Nikon Coolpix P90 - Need help with taking inside & nigth photos

[kltigger]

Hi.

I've had the Nikon P90 for about 2 years and still have trouble with taking photos inside and at night - I know it's the operator and not the camera.

It takes great photos during the day and I'm very pleased with it, but I just can't get the night taking or inside right.

I'm not sure when to adjust the aperture to low or high?

See a few examples that I've added below; the first is great:

 

[hakepb]

For low light, you generally want a big aperature which is measured by a low f/ value (ie f/2.8 is the biggest aperature on your camera (as you zoom, aperature gets smaller on your camera f/5.0). It's confusing because there is division in the equasion.
A and/or S mode are great for challenging lighting if you set them correctly.

Also in low light, you also need a fairly high ISO or a really slow shutter (like your fireworks pic). The only problem with your fireworks picture is you did not use a tripod, or a table, or a trash can.., to keep the camera from moving. Photographers with $2000 cameras and thousands on glass (lenses) also use tripods for fireworks pictures because they are supposed to be a time exposure of several seconds to capture the full path of a firework.


I think you just need a fill flash in TSM, otherwise there's not enough light on you.

 

[photo_chick]

The images posted...

The first one from Country Bears is great for a point and shoot like that.

The second one, it looks like the camera wonked up the exposure (you can see where it got it right). That can happen with any camera in auto modes. If your camera allows for manual settings that can help, or your users manual might provide some insight into helping the camera choose the place you want to meter in the image. As suggested fill flash can also help here. I think you could get by without it, but that's one of those creative choices each photographer has to decide. Just realize that to get the subject exposed properly other parts of the image may be under or overexposed.

The third one... fireworks.. you really need a tripod for fireworks. The wavy wonky double exposure looking fun in that image is just from the camera moving during a slow shutter speed. A tripod will help with that that.

The third image looks like the shutter speed was a hair too slow and it's a little underexposed. This is where getting into manual modes can help again if you weren't there already. Sometimes the camera doesn't choose the best settings. And if you were, bump up that ISO and shutter speed a little.


As far as aperture... a wider opening means a smaller number. And of course the bigger the opening the more light comes in. But aperture is only one part of the 3 things you have to balance to make the exposure.

 

[kltigger]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will certainly work on this.

 

[maccagerl]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will certainly work on this.

Also, in the Country Bears photo, you can get rid of the orange cast by adjusting the white balance in whatever photo software you are using on your computer.

You can also do this in many of the online photo sharing sites.

Keep practicing and you will soon be getting great photos every time!