What Did I Do Wrong? Pictures Included!

[qanita92]

I went on a trip to WDW with my Kodak V1003 and basically the only good pictures were ones taken during the day or when it is well lit. Here are some pictures, hopefully you can give me some tips:

SORRY THE PICTURES ARE SO LARGE


1.It wasn't actually this dark. As a matter of fact it was very bright with colors and lights at Downtown Disney and we all know what a vibrant night life it is over there. The only thing that showed up was the PH sign (and this was after some editing):

2.Same here of the Pop Century sign:

3.I was trying to take a picure of the doll display instead it looks like a picture of the store window:

4. Spectromagic pictures (they basically all ended up looking like this):

5. Wishes (this is my BEST Wishes picture):

6. Fantasmic:

7. Pool at night:

8. Arcade:

Some of these pictures are shown after editing (and yet they still look horrible )

Thanks

 

[DVC Jen]

I am sorry to say - but I think you are trying to get your camera to do something it just can't do. Most point n shoot cameras really struggle in low lighting. Your spectro photos - your shutter speed was not fast enough to stop action.

I know how frustrating it can be.

Now - on the flip side - I really like the shot of the cinderella dolls and the reflection in the window. It's pretty cool looking.

 

[dr_zero]

Well what kind of camera do you have? Never mind I see it now Doh!

Mostly its the camera is having to hold the shutter open to let in more light for the shots so every little movement is shown in the shot as blur or camera shake.
A tripod can help some with the shake but if the object is in motion you will still have the blur.

Depending on the camera you need to change the settings to a faster ISO like 1600 if you can and set the camera to night mode or open the aperture up.

Here is a link to a HP site with some examples and basic tips.
http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/digital_photography/take_better_photos/tips/night.html

And the one with the window a polarizing filter can help with seeing through the glass.
http://www.adorama.com/Catalog.tpl?op=academy_new&article=100305

You can still use a filter with this camera though! They have nifty device that mounts in the tripod hole on the bottom.
http://www.amazon.com/Cokin-Compact...7S/ref=rsl_mainw_dpl?ie=UTF8&m=A17MC6HOH9AVE6

 

[thomas998]

While I wouldn't expect great results from a point and shoot and low light shots... you've got some shots here that I just wouldnt' expect to see with a point and shoot camera... at least not with the normal setting I would expect people to use.

What was the camera set to when you took these pictures.... The blured lights is caused by a slow shutter speed. But that doesn't explain all that's going on with these photos. It almost seems like you your ISO was set way to low... from what I can tell from other sites, your camera doesn't have any f-stop adjustment.... and a 2.8 if you were shoot wide angle on the first DTD picture should have been brighter than it was.

Aside from a question about how your camera was set when you took the pictures... I also wonder if your sure the little automatic lens cover was completely open.... those have been known to stick half closed and that might explain some of the extra dark images...

What setting did you use? You should have had it set to a high ISO.

Were you using the little flash on the camera? If so when you do that the flash is only effective for maybe 10 feet but when you use it the camer will automatically go to fast shutter speed probably 1/125 of a second... so if you used a flash you were bound to get these results especially if the ISO was set too low.

The reflection in the window can only be limited by a polarizing filter which might reduce it and then you need to get the fight angle to further reduce it...

 

[future_imagineer819]

With a point and shoot camera you can get a little better shots than this you just have to be creative. For night shots I sometimes use the sports setting. It speeds up the shutter speed and reduces the blurryness. That doesn't always work though. For the window you could try to stand at an angle from the glass. That helps cut down the glare sometimes, but it depends on the time of day and how the light is hitting the window.

 

[qanita92]

What camera do you think I should get that will get the job done?

 

[dr_zero]

What camera do you think I should get that will get the job done?

That my dear is a loaded question LOL

It really depends on what you want to spend and the type of camera you want like a point and shoot or something more along the lines of a digital slr.

 

[qanita92]

That my dear is a loaded question LOL

It really depends on what you want to spend and the type of camera you want like a point and shoot or something more along the lines of a digital slr.

Yeah I thought that question would be too vague. Well I'm hoping for a camera that takes good parade, fireworks, and night pictures. I posted on another thread asking how to take pictures where the subject is sharp and the background is blurred but I was informed that my camera wont do that properly, so that is another good feature.

 

[RustManFan]

My 2 kids and I have all had great results with our various Pentax Optio P&S cameras. I believe at least one (if not all) have a fireworks or at least night screen setting. Use the screen settings alot on these cameras. My son got amazing flower pics with, strangely enough, the flower setting. They are crystal clear and it is a 5mp camera. Oh, may have to upgrade him for Christmas.

Just yesterday got my first DSLR and of course I went with a Pentax. So far only tested on Disney snowglobes and the NY Mets. Yes, it took amazing pics off the TV!!

Anyway, I can STRONGLY recommend all the Pentax Optio P&S from 5mp to 8mp ones!

 

[dr_zero]

What is your budget?

A Nikon D80 is a good camera but its kinda expensive and you would still have to buy another lens for the really low light situations.

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-10-2MP-Digital-18-135mm-Zoom-Nikkor/dp/B000HGIWN4

 

[webshark3]

Yeah I thought that question would be too vague. Well I'm hoping for a camera that takes good parade, fireworks, and night pictures.

And that response has less too do with the camera and more to do with the photographer. A DSLR won't help unless you know the basics. Start with a online course or something. It'll be like a light bulb went off.

A DSLR won't help you in the above settings in it's AUTO mode. You'll need to shoot in a Program or Manual, which means you'll need to understand ISO, Exposure, shutter, FOV, etc.

 

[webshark3]

Anyway, I can STRONGLY recommend all the Pentax Optio P&S from 5mp to 8mp ones!

hmmm, I own the 5mp OptioWP and love it. I WOULD recommend the cameras for anything but its image quality. Images look more like watercolor paintings than images. Pentax DSLRS are another story. In A P&S, I'd probably go Canon, IMO.

Here's a crop from my Optio. The second one is a crop from my large sensor Sigma. A manual camera will give you more control over your photo. The scene modes, while nice for many, are really annoying if you know what settings you need. Come on, a Food Mode?

 

[rtphokie]

What camera do you think I should get that will get the job done?

While your camera is an point and shoot which isn't as flexible as an SLR, that doesn't necessarily mean it wont take good photos. I noticed from the EXIF data that all the photos you posted were taken in auto mode. You've got to give the camera a little help to have any chance of taken decent photos, especially in low light.

Read through the manual of your V1003, they are available on the Kodak website if you've misplaced them (I know my manuals get misplaced within seconds of opening a box). Familiarize yourself with the modes other than auto that are available. Looking at the V1003 manual, High ISO, Candle Light and the nighttime modes look promising. Go out and experiment with these modes before you go on vacation again so you are comfortable with what you need to do to get the shots you want.

If you were to go out and replace this camera, even with a couple thousand dollar SLR, if you continue to shoot in Auto mode, you will probably still be disappointed.

 

[GrillMouster]

Buying a Viking range won't make you a gourmet chef, and a new camera won't make you a better photographer. Your camera is perfectly capable of taking good pictures. Don't spend a dime on a new camera until you learn the basics about photography. Otherwise, you'll be spending money without really knowing what you should be looking for. Two books I highly recommend for beginners are 1) The Betterphoto Guide to Digital Photography by Jim Miotke and 2) Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Each of these books cost $16.47 on Amazon, and if you get both at the same time you'll get free shipping. They also might be available at your local library, but I think they're worth buying, as you'll want to refer to them over and over again in the future. If you're not willing to read these books and do the activities in them, then forget about trying to get better pictures; just move on.

If you are truly interested in learning more, and not just hoping for a magic button that will make alll your pictures fantastic, then here's a little primer. Proper exposure basically boils down to letting just the right amount of light reach the sensor inside the camera. If you let too little light in, the picture will be too dark. If you let too much light in, the picture will be too light and washed out. Every scene is different, and will require a different amount of light into the camera to be properly exposed. Your camera has three controls that let you control the exposure. They are: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I could write a book about these three components of exposure, but I don't have to. Several great books have already been written about them. You can find information about them online, but I HIGHLY recommend you use the books I reference above, because they are structured and written by professional instructors in a way that makes sense and is easy to understand.

Here's what went wrong with the pictures you posted:
1, 2, 8: Too dark, because the shutter speed was too fast for the dim lighting. However, if you were to slow down the shutter speed, you might need to use a tripod, because the picture would be blurry from the motion of hand-holding the camera. Alternately (or in addition), you could increase the ISO, increasing the sensitivity of the sensor.

3: A circular polarizing filter, or a pair fo polarized sunglasses in front of the camera lens (rotated for maximum effect) can reduce the glare (polarized direct reflection).

4 - 7: Blurry because the shuter speed was too slow to freeze the motion. However, if you used a faster shutter speed, the image would have been even darker. Increasing the ISO would have made the sensor more sensitive (but with added noise/grain) and allowed you to use a faster shutter speed.

Other tips: Your image will have less motion blur if you photograph the subject moving toward you rather than across your field of view.
In addition to controlling aperture, shutter speed, and ISO in your camera, you can also affect exposure by adding or subtracting light from the scene. For instance, you can use flash or you can move to a position where there is more (or less) ambient light on the subject.

 

[handicap18]

Yeah I thought that question would be too vague. Well I'm hoping for a camera that takes good parade, fireworks, and night pictures. I posted on another thread asking how to take pictures where the subject is sharp and the background is blurred but I was informed that my camera wont do that properly, so that is another good feature.

For Fireworks and general night-scape shots (ie: Castle, buildings in World Showcase, the Hat or ToT at DHS... in other words shots that don't have people in them) your camera is perfectly fine. What you need is a tripod to keep the camera steady for the long exposures.

Night parade shots (Spectro, MVMCP, MNSSHP) are a totally different animal. For this you need a camera that has very good high ISO (film speed) performance and a lens that has a very wide aperture. This results in using a dSLR. Unless you want to use a flash, but the flash will wash out a lot of the lights and give you ok results at best.

For images that have the subject in focus and the background out of focus (aka shallow depth of field) you need to have a lens that goes very wide. Because of the build of PnS camera's (small lenses with small apertures), they don't perform well in these situations. You can get results if you play around with the camera a lot. Use Aperture Priority and set it to the smallest number (which because these numbers are fractions, the smaller number means wider hole). You'll probably have to get real close to your subject and make sure that the background is far away. It wont always work, but it has work for some people. Distance between the subject and background is key. The bigger the distance the better your chance of success. With a dSLR and a lens with a wide aperture this is MUCH easier to achieve. Its also a lot more expensive to buy into a dSLR system. It depends on your budget, how much your into photography and how much your willing to learn and experiment.

 

[RBennett]

.....

Just yesterday got my first DSLR and of course I went with a Pentax. So far only tested on Disney snowglobes and the NY Mets. Yes, it took amazing pics off the TV!!

Just out of curiosity, which Pentax DSLR did you go with? I bought my first one last year and bought the K100D right before the Super came out and I LOVE it!!!!!!

 

[ukcatfan]

Just out of curiosity, which Pentax DSLR did you go with? I bought my first one last year and bought the K100D right before the Super came out and I LOVE it!!!!!!

Speaking of Pentax DSLRs, I am leaving to take mine to visit The Mouse starting tomorrow!!! Our first day at the parks is actually Monday b/c we are going to stay a couple nights with a CM friend in Kissimmee first.

 

[bigphil]

I'm not sure I have the same problem.

 

[RBennett]

Speaking of Pentax DSLRs, I am leaving to take mine to visit The Mouse starting tomorrow!!! Our first day at the parks is actually Monday b/c we are going to stay a couple nights with a CM friend in Kissimmee first.

Dude!!! I am SOO jealous!!! I know this goes without saying, (but I'll say it anyway!! ) Take PLENTY of pictures and post them all when you get back!! I'm in full on planning mode trying to get ideas of what to take pictures of!! BTW..... sorry for the thread heist. We now return you to our regularly scheduled broadcast of "What Could I Have Done Differently." I think the biggest problem that you're going to run into is the camera that you have. As others have said, it's just really REALLY difficult to pull off decent night shots with a point & shoot.

 

[jann1033]

i can't get your exif info to come up but did you use a tripod on any of these? the one that looks like a pool looks like you moved the camera which you probably did since it would be a long shutter speed...a $50 tripod from wallymaart could help.