Question for someone who knows what they're doing!

[iheartmickey1111]

Hoping to get some good advice here! I love spending my free time reading the photography board, but I never chime in because, well, I don't know jack!

Here is my question, I have a Nikon D3000, and I can't figure out how to get my settings right (I tend to like AP mode best) so that my pictures of PEOPLE, including my 2 year old, aren't blurry! I've been so frustrated by it for so long, that I just pretty much leave in it Sports mode, which BUGS me because I might as well be using a point and shoot at that point, but at least they aren't blurry!!

I took a class over a year ago when I first got it and can't find my notes for the life of me! Can someone please help me? General shooting situation would be of say my daughter, outside.

 

[photo_chick]

Try shutter priority mode instead of aperture priority. I think it's S on Nikon models. Then set your shutter speed to something appropriate for the lens and situation you're shooting in. For a toddler start at 1/focal legnth then add a few stops. It may take some trial and error to find exactly how slow you can get away with, but that's all part of learning your gear well. after you pick your shutter speed look at the exposure meter and if you need to bump up the ISO to get an adequate exposure for the shot.

 

[Shutterbug]

I think I might know whats going on.

When you select your aperture, you need to look at what shutter speed its giving you when you go to take your photo.

The rule of thumb was always for a hand held shot that the shutter speed should be the reciprocal of your lens length. So if you have a 50mm lens your shutter speed should be at least 1/50 probably more like a few stops faster.

So what might be happening with you is that you are setting your aperture that gives you too slow of a shutter speed for the lighting condition. In that case you need to adjust your aperture to give you a fast enough shutter speed or change your ISO so that you can get that fast enough shutter and still use the aperture you want.

 

[Experiment_626]

The rule of thumb was always for a hand held shot that the shutter speed should be the reciprocal of your lens length.

Current advice seem to be that for a crop sensor camera, such as the D3000, you should try to try to increase the speed a little more for safe hand-holding. In other words, with a 50 mm lens, you'd probably want a shutter speed of around 1/80th or so.

OP, is there a chance you could post links to at least a couple of images that show the results you're getting so we can understand how to help?

SSB

 

[photo_chick]

The 1/focal length is only really good for overcoming camera shake on someone with reasonably steady hands. For a moving target you need to add to that. And we're all a little different on what we can get by with. Like with my 50mm where I can easily get away with 1/30 hand held on a still subject, I need at least 1/125 to get my kids playing. And while I have that found with longer non-IS lenses on a crop body I really need to start a little faster than 1/actual focal length I have not found it to be an issue with shorter focal legnths.

But we're all different in what we can get away with. While there are rules of thumb, remember they're only guidelines. It takes some trial and error to find what you can get away with on each lens you have.

 

[iheartmickey1111]

This is great! Thank you all so much! I will bust out the camera tomorrow and play with it a little and see how it goes!