors in poor light settings with a point and shoot. I have a Canon SD 750, and when I try to take a picture inside a church (or a pub) and force the flash off the picture always comes out blurred. I cannot change the aperture settings but I was hoping there was some way to trick the settings to get better results

Thanks,

Shakeydude

Your username says it all A point and shoot camera will need to use a very long shutter time to gather enough light for a good exposure. Mount the camera on a tripod and use the timer if your camera has one. The built-in flash probably won't be able to illuminate a large church. Maybe you could borrow a slave flash for the occasion.

Slidinginfinity

While, yes a tripod and enough room to use it is the best option. You can also use just about any solid surface around to to steady yourself and/or your camera. I have used everything from the back of a pew to the railing on Eifle tower to steady my camera, when a tripod is just not an option.

AnCatDubh

Slidinginfinity wrote: »

While, yes a tripod and enough room to use it is the best option. You can also use just about any solid surface around to to steady yourself and/or your camera. I have used everything from the back of a pew to the railing on Eifle tower to steady my camera, when a tripod is just not an option.

Hah! YES, An upside down Guinness glass served me well once

Needs. Must.

bbbbb

or lean up against a door way, managed to keep it steady enough for 0.5 of a sec

Slidinginfinity

AnCatDubh wrote: »

Hah! YES, An upside down Guinness glass served me well once

Needs. Must.

That glass better have been emptied before you turned it over.

dinneenp

If you don't have a tripod with you:
as mentioned before try leaning against something.
Also-
plant your elbows on a table/pew (in church) so that you have something supporting under you as well as to the side (wall).
hold the camera with two hands, close to your eyes. e.g. don't have arms out at full length.
(I haven't tried this) but some say control your breathing.

If you're planning on taking a lot of shots indoors and still want a compact look at one with a big sensor (like Canon S90 or others).

I had the same problem- bought an S90, sold that and bought a Pentax K-X dslr.

cheers,
Patrick.

breadbin

there are 2 things to work on, keeping the camera steady and keeping the subject steady:)

this is done with what other people suggested tripods, beer glasses etc and all serve the same purpose in the end to stop the camera shaking

the other is trickier cos in the likes of a pub you can't freeze people so you will forced to use a flash to get a quicker shutter speed.

either that or use a camera with image stabilization. don't know the ins and outs of it but supposed to help with hand held shots. the lens makes a difference too. the more light it lets in the better for darker shots.

keep plugging away and remember to post some examples!! and also remember you can use it to your advantage in certain situations too like motion blur etc to good effect.

shakeydude

Thanks everyone for their comments.

As soon as I see the anti-shake symbol on my screen I get the jitters, but practice seems to be the key. I dont have a tripod but with the point and shoot I think it defeats the purpose.

I also have a Canon 1000D where I think it makes more sense to have the tripod.

One method that I have used to limiting success is to leave the flash on but cover it with my finger so that the foreground is not over illuminated as this is the effect that I am trying to avoid.

Shakeydude

Slidinginfinity

shakeydude wrote: »

One method that I have used to limiting success is to leave the flash on but cover it with my finger so that the foreground is not over illuminated as this is the effect that I am trying to avoid.

Shakeydude

One other thing you can do is cut a piece out of a milk jug (clean it well and dry it:D) and use clear tape to attach it over your flash. This will diffuse the flash, giving a natural look. It should work a bit better that the finger, but it will make your camera look a bit 'different'.:eek:

shakeydude

Slidinginfinity wrote: »

One other thing you can do is cut a piece out of a milk jug (clean it well and dry it:D) and use clear tape to attach it over your flash. This will diffuse the flash, giving a natural look. It should work a bit better that the finger, but it will make your camera look a bit 'different'.:eek:

Milk Jug- Check.
Pint Glass- Check.

I have all the items I need for taking pictures. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, a man walks into a church with a camera, pint glass and a milk jug......:D

dinneenp

Instead of a milk carton try a table-tennis ball (ping pong) it's round so you can cut it easily and fut without tape.

If u don't carry a tripod try a length of string, washer on one end (you stand on this) a screw/bolt on other (which will fit into camera tripod screw in area). It'll help reduce shake a bit....

AnCatDubh

The only issue with covering the flash with your finger or blocking out the flash's light (not just diffusing with milk carton/ping-pong), is that in the auto-mode (allowing the camera decide things) it suggests to the camera that you will have more light to work with (from the expected flash).

The camera will respond by up'ing the shutter speed as per its standard calculations (based on automatic metering, etc.) - this will be somewhat effective in reducing shake/blur (as you've reported).

However, you don't actually have the light your camera thinks that you will have (as you've blocked the flash from lighting the scene) hence the theory would suggest with not enough light that your resulting image will be darker than you may have hoped for/anticipated.

You can adjust the brightness to a certain extent in post processing so you may get a decent result at the end of it.