Can Anyone Help

[jnjusoioa]

I have a simple Kodak digital camera, when I was down at Disney for the Pirate and Princess party, any night shots, like with the characters, they were all blurry and had like swiggly lines through them, I am going back down for the Halloween party this year and don't want to have the same problem, I do also have an advantex camera, so which would be better to use, or what are your suggestions for night shots?? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank You.

 

[YEKCIM]

You need a camera that has either a reasonably powerful flash, or the ability to shoot high ISO, or both. The Kodak you have *may* be adequate, but you will need to read the manual and familiarize yourself with the low light settings. The blur/squiggly lines come from a long shutter speed. In order to eliminate those, you will need to use a shorter shutter speed (1/30 or less, probably). In order to achieve a shorter shutter speed, you may have to boost the ISO (sensor sensitivity to light), which may have the negative effect of more image noise. There are always trade-offs, especially in the case of point and shoot cameras, and most especially in the case of less expensive point and shoot cameras.

Use of a tripod would help, too, but will do nothing to "freeze" subject motion.

Hope that helps.

~YEKCIM

 

[Gdad]

As was said- be faliliar with you camera, read the manual, etc. and be sure you are on the proper setting. Understand the limits of your flash- for close-up shots of a character for example it should be adequate. But if you are talking about on a parade float 60' away forget about it. Look for a night-landscape mode or something similar.

Also- try bracing your hand on something if possible when taking night shots. A lot of times I will position myself next to a tree or rail or something just to brace myself on a bit to keep steady.

And practice. Go out and take some shots in similarly lit areas around your home or community after dark and see what setting on which camera works. The beauty of digital cameras is it costs nothing to take a few hundred pictures of your dog under the porch light and see what you get. Good luck!

 

[jnjusoioa]

Thanks for the advice. I really am hoping to get better shots this time around.