What am I doing wrong? Help please.

[MickeyWanaBe]

I am trying to get a "nice" photo for our Christmas cards and I am having problems with a moving 4 year old.

I have a Canon Xti. I have had it for about 2 years now and I just haven't figured out the night-time-indoor-shots of moving subjects. This is what I get...

I turned on the flash to try to "freeze" them.
I am using a tripod, but my issue is them moving. If only I could put them on the tripod to eliminate movement...

Here is the info on the first one.
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Date/Time: 2009:12:15 22:25:56
Resolution: 639 x 426
Flash Used: Yes (manual)
Focal Length: 45.0mm (35mm equivalent: 73mm...
CCD Width: 22.28mm
Exposure Time: 0.600 s
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO Equiv.: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Send photo.
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Date/Time: 2009:12:15 22:28:57
Resolution: 639 x 426
Flash Used: Yes (manual)
Focal Length: 33.0mm (35mm equivalent: 53mm...
CCD Width: 22.28mm
Exposure Time: 0.167 s (1/6)
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO Equiv.: 800
Whitebalance: Auto
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Full Auto mode I lose the blur, but I also lose the "warm" feel.

I tried changing several different settings, but never could figure it out and the boys quit smiling after about 25 minutes...

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I need to try? In the two years I have had my camera I have learned that this board is full of helpful people!

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[scoot241]

You're going to need a faster shutter speed, second curtain flash, or both.

Right now the lens is staying open for six-tenths of a second. That's a long time for someone to stand completely still. A faster shutter will capture it without the motion blur.

Another option is the second curtain flash. It will fire the flash at the end of the exposure rather than the beginning, just before the shutter closes which should freeze the subjects into place. You'll have to check your manual to see how to set this up.

Bouncing the flash off the ceiling if you have an external flash that tilts along with a faster shutter speed might also help.

Hope this helps!

 

[Miss Kelly]

The images are blurry because your shutter speed is too low (even too low with a flash imho).

Try putting your flash & camera in manual. Start with ISO 500 1/60s 5.6 Adjust based on how much ambient light you want and how under/overexposed the image is. And while, 1/60 of a second is still a slow shutter speed, anything higher than that will cause you to lose your ambient light (ie. the tree).

 

[zackiedawg]

As others mentioned the shutter speed is the problem...too slow. Increasing shutter speed will work (note your full auto shot has a faster shutter speed), but as you mentioned, you lost some of the 'warmth' of the photo. That warmth is coming through because of the slow shutter speed! You're leaving the shutter open longer, which captures more of the light in the background.

Here's what I do when I want to take this type of shot, and use a slower shutter speed: the tripod for you is good, the flash is fine, the only thing you need to do is ask your subjects not to move when they see the flash. It is someone's instinct after the flash fires to think the shot is over...but it's not. So ask them to sit as still and posed as possible even after the flash goes off - you only need 1 second of sitting still. Then you can get that nice warm background from the slow shutter, and nice clear shots of the kids without the blur.

The 'rear curtain' flash idea mentioned above can work too - it actually doesn't do much differently, but rather than fire the flash then finish the exposure, it actually starts the exposure first, and fires the flash at the end. Your subjects still must sit still for at least a second or so, but sometimes this can work better, because when you tell them to be still, and start the shot, they don't get the flash until the shot is done - so if they instinctually move after the flash, you've still got the shot.

If you increase the shutter speed, you're going to get results closer to what the 'auto' mode gave you - nice illumination of the faces and proper exposure, but the background won't be as 'warm' as it is on the slower shutter shot.

 

[mabas9395]

Sounds like someone needs to ask Santa for the Nifty Fifty for Christmas. And if you've been really good, ask for the 430ex II.

 

[scoot241]

Sounds like someone needs to ask Santa for the Nifty Fifty for Christmas. And if you've been really good, ask for the 430ex II.

The Nifty Fifty may or may not be enough. I shot my Christmas card picture with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and still needed flash and a higher ISO (200 or 400, can't remember which). The 430ex II is a good suggestion.

 

[MickeyWanaBe]

Sounds like someone needs to ask Santa for the Nifty Fifty for Christmas. And if you've been really good, ask for the 430ex II.

Ohhh, I have the nifty fifty! I got it for fireworks and I never think about it. I will try it tonight!

Thanks everyone for all the input! It is greatly appreciated!

 

[handicap18]

A few options...

Put the camera on a tripod, use manual mode (ISO 200, 1/15th shutter and f/5.6) and also set the flash for rear curtain synch. This will allow you to capture some of the nice light from the tree and the flash going off at the end of the shutter will freeze your subjects.

Another option, use ISO 200, 1/60th, f/5.6 and the flash (though you may want to dial down the flash output to maybe -1. Play around with it to see what you like best)

I would use the 50mm f/1.8 lens for this with the above settings instead of your kit lens only because the 50mm will be MUCH sharper and give better overall IQ.

If you want to use the 50mm without the flash, be careful how you line up the 2 kids and where you place yourself with the camera. You'll probably have to use an f/stop as wide as f/2.8 or wider and that will give you very very little depth of field. So if one of the kids is even 1" in front or behind the other, one of them will be in focus and the other will be out of focus.

One thing I've done in the past with my kids is before I'm ready to take their picture, I'll set up some stuffed animals where I want to put the kids and play around with the settings first with the stuffed animal. Then when I found what I liked, I would bring the kids into the picture in place of the stuffed animal.

 

[boBQuincy]

The easy way: leave the camera set as it was for the first photo but bump the ISO up to 400. This should give you a shutter speed of about 0.3 seconds. Tell your subjects to be still and that should work fairly well, most people can stay pretty still for 1/3 second.

 

[mabas9395]

The Nifty Fifty may or may not be enough.

Scoot is right, it may or may not be enough. But it should get you closer to where you want to be and at a cheaper price than the 430ex II (especially since you already own the 50).

But the other thing you need to worry about with that lens is blurriness due to shallow depth of field (though it shouldn't be as bad as motion blurr). On the other hand, it can add a nice element to your photos if used correctly.

 

[wenrob]

The easy way: leave the camera set as it was for the first photo but bump the ISO up to 400. This should give you a shutter speed of about 0.3 seconds. Tell your subjects to be still and that should work fairly well, most people can stay pretty still for 1/3 second.

This is what I was going to say, bump your ISO a little bit and as mentioned put your flash in rear curtain sync. This way if you get a little blur it will be your back round and not your main subjects. If you don't have a tripod try using a small table or chair with some books to prop.

FWIW I keep my flash in rear curtain 90% of the time for two reasons: It allows me to choose my own shutter speed (most program modes will keep the ss at 1/60 no matter what when using flash in front curtain) and two, most subjects will pose until they see the flash fire.

 

[MickeyWanaBe]

Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions on how to fix my problem.
I got my manual out and figured out how to set a custom setting! I now have second curtain flash and it has helped soooo much! We had Christmas with half of the family yesterday and the pictures came out so much better!

Here is our Christams card photo for this year!

PS I even did a little photoshopping... Another first!

Thanks again for all your help!
Hope everone has a great week and a happy holiday!
Staci

 

[scoot241]

Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions on how to fix my problem.
I got my manual out and figured out how to set a custom setting! I now have second curtain flash and it has helped soooo much! We had Christmas with half of the family yesterday and the pictures came out so much better!

Here is our Christams card photo for this year!

PS I even did a little photoshopping... Another first!

Thanks again for all your help!
Hope everone has a great week and a happy holiday!
Staci

 

[wenrob]

Nice!

 

[zackiedawg]

Congrats! Big improvement - you're gonna start loving your flash now.