Midwest winter sunrise, what am I doing wrong HELP!!!

[VickynMickey]

I took this picture this morning on my way to work about 7:02 am. I didn't have a tripod with me, so maybe that would have help. But the picture looks grainy. Ugh, I am not liking this new camera, Its driving me nuts. I have the Canon PowerShot SD800IS. I don't want to be a professional photographer but I want crisp clear pictures.

 

[Miqee]

A tripod would make things better, I am wondering if you (or the camera - neve rused one of these so no idea if it supports Auto ISO) has upped the ISO to take the picture. that will also cause the noise.

Colin

 

[VickynMickey]

A tripod would make things better, I am wondering if you (or the camera - neve rused one of these so no idea if it supports Auto ISO) has upped the ISO to take the picture. that will also cause the noise.

Colin

Well you see I am still learning. I do have a tripod and I am going to carry it with me from now on. I will have to try to capture the sunrise again with the tripod and see what happens. I just checked the setting on the camera and the ISO was set on 1600, so maybe that was the problem. Ugh, I will get it sooner or later. Thanks Colin

 

[JR6ooo4]

I have the Canon PowerShot SD800IS. I don't want to be a professional photographer but I want crisp clear pictures.

I checked the EXIF and the shutter was 1/1600 so no need for a tripod. But I did not see the ISO setting.

I hope you do not mind, but I ran it through Noise Ninja. I would assume the camera raised the ISO alot and that created the noise. At 1/1600 shutter you could have used a lower, less noisy ISO.
And I am no editing expert. So this could probably look better with custom settings.

more off topic I tried an edit. I took the original, cropped it slightly and took out the post (poorly) selected the snow and brightened it then inversed the selection and did some brightness and color levels (should have done saturation for the color). Then run through noise ninja:

again, I think it looks a little better but it is best to not base your editing fundamentals on my work....

Mikeeee

 

[jann1033]

if you have a snow or maybe a beach setting it would make the snow whiter or you may be able to set a custom white balance for snow..not sure what all settings you have..the sun and clouds are very pretty though

 

[VickynMickey]

Ok, thanks for the ideas
Jann, I do have the snow setting, so I can try that next time. Also just found the white balance.
JR6, the noise ninja did take allot of the grainy effect out of it.
I will get this down, just need to keep practicing

Ok, I have a ? for you all
What is apeature and where can I adjust this on my camera. I am not finding it in my manuel, would it be under something else.
Thanks for helping this beginner out. I just want to take a good picture

 

[Amy]

Can I ask a question? When you say

I checked the EXIF and the shutter was 1/1600 so no need for a tripod. But I did not see the ISO setting.

HOW do you check the EXIF info of a picture that's posted here? I've tried right-clicking on the picture and choosing properties, but all that gives me is the file size and the web address of that picture (in this case on Photobucket). I tried copying the web address and pulling the picture up that way, but I still only get that same information.

How are you finding out what shutter speed was used, etc.??? I'd love to know.

 

[Amy]

By the way VickynMickey - I like that shot (even if it's noisy). A nice, desolate winter landscape.

 

[VickynMickey]

By the way VickynMickey - I like that shot (even if it's noisy). A nice, desolate winter landscape.

I love the midwest during winter, with the open fields!!!! And by the way Amy I love Pittsburgh, I bleed gold and black. I want to retire in Pittsburgh and get season tickets for the Steelers, I am on the waiting list!!!!!

 

[JR6ooo4]

Can I ask a question? When you say


HOW do you check the EXIF info of a picture that's posted here? I've tried right-clicking on the picture and choosing properties, but all that gives me is the file size and the web address of that picture (in this case on Photobucket). I tried copying the web address and pulling the picture up that way, but I still only get that same information.

How are you finding out what shutter speed was used, etc.??? I'd love to know.

I drag the picture to my desktop. then right click for properties>summary(i think) then delete it.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Ok, thanks for the ideas
Jann, I do have the snow setting, so I can try that next time. Also just found the white balance.
JR6, the noise ninja did take allot of the grainy effect out of it.
I will get this down, just need to keep practicing

Ok, I have a ? for you all
What is apeature and where can I adjust this on my camera. I am not finding it in my manuel, would it be under something else.
Thanks for helping this beginner out. I just want to take a good picture

Aperture is the size of the hole in the camera lens. A bigger hole will let in more light allowing a faster shutter speed. It also afffects how much of the picture is in focus, front to back.

ISO is like film speed
Low number is better quality (less noise)
High number is more noise
common ISO levels are 100 ~ 200 ~ 400 ~ 800 ~ 1600 ~ 3200
a pocket camerra might get good shots at 200 or 400. Better ones at 800
A camera that will get relatively clean shots at 1600 will cost about $800 and up (just a guess) pluss a lens, sometimes...
the trick with ISO is that the lower number takes longer to expose a scene the same brightness as 1600 in a shorter time....


So in this scene. the camera probably picked a high iso since it will result in a quick shutter speed. It will do that if it thinks the overall scene is dark. But you can handhold the camera steady at about 1/200. The shot was taken at 1/1600. You may be able to force the camera to use a lower iso for less noise. Maybe 200 or 400, maybe 100 with a tripod, maybe no tripod depending how still you are. You can shut off the car and put the camera on top. If the wind is not rocking it.

The best thing about digital is that you can try 5 different settings to see what works best and not be paying for film and developing. I take one in auto to see what the camera thinks then try anything else and see if it is better or worse. In some editing programs you can have the EXIF info (digitaly embedded shot info, like ISO, shutter speed, flash used or not etc...) displayed right next to the picture as you are scrolling through and looking at which ones turned out best.

Mikeeee

 

[VickynMickey]

Thanks for all your help everyone, I am going out again tommorow too see what I can do with the different settings on the camera.

 

[Lachesis00]

Oh like others said, the ISO is way too high tripod might help too if it is dark out.

I always put my camera on a tripod and use the timer so I don't accidently jolt it.

 

[DueyDooDah]

HOW do you check the EXIF info of a picture that's posted here?

You can download a little utility that gives all the info. There are a number but I use Opanda. Microsoft also has a plugin application that does something similar. Just click on the links in this message to see which you'd like. Both end up giving you a right-click option that gives the exif info. On pictures that contain it, that is.

 

[Lizziejane]

if you have a snow or maybe a beach setting it would make the snow whiter or you may be able to set a custom white balance for snow..not sure what all settings you have..the sun and clouds are very pretty though

I didn't know some cameras have snow/beach settings! I don't believe mine does (REbel XTi) - but just wondered if I could ask how would I compensate for the lack of such settings? I'm surrounded by 6 feet of snow, and I'm also going to the caribbean in the fall, so would love to hear some advice.

I think I read somewhere that when shooting a snow scene, and to keep the snow a crisp white, to meter off the sky (if it's sunny), and then recompose the shot. Does that make sense?

 

[boBQuincy]

I didn't know some cameras have snow/beach settings! I don't believe mine does (REbel XTi) - but just wondered if I could ask how would I compensate for the lack of such settings? I'm surrounded by 6 feet of snow, and I'm also going to the caribbean in the fall, so would love to hear some advice.

I think I read somewhere that when shooting a snow scene, and to keep the snow a crisp white, to meter off the sky (if it's sunny), and then recompose the shot. Does that make sense?

Probably not, as the sky value may have little to do with the snow value.

Ansel Adams gave us a great tool to use for these (and any other) conditions, the zone system. Meter the snow (and only the snow), your camera will place it in zone V, medium gray. Now decide what value the snow should be (usually zone 8) and adjust the exposure by that amount (3 stops over). In difficult lighting conditions such as these it is a good idea to bracket the exposure as well, maybe by +/- 1-1/2 stops.

One thing to remember, many cameras now have programs that try to evaluate the scene so it is important to meter only the value of interest to keep the camera from trying to interpret the exposure for the scene.

 

[handicap18]

I didn't know some cameras have snow/beach settings! I don't believe mine does (REbel XTi) - but just wondered if I could ask how would I compensate for the lack of such settings? I'm surrounded by 6 feet of snow, and I'm also going to the caribbean in the fall, so would love to hear some advice.

I think I read somewhere that when shooting a snow scene, and to keep the snow a crisp white, to meter off the sky (if it's sunny), and then recompose the shot. Does that make sense?

Because the camera sensor likes things in Grey, a good place to start for white being the dominate color use a +1 exposure compensation. For black the the dominate color use a -1 exposure compensation. Make your adjustments from there if your not happy.

 

[jann1033]

lizziejane

rebel xt you take a picture of white snow( ie not yellow or gray) and put it in as the custom white balance setting...then when you take snow, use that white balance settting and it's white instead of blue snow..it says in the manual how to do it. for the xt you take a photo of just the white( ie no barns, trees) go to white balance in the menu( tab2) >custom, press the set, scroll to get the white image, press set go to white balance again and press set and that is set for snow

 

[Lizziejane]

lizziejane

rebel xt you take a picture of white snow( ie not yellow or gray) and put it in as the custom white balance setting...then when you take snow, use that white balance settting and it's white instead of blue snow..it says in the manual how to do it. for the xt you take a photo of just the white( ie no barns, trees) go to white balance in the menu( tab2) >custom, press the set, scroll to get the white image, press set go to white balance again and press set and that is set for snow

Thanks, I will give that a go when I can actually get outdoors again. By the way, so as you don't all think I'm nuts about the metering off the sky thing, it was in the Bryan Peterson book, Understanding Exposure. Under the Brother Blue Sky section, I think.

 

[0bli0]

this scene will be tough and if your camera has RAW capability i highly recommend it for the extra dynamic range. the sky is going to be relatively bright and your going to expose to maintain the colour. unfortunately this is going to underexpose most everything else in the scene. shooting raw will give you some latitude in the exposure. then you can correct with curves.

i'd probably bracket on a tripod, and take elements from each exposure (expose for the sky in one image and expose for the snow in another, for example). then you can blend the various elements in your editor of choice or make a HDR.

btw you might also try Lightzone to help with different exposure 'zones' in your image.

edit: BTW remember underexposing preserves colour. overexposing robs colour.