Point-n-Shoot?....show your Magic!

[havoc315]

i would like to post a couple of pictures i took at DD15's band competition this past saturday, but i don't know how. well, i know HOW, but i don't know where to put them to link them to here. what sites do y'all upload your photos to? i had an account on a site at one time, with several photos on it, but it's been a few years ago and i don't remember the name of the site...LOL.

the photos were taken in sports mode, since the band was moving, and they didn't turn out very well. i'm hoping someone can tell me what i did wrong. i know in a couple of them, the fault lies with the zoom.

Photobucket works well.... but if you want feedback, I'd post them on flickr. Then it's also easy for us to see the exif data, which would help us give you constructive feedback.

 

[momof1princess]

okay, these are a few of the pics i took saturday at DD15's band competition. it was an overcast day, and the camera (Canon Powershot A1100IS) was set to sport mode. i later realized there was a landscape mode on the dial. my copy of "understanding exposure" isn't going to do me much good, because i can't manually set the exposure or shutter speed; at least, as far as i can tell. all i can set is the ISO.


IMG_0324 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


IMG_0331 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


IMG_0334 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


IMG_0339 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr

 

[hakepb]

Marching band days were fun with the Sousaphone

You do have a P mode, so that's a start! (That is now my primary mode because i dont have an A or S) If the lighting cooperates, ISO 80 or 100 will give you the highest quality.
Start with the lowest ISO and go up in steps until the picture stops being blurry shooting the band. You are relying on the camera to adjust the aperature and shutter speed, but that's OK.
Make sure you are taking the highest pixel / and fine jpg quality.
I like to set AF to center or spot so the camera doesn't bother guessing and focusing on another kid...but that may or may not be ideal for band formations.
You could experiment with Vivid colors but it may not look right.
You could set your own white balance to cloudy or sunny, I'd probably leave it in auto at night.

I would also make sure to turn off digital zoom for pictures. it does nothing you can't do by cropping in your computer.
It does look like there may be more scenes available in a scene selection mode, but I don't think they are typical for band.

 

[momof1princess]

Marching band days were fun with the Sousaphone

You do have a P mode, so that's a start! (That is now my primary mode because i dont have an A or S) If the lighting cooperates, ISO 80 or 100 will give you the highest quality.
Start with the lowest ISO and go up in steps until the picture stops being blurry shooting the band. You are relying on the camera to adjust the aperature and shutter speed, but that's OK.
Make sure you are taking the highest pixel / and fine jpg quality.
I like to set AF to center or spot so the camera doesn't bother guessing and focusing on another kid...but that may or may not be ideal for band formations.
You could experiment with Vivid colors but it may not look right.
You could set your own white balance to cloudy or sunny, I'd probably leave it in auto at night.

I would also make sure to turn off digital zoom for pictures. it does nothing you can't do by cropping in your computer.
It does look like there may be more scenes available in a scene selection mode, but I don't think they are typical for band.

thank you! how do i do these things? i am a TRUE camera dummy...lol.

 

[havoc315]

okay, these are a few of the pics i took saturday at DD15's band competition. it was an overcast day, and the camera (Canon Powershot A1100IS) was set to sport mode. i later realized there was a landscape mode on the dial. my copy of "understanding exposure" isn't going to do me much good, because i can't manually set the exposure or shutter speed; at least, as far as i can tell. all i can set is the ISO.


IMG_0324 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


IMG_0331 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


IMG_0334 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


IMG_0339 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr

Landscape mode would have been much worse. Not sure if you could have done any better with the limitations of your camera, but some thoughts:

Doesn't look like you were set for maximum photo quality. It's a 12 mp camera, but doesn't look like you were using all 12. If you used the maximum quality, you could crop and zoom pretty effectively. (Lack of zoom was not your issue).

The last shot is the best. The focus in the others is pretty poor. But the last picture is very sharp, at least in a small size.
It's possible you could have done a better job of picking a focal point, and making sure your focus was locked. But I don't think this was your issue.
Fact is, that camera isn't going to have a super fast focus.
To freeze "sports" or similar action, you need a very fast shutter speed. Think, 1/1000 of a second. Most of your shots were much slower -- 1/160. The last shot was 1/200 -- which might be why it was a bit sharper than the other shots.
Faster shutter speed requires a larger aperture, but your aperture was already maxed out for your camera. If you increased the ISO to around 400 or 800, you may have gotten the necessary sensitivity to shoot with faster shutter speed -- and then crisper sharper pics.

(Landscape mode would have done a slower shutter speed and smaller aperture, your pics would be just blurs).

 

[hakepb]

Based on this information: (I think it's the same camera)
http://www.steves-digicams.com/came...100-is/canon-powershot-a1100-is-review-5.html
At the bottom of the P mode menu is file sizes. You want L. Then I think you want to hit the display button to select Fine.

The color modes are above that in P

The digital zoom is shown towards the bottom. I would probably only turn off the picture one, but leave digital on in movie mode (cropping movies requires sophisticated software that I don't have)

 

[momof1princess]

Landscape mode would have been much worse. Not sure if you could have done any better with the limitations of your camera, but some thoughts:

Doesn't look like you were set for maximum photo quality. It's a 12 mp camera, but doesn't look like you were using all 12. If you used the maximum quality, you could crop and zoom pretty effectively. (Lack of zoom was not your issue).

The last shot is the best. The focus in the others is pretty poor. But the last picture is very sharp, at least in a small size.
It's possible you could have done a better job of picking a focal point, and making sure your focus was locked. But I don't think this was your issue.
Fact is, that camera isn't going to have a super fast focus.
To freeze "sports" or similar action, you need a very fast shutter speed. Think, 1/1000 of a second. Most of your shots were much slower -- 1/160. The last shot was 1/200 -- which might be why it was a bit sharper than the other shots.
Faster shutter speed requires a larger aperture, but your aperture was already maxed out for your camera. If you increased the ISO to around 400 or 800, you may have gotten the necessary sensitivity to shoot with faster shutter speed -- and then crisper sharper pics.

(Landscape mode would have done a slower shutter speed and smaller aperture, your pics would be just blurs).

is there a way to set this? this is one of the things that bothers me...it's a 12mp camera, but, when you zoom past 4x, everything is REALLY blurry. if i could set maximum mp another way, that would be awesome! (the other pics were all using the zoom, if i recall correctly.)

 

[hakepb]

is there a way to set this? this is one of the things that bothers me...it's a 12mp camera, but, when you zoom past 4x, everything is REALLY blurry. if i could set maximum mp another way, that would be awesome! (the other pics were all using the zoom, if i recall correctly.)

That should be the resolution L and Fine we just talked about. Also turning off Digital zoom.

 

[havoc315]

is there a way to set this? this is one of the things that bothers me...it's a 12mp camera, but, when you zoom past 4x, everything is REALLY blurry. if i could set maximum mp another way, that would be awesome! (the other pics were all using the zoom, if i recall correctly.)

Ahhh... you zoomed closer than 4x. That might be it. You can't zoom closer than 4x -- That is the max optical zoom. Go beyond that, and you lose a ton of quality. Best you can do, is zoom 4x, and then crop afterwards.

 

[momof1princess]

That should be the resolution L and Fine we just talked about. Also turning off Digital zoom.

okay, i've got it set to "L" and "Fine". and i went under the "menu" settings and turned off the digital zoom. couldn't find it in the function menu under "P".

thank you both! i'm going to try this on saturday at our next competition, and see what i get! i know i won't get pictures with the quality of what y'all post, but DH has agreed we should get a new camera; so, hopefully, it won't be long before i will!

 

[momof1princess]

took these on september 15, 2012, at MK with my smartphone camera (pantech burst).


wishes-pantechburst by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


wishes1-pantechburst by iluvamystery89, on Flickr

this one was taken with my canon P&S:


Fireworks 2012 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr

 

[havoc315]

took these on september 15, 2012, at MK with my smartphone camera (pantech burst).


wishes-pantechburst by iluvamystery89, on Flickr


wishes1-pantechburst by iluvamystery89, on Flickr

this one was taken with my canon P&S:


Fireworks 2012 by iluvamystery89, on Flickr

Not bad at all. Though it does seem to show that a decent smart phone camera is generally just as good or better than an 'economy' point & shoot.

I note you used the flash in the canon pic. Any reason you were using a flash? Was it so you could bring out the Mickey pumpkin? If so, good work.

 

[momof1princess]

Not bad at all. Though it does seem to show that a decent smart phone camera is generally just as good or better than an 'economy' point & shoot.

I note you used the flash in the canon pic. Any reason you were using a flash? Was it so you could bring out the Mickey pumpkin? If so, good work.

actually, that was a goof-i thought i'd turned the flash off. thanks! i mess up and take a good photo every now and then, lol.

 

[havoc315]

actually, that was a goof-i thought i'd turned the flash off. thanks! i mess up and take a good photo every now and then, lol.

Now had you taken that pic with the full 12 mp, you'd have enough freedom to crop to just the bottom right corner. Blow it up, as a very well composed shot.

 

[momof1princess]

Now had you taken that pic with the full 12 mp, you'd have enough freedom to crop to just the bottom right corner. Blow it up, as a very well composed shot.

and setting the resolution to L and Fine will get me the full 12mp, right?

 

[havoc315]

and setting the resolution to L and Fine will get me the full 12mp, right?

Correct. My camera, while a top of the line point and shoot, only has a 3.6X zoom. But it does have 20 mp. So I find I can basically zoom at high quality with post processing crop.

For example:
Uncropped:


Aug 31, 2012-106 by Havoc315, on Flickr

Cropped:


DSC01522 by Havoc315, on Flickr

 

[momof1princess]

Correct. My camera, while a top of the line point and shoot, only has a 3.6X zoom. But it does have 20 mp. So I find I can basically zoom at high quality with post processing crop.

For example:
Uncropped:


Aug 31, 2012-106 by Havoc315, on Flickr

Cropped:


DSC01522 by Havoc315, on Flickr

SO gorgeous! i'm going to need to learn to crop too!

 

[havoc315]

1 more example of cropping as a replacement for zoom:

Cropped:


Aug 31, 2012-147 by Havoc315, on Flickr

Original:


Aug 31, 2012-147 by Havoc315, on Flickr

 

[momof1princess]

i think they're both beautiful pictures!

 

[wdw1976]