What am I doing wrong

[Barney McGrew]

OK, I have had my 450D camera for a few weeks now and have read some recommended books but I still cant seem to get good results using the manual settings.

I have spent a few days out trying to get used to how the Depth of View works etc but when I take pictures of say the kids in the house, they are blurred. I have everything right as far as I am aware. If i flick the switch to automatic and point and shoot, I get good results.

A couple of things I have noticed, is that I tend not to use flash as I feel its quite bright but when switching to auto it pops out, which indicates to me it needs it ? I spent £200 on a Speedlight so I am presuming I need to have this hooked up all the time ?

I also notice on the "M" setting that I choose the shutter size, set up the shutter speed get everything set, leaving the ISO to auto, it always takes them at 400ISO no matter what I am shooting.

Do I need to just persevere as I am expecting too much too soon or should i just stick to point and shoot, although at nearly £1000 for the kit and Speedlight, it an expensive point and shoot 

Any help or guidance appreciated

[Mr Anderson]

Read the manual. There'll be features on your camera that won't be on different models, and vice versa. Specifically read the part that says what the maximum ISO is when shooting in auto iso. In some cameras it's 800 (IIRC), in others possibly it's less. So get fully conversant with your camera and what every setting does. And no, you don't need a speedlight on all the time.

If you're shooting manual, don't use auto iso - that isn't manual shooting. Choose the iso yourself that's appropriate to the conditions and what you want from the shot. Spend some time metering, and learning about it. Spend some time learning how different apertures affect the depth of field, as well as how they affect the volume of light entering the camera at any given time. Also spend some time learning about the effect of different shutter speeds, and also how focal length will need to be considered.

If you're taking pictures of kids indoors and they're blurred then everything isn't right - the shutter speed is too slow. Try setting it to 1/250s or faster and take a couple of shots - how do they look? Blurred? Increase the shutter speed. Dark? Widen the aperture (lower f number). If you're already at the widest aperture for the lens in use either change lenses or increase the iso.

As a simple general guide to get sharp images of an average human in motion you need around 1/250. Faster people such as athletes may require a slightly faster shutter speed. Fast moving animals may require up to 1/500s. For motor sports you might want up to 1/1000s or even faster (unless you're panning to get motion blur on the background). For very slow, or static, subjects the risk of blurred images switches from subject motion to camera shake, and a good guideline is that you need to aim for around 1/(focal length x crop factor). Eg. for a 50mm lens on a 450d you would aim for 1/(50x1.6) = 1/80s as a minimum to safely handhold. Any slower and the risk of blur from camera shake increases. If you have image stablised lenses they can help reduce the risk of camera shake so that you can handhold at lower shutter speeds - but they don't help with subject motion, you still need a fast shutter speed for that.

[Britman]

I agree with mr A. Although if you are just taking pics of the kids playing then use full auto, there is no shame in that. Shooting in full manual is great for learning the relationship between shutter/aperture and being more creative. I've been a photographer for year and still very rarely use full manual, I use either Av or Tv.

Don't forget that you can still get some interesting result with a flash, try setting the camera to second curtain sync, the flash will fire at the end of the shutter cycle. And if you do use your speedlight, bounce the flash of the wall/ceiling to help diffuse the light.

As for the ISO, I'm not sure but I think the lowest it will go on auto is 400.

[Jeewhizz]

Stick it on Av mode, set the aperture to the smallest available, and fire some shots at ISO 200, 400, 800 and 1600. Then take a look and notice what happens. For each step up in ISO, it will halve the shutter speed. So, if at ISO 200 it was shooting at 1/15 (which would be blurry if handheld most likely), at ISO 400 it would be 1/30, ISO 800 1/60 and ISO 1600 1/125 (ish!)

Did you get the Understanding Exposure book? Re-read the first chapter. Then, have a coffee, and re-read it again

[sarahA]

When I first got my 400D last december the first thing I did was read about how the aperture worked and always shot in aperture priority mode (Av). To be honest, I tend to shoot in Av for the bulk of my shots with the lowest ISO setting, and in RAW. The only time I've switched to Tv (shutter priority) is for motion/panning shots and night shots on a tripod. I've tried manual once but it didn't work out very well!

[slaughteredlamb]

"Flash Ahhhhh, Savior of the Universe!"

Welcome to the world of flash photography, it's a b1tch!



Well it can be.....or it can actually be quite easy it all depends on what you want to achieve.

Firstly, why are you using Manual mode? This is not a criticism, you aren't doing anything wrong and you can most certainly use Flash very, very effectively in Manual mode, but why are YOU using it?

Obviously you are doing something wrong the questions are, what are you doing wrong, how do you fix it and could you just as easily use something else?

Using Manual mode is great as it gives you total control over how the image is captured the only problem with it is that you need to know what you are doing and understanding manual Flash is a scary to say the least.

Okay so lets go through a couple of things.

Lets look at a few modes and see how this affects the flash.

Aperture & Shutter Priority Modes.
These modes are great if you are shooting in good light but still want to use flash because the camera will automatically meter for ambient light and then use fill flash to light the foreground. In poor light these modes are often the worse modes to use because the camera still meters for ambient light and this is the light that is very low and so you'll get a slow shutter speed. So, use these modes when the light is good and you just need fill flash.

Program Mode.
People often dismiss Program Mode thinking it's too automatic to be used by 'real' photographers. Rubbish. Program mode is the one mode that actually makes Flash dead simple. In bright light Program Mode will work like Aperture or Shutter Priority modes and assume that you want to use the flash as fill flash. It will meter for ambient light and adjust the power of the flash to fill in shadows on the foreground.

However, in low light Program Mode correctly assumes that you want the flash to completely light the foreground and adjusts the power of the flash accordingly.

Sounds perfect doesnt it, there must be a catch? Yes there is a catch. By using Program mode in low light you do run the risk of getting dark or even black backgrounds depending on how far away you are from your subject and how far your subject is from the background so it's not the miracle 'fix all' solution for all situations but when it works, it works perfectly.

Manual Mode.
Oooh the scary mode. Actually it's not that scary it's just easy to get things wrong as Flash photography can be just plain tricky. So how can you use Manual mode? Well you set the aperture, shutter and ISO to expose the BACKGROUND. Chuck your flash on Auto and half press the shutter. The flash will then tell you the flash coupling range which is basically the range that the flash will cover. What you then need to do is to make sure that your subject falls within that range. When you take the shot the flash's ETTL metering will alter the power of the flash to suit the distance to your subject resulting in a shot where the flash has correctly illuminated the foreground whilst your camera has correctly exposed the background and you have a correctly exposed shot. A common mistake people make is to think that they are adjusting the aperture and shutter speed to correctly expose the foreground. When they then take the shot the flash meters the foreground and fires but the camera was thinking that the light for the foreground was going to be a lot darker and you get either an over exposed shot or a shot with black background. Don't meter for the foreground, that's what the flash will do, meter for the background. How do you meter for the background? Well that can be a major pain if you are constantly moving and the light levels vary too but basically take a reading on what is behind your subject, dial in the settings for that, recompose and hey presto you've exposed for the background.

Well that's the theory anyway. Often all of this can go tits up because you want to bounce the flash off the ceiling, because your subject won't sit still for 2 seconds and keeps getting further and closer away, because your subject is too close when the flash fires, because your subject is too close to the background when the flash fires, the list goes on. How do you get over this? Practice. Experience of using flash in manual mode in a range of situations is invaluable as there will always be little tweaks you want to make.

But as I hinted at earlier, don't try and run before you can walk. Try Program Mode and see if that helps things for you, I'm not saying you should use it all the time, far from it, but don't feel you have to or should use manual mode all the time either. The camera has the tools on it to help you but you have to use them first.

I would strongly recommend making yourself a strong coffee, finding somewhere very quiet and away from any distractions and having a read of this. It's long, it's complicated in places, it will do your head in but it does hold most of the answers.

HTH

[Barney McGrew]

Did you get the Understanding Exposure book? Re-read the first chapter. Then, have a coffee, and re-read it again

Yes I did, I have read it, some sank in and some went over my head. I do need to read it again.

Firstly, why are you using Manual mode? This is not a criticism, you aren't doing anything wrong and you can most certainly use Flash very, very effectively in Manual mode, but why are YOU using it?

The above book tells me the only way to learn it is put my camera in Manual Mode and play with it. The only reason I left the ISO in auto was it was one less item for me to be concerned with until I have got used to the aperture and shutter speed settings. I realise all 3 have to work together but by taking it out I thought it would allow me to concntrate on the 2 other areas.

As for the speedlight, it looks just as complicated as the camera. 

I shall persevere and try all the settings you all mention above. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully I will be posting some good shots as I do tend to get myself in some good locations on the odd occasion.