Needed:Suggestions for taking photos in caves, Yellowstone...

[Soupermom]

We will be heading out west this year for our summer family trip. I have a new Canon 3SIS and was wondering if any of you could make suggestions for capturing the best photos at the locations below (Simple is best. I'm pretty familiar with Canon and my new settings, but nothing too fancy please! I have the basic camera and a large and small tri-pod--no other accessories) Thanks for any suggestions you can give!

We will be visiting....

Mt. Rushmore
Jewel Cave (flash photography is allowed, but no tripods)
Yellowstone (animals, waterfalls, geysers, etc.)
Grand Tetons (river float, more critters, beautiful scenery...)

THANKS!

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

We will be visiting....

Mt. Rushmore
Jewel Cave (flash photography is allowed, but no tripods)
Yellowstone (animals, waterfalls, geysers, etc.)
Grand Tetons (river float, more critters, beautiful scenery...)

I generally find myself gravitating to Av mode on my S3 ... controlling the DOF and letting the camera decide what's best for shutter speed. The only time I switch to Tv mode is when I know I want to stop something that's moving quick (like animals). If I'm in a hurry, I just use P mode and get good results, too.

Since you can use your flash in the cave, you will probably get decent results. If not, the best way to get low-light pics with an S3 is generally to set the aperture as wide as possible and only increase the ISO as necessary to get a fast enough shutter speed to prevent blurring; since you aren't taking pics of a moving subject in the dark, the IS will help a lot.

If you've got to use ISO 400 (or above), you'll need something like Noiseware. They have a free "Community" edition that works great! It can even make decent pics out of images shot at ISO800!

Outdoor shots of animals. flowers and landscapes looks really nice using Vivid or Positive Film from the My Colors menu. Make sure you take a couple of B&W white shots of the mountains ... who knows you might get one that looks like an Ansel Adams!

If you're going to be outside in bright sun a lot, which it sounds like you will be, I'd recommend getting a Lensmate 52mm or 58mm adapter and a couple of filters; a polarizer (linear or circular, both work on an S3) is nice for reducing glare and increasing color saturation (especially in sky shots) and a Neutral Density filter (NDx8) will allow you to use slow shutter speeds in bright light to get that silky look to your waterfall pics. Maybe even a graduated ND filter to take nice landscape shots without blowing out the sky....

Also, don't forget to take a couple of long-exposure pics at night (use Manual mode to set a shutter speed of 10 or 15 seconds).

 

[KrazyPete]

Pop Photo had a great article on shooting in caves a month or two ago. I dug up a link for you.

Source PopPhoto.com: Shooting in Hell

They got some great pictures using an off camera flash. The S3 doesn't have a hot shoe does it? Maybe you could dial back the power on the popup flash enough that it could trigger an optical sensor attached to another flash without competing too much with its output.

The light painting trick looked like a lot fun. With a flashlight in your hand and the camera on a tripod you could probably create some pretty cool effects in an otherwise dark cave.

Edit: I re-read your question... Aw, no tripod in the cave? Now, that would require some enginuity.

 

[Master Mason]

shoot some of the waterfalls in TV mode with longer exposure times 1/3 1/4 or so, definately need the IS and/or the tripod, but it will give you that flowing look.

 

[Soupermom]

Thanks for your input everyone. Now, how exactly do adjust the exposure length? So far I seem to understand everything else you said...

 

[Master Mason]

Thanks for your input everyone. Now, how exactly do adjust the exposure length? So far I seem to understand everything else you said...

You can do it in 2 ways. The easiest is to shoot in Tv mode, which will let you set the exposure time and the camera decides the other values.

Or you can do it in full manual mode. I am not familiar with the S3, but I would guess it is close enough to the XT for this to be the same.

In Manual mode you set the ISO, then you set either appeture or exposure time, then you use the exposure meter to adjust the the third value, you can choose to under or over expose the shot some depending on what your looking to achieve.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

In Manual mode you set the ISO, then you set either appeture or exposure time, then you use the exposure meter to adjust the the third value, you can choose to under or over expose the shot some depending on what your looking to achieve.

Yep, it's pretty close, but here's some S3 specifics:

In Manual mode, the omni-selector button adjusts Av (up/down) and Tv (left/right), and the ISO has it's own button on the back.

And, by "exposure meter" Master Mason means half-press the shutter button and look for two/three things in the LCD/EVF:

1) the pic as it will be taken -- a very quick way to tell if you're underexposing (too dark) or overexposing (too bright)

2) the histogram -- if it's all bunched up to the left, it's underexposed ... all bunched up to the right, it's overexposed

3) the "exposure compensation" number -- this little number appears (I think in the upper left) to tell you what the camera thinks of your settings. It goes from (red) -2 to (white) +2 ... you'll be looking for close to 0 in most cases; with a little underexposure if the scene is bright and vice-versa.

 

[Groucho]

The daytime outdoor stuff is pretty straightforward - you'll probably get results you're happy with by leaving the camera on auto and snapping away.

Caves can be tough - I did some shots in Howe Caverns last fall with my DSLR at ISO 1600 and an F2.8 lens and still had longer shutter speeds than I'd like. I suspect that with the S3, you'll struggle to get a blur-free shot without a flash, unless they light the caves a lot more than Howe is.

I don't really care for the look of the flash in a cave environment (the foreground is generally too overexposed while the background is completely underexposed), but you might do OK as long as you are fairly close to the structure you're photographing. Remember that your flash will only work up to a certain distance.

Practice holding the camera steady and whenever possible, brace yourself on something... there's probably plenty of handrails. Good luck!

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Practice holding the camera steady and whenever possible, brace yourself on something... there's probably plenty of handrails. Good luck!

With something to lean against and the camera set to Continuous IS, I've been finding it's possible to take pics with exposures of up to 2 seconds that are "clear enough" at least one time in 4 or 5. At ISO400 that should be good enough, without too much noise, if there's *some* light.

To the OP: make sure to take more shots than you think you need. Sometimes you'll be steadier than others, and more shots means more chances of getting a pic you'll want to keep!

Memory is cheap ... fill those SD cards!!