Canon Rebel XTI Help. PLease!!!!?

Question

I just got it and I am still not too familiar with the settings.. I tried to take a pic of my daughter blowing out her candles but it didn't turn out how i wanted it to. what could i have done to photograph this correctly?
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/9500/img8089jb0.jpg

Answer 1

You shot this at ISO 100 with a shutter speed of 1.3 seconds, whether you know it or not. The picture is blurred because of camera shake. You just can't hold a camera still for 1.3 seconds. If you used a higher ISO, you could have used a faster shutter speed.

At ISO 200, with the same f/5.0 aperture, you could have used 0.65 seconds (about 1/2 second) and at ISO 400, you could have used 0.325 seconds (about 1/3 second).

I'm not sure what the maximum aperture on your lens (probably the 18-55) is at the shooting length of 39 mm, but I imagine that it is about maxed out at f/5.0, so you can't change that.

You might possibly be able to hand-hold a 1/3 second exposure. In any event, it would be a lot better than a 1.3 second exposure and you'd have less blur.

I wouldn't go higher that ISO 400, though, unless you are just curious to see what the quality would be like. You might be shooting more like 1/8 second at that ISO.

Another way to approach this would be to use ISO 400, but move more towards the wide end of your lens - which means moving closer to the subject - to gain a larger maximum aperture. You probably wouldn't want to go all the way to 18 mm, but maybe 24-25 mm would give you a maximum aperture of around f/4.0 and this would let you use a faster shutter speed. Or... go ahead and go all the way to 18 mm and count on cropping the image. You have the full 10 MP image here and you would certainly be able to crop down to 50% size without losing any quality of the main subject.

As far as the yellow color, well that just happens in low light. Not to mention, the light source - the candle - is yellow light.

This is one example of the need for a spot meter in a camera. Okay, you might have ended up with longer exposure time, which exacerbates the image blur, but the face could be better exposed.

Although it is not likely you could have gotten this shot if you were hampered by a tripod, a tripod would help steady the camera.

That's a lot of yack for an answer, isn't it? In summary:

1. Increase the ISO to 400
2. Zoom OUT a little bit to try to get a wider maximum aperture
3. REALLY steady yourself against the wall or brace your arms against your chest
4. Hold your breath
5. GENTLY squeeze the shutter button to avoid camera shake as much as you possibly can.

Restage the shot or try again next year. You decide.

Answer 2

Dr. Sam summed it up pretty well and gave you good, pragmatic 'how do I do better advice'. However, Sam doesn't shoot Canon and I do.

Zooming out is a great idea and will give you a max f 3.5 aperture with the 18-55 kit lens. With the XTi's excellent image quality, cropping will not have any real effect on the quality.

That's a 1 stop increase on the lens side so you can shoot at 1/6 of a second. The XTi has virtually the same noise profile at higher ISO's that the 20D has, which is better than the equivalent Nikon, so ISO 800 will work fine and 1600 is very, very usable for this kind of situation.

ISO 800 will give a shutter speed of 1/13 sec and ISO 1600 will give a shutter speed of 1/25 of a second.

Dr. Sam's excellent advice on holding the camera steady and gently pressing the shutter will give you the highest quality shots at these slow shutter speeds. I would only add supporting the camera from the bottom with the left hand keeping the elbows in close to the body.


Sometimes, as pros or advanced amateurs, we give advice based on other criteria than might really apply. A common one is retaking the shot and, not much less common, is buying a new lens (or even camera). That's fine for us, but we have a vested interest in photography.

In this situation, most people, and I assume you, too, want to capture the moment with the highest quality you can. But, missing the moment isn't really an option. This isn't studio or landscape photography where you can reshoot. Life may be filled with similar moments, but they are all different moments and you need to catch them when you can. Unless and until you get a faster lens, I would recommend shooting at ISO 1600 if you need to. A picture with little noise has a much higher quality than the picture you don't take. Professionally, I shoot at ISO 1600 routinely and the quality is acceptable for your uses.

That takes care of low available light shooting. With you camera set on Program, that's what you'll get. However, you also have an on camera flash. In what Canon calls the 'Creative Zone' settings (P,A,S,M) you have to decide to use the flash, it won't pop-up automatically. It will with the presets.

Canon does a very good job with their in camera flash. Good enough that there are many times I don't break out my pro flash. You can set your shutter speed to 1/60 or 1/125 sec (and maybe 1/250, but I don't know about the XT) in TV mode and let the camera take it from there. There is also flash compensation so you can correct if the lighting isn't quite what you want. I don't agree with dodol that flash will 'ruin' the picture. It will produce a different one.

Canon XT's come with software and post processing can help, too. In Digital Photo Professional and shooting in RAW, you can reasonably be 1/2 to 1 stop under exposed and compensate in the software while still getting reasonable quality. DPP also provides for decent noise reduction.

It's early in the morning, I haven't had coffee yet, and I've got to get out and do some shooting. The above comments would probably change later in the day, or after coffee. I am also biased. I emphasize photojournalism, so 'Get the highest quality picture you can, but get the D**** picture!' is the watch word for me.

Come to think of it, capturing these personal moments is photojournalism.

Vance

Addenda:

ISO 1600/f 4.0 @ .6 sec handheld - no image stablization

http://picasaweb.google.com/Vance.Lear/SpotMeter/photo?authkey=eySq6t3MlyI#5090437290744559170

Answer 3

Before using any new camera you should find a quiet place to sit and read and study the Owner's Manual. Then read and study it again. Become familiar with the different settings and controls and practice using them. Then practice some more. Using your camera should become as easy and natural as using a knife and fork.

Consider buying the Magic Lantern Guide for your camera. Its available in book form or as a DVD. I'd probably buy both -the DVD for home study and the book to carry along when I was out enjoying photography.

From the example you posted it looks as though you had the camera in Manual Mode with the flash off. That explains the blurry, out of focus and dark look. That's my best guess anyway. IMO, using the flash would have taken away from this moment you tried to capture.

The only way to successfully take available light photos of people in action is by increasing the ISO and shooting at your maximum aperture (f2.8 or whatever the smallest number is on your particular lens) and keeping the shutter speed at a minimum of 1/125 sec. If your camera or lens has Image Stabilization make sure its ON.

If the preceding paragraph makes no sense to you then go back to the very first paragraph. Get your Owner's manual and find a quite place.

Answer 4

Dr. Sam and Edwin have pointed out a good advice for you but let me share my own personal experience.

For me shooting in that kind of situation, I would either use a flash, or a fast lens. Since flash would ruin the picture anyway, I'd get a fast lens. You don't need anything fancy at the moment - just get a Canon 50mm f1.8 and you'll be good. It's only about $75 and it shoot great picture. The only drawbacks are... well you have to "zoom" with your feet and you need to focus really well because even the slightest out of focus picture will turn out to be blurry.

In my last job as a wedding photographer I used this lens with ISO setting of 800 and I'm pretty satisfied with it. Of course, shooting this way can be tricky at times but you'll get used to it.

Well, just another point of view to add those who already contribute a good answer. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Your shutter speed was at 1.3 sec that's too slow, you need to set a higher ISO and or open up the aperture to get the speed up to at least 1/60 or higher.
It still a beautiful photo.

Answer 6

haha....hey u..hows it??? u know i've had my Rebel XTI for a while now and i still prolly couldn't tell ya how to take that pic the right way except for maybe put it on nighttime picture...kk well u'll prolly get better answers then this one....but u should call me sometime so we can hang out before ya leave...laterz!!!