Scootie
19-Mar-06, 10:34pm
A little while ago somebody asked me for some tips on club photography, and I figured I'd start some threads here and post my 2c worth and also get the input form everyone else, since we have a lot of really good club photographers here on ITM :)
I figure we'd start with the technical aspects of different camera types, Compacts, Mid-sized and SLRs, and then have another one on Composition and stuff. This one is the first (since compacts are the most common camera type being used) so I've also shoved some technical inform in here that generally holds true for other camera types.
In my opinion, the key to using compact cameras is to have a wider aperture, make your camera take a darker picture, and increase it's sensitivity.
One or all of these factors can be used in conjunction to get more shots in those dark and busy environments.
Many compact cameras can open up their lenses fairly wide, as far as f/2.8 is fairly common (the aperture value is a fraction, so the smaller the number, the wider the hole, the more light comes in), so try turning on the display mode (so it tells you shutter speed & aperture), or put the camera in Aperture Priority mode (check your camera manual) and set the number as small as it'll go. The lower the number, the more light comes in, the more likely you are to get the shot in the dark.
Next try telling your camera to 'under expose' the shot a little. Many cameras have a setting to under or over expose the image by a few 'stops' usually a scale from -2 to +2, try setting it to -1 or -2. You can then brighten the image in photoshop, picasa, or whatever image program you use.
Finally try changing how sensitive your camera is by changing the ISO setting. Most cameras use this setting at a default of 50 or 100 to take the images, some have an 'auto' setting that will vary this from 50-200 depending on the light available, but most cameras will go up to 400, and some go even higher. The ISO speed is meant to emulate normal film, where ISO 100 is the standard (eg Kodak Gold) and ISO 400 is higher speed 'action' film (eg Kodak Max). The downside of this is that you get more noise in the image. The sensor of your camera is being asked to record everything it sees, even if that information is a bit dodgy, so you get a 'grainy' image, amusingly similar to the grainy image you get with high speed (ISO 1000+) films. You can get rid of some of this noise with programs like Noise-Ninja and Neatimage. Even if you don't get rid of any, it can still make a sharper image than you might otherwise get.
Another tip is to also set your camera to take multiple images in a row (eg 'burst' mode) and take a few in a row. I find that sometimes I'll miss the shot on the first one, but if I take 2-3 in a row, one of the other ones hits that lucky spot where not everyone is moving too bad.
All of this is about playing around with the sliding scales of shutter/aperture to find a spot that you can hold the camera steady enough, and your subjects moving slowly enough, that you can take the shot.
I can hold my compact camera steady for a shutter speed of 1/25 or even sometimes 1/20 or 1/15 and still get a sharp enough shot, but for people dancing you might need to be up at 1/50 or higher (eg the 1/60 used for most flash photos)
The way the aperture/shutter relationship works is actually fairly simple. There's a lot of technical info and stuff, but basically the aperture is the size of the hole that is opened, and the shutter speed is how long it's open for. Most of the stops along the scales of shutter speed and aperture are designed to let twice as much light or half as much light in as the stop either side.
The typical aperture stops on a camera are: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and 22
The typical shutter speeds on a camera are: 2000, 1000, 500, 250, 125, 60, 30, 15, 8, 4, 2, 1
Many cameras will use 1/2 stop or 1/3 stop increments, so you'll see a lot more numbers in there, but those are the main points :)
you don't need to worry too much about it, because your camera knows all there is to know about them, and if it doesn't, then it's a manual camera the therefore you probably know more than me anyway :)
All you need to know is that if a shot is correctly exposed at 1/250th, f8, then it's also correctly exposed at 1/125th, f11 and 1/60th, f16 and 1/500th, f5.6 and 1/1000th, f4.
Basically the columns on the stop lists line up.
If you want to get a faster shutter speed, you need a wider aperture (smaller number) so you move down the scale a few stops.
When you change the ISO sensitivity up a stop (50 to 100, 100 to 200, 200 to 400) you get to shift the columns across one. (a shot at ISO 100, 1/30th would be 1/60th at ISO 200)
So that's starting to get a bit technical, but basically, up the ISO and it will double or quadruple the light coming in, and drop the expose one or two stops will double or quadruple it too, and you end up with a much higher shutter speed for your lowest aperture, making it much more likely to be able to capture the action.
I figure we'd start with the technical aspects of different camera types, Compacts, Mid-sized and SLRs, and then have another one on Composition and stuff. This one is the first (since compacts are the most common camera type being used) so I've also shoved some technical inform in here that generally holds true for other camera types.
In my opinion, the key to using compact cameras is to have a wider aperture, make your camera take a darker picture, and increase it's sensitivity.
One or all of these factors can be used in conjunction to get more shots in those dark and busy environments.
Many compact cameras can open up their lenses fairly wide, as far as f/2.8 is fairly common (the aperture value is a fraction, so the smaller the number, the wider the hole, the more light comes in), so try turning on the display mode (so it tells you shutter speed & aperture), or put the camera in Aperture Priority mode (check your camera manual) and set the number as small as it'll go. The lower the number, the more light comes in, the more likely you are to get the shot in the dark.
Next try telling your camera to 'under expose' the shot a little. Many cameras have a setting to under or over expose the image by a few 'stops' usually a scale from -2 to +2, try setting it to -1 or -2. You can then brighten the image in photoshop, picasa, or whatever image program you use.
Finally try changing how sensitive your camera is by changing the ISO setting. Most cameras use this setting at a default of 50 or 100 to take the images, some have an 'auto' setting that will vary this from 50-200 depending on the light available, but most cameras will go up to 400, and some go even higher. The ISO speed is meant to emulate normal film, where ISO 100 is the standard (eg Kodak Gold) and ISO 400 is higher speed 'action' film (eg Kodak Max). The downside of this is that you get more noise in the image. The sensor of your camera is being asked to record everything it sees, even if that information is a bit dodgy, so you get a 'grainy' image, amusingly similar to the grainy image you get with high speed (ISO 1000+) films. You can get rid of some of this noise with programs like Noise-Ninja and Neatimage. Even if you don't get rid of any, it can still make a sharper image than you might otherwise get.
Another tip is to also set your camera to take multiple images in a row (eg 'burst' mode) and take a few in a row. I find that sometimes I'll miss the shot on the first one, but if I take 2-3 in a row, one of the other ones hits that lucky spot where not everyone is moving too bad.
All of this is about playing around with the sliding scales of shutter/aperture to find a spot that you can hold the camera steady enough, and your subjects moving slowly enough, that you can take the shot.
I can hold my compact camera steady for a shutter speed of 1/25 or even sometimes 1/20 or 1/15 and still get a sharp enough shot, but for people dancing you might need to be up at 1/50 or higher (eg the 1/60 used for most flash photos)
The way the aperture/shutter relationship works is actually fairly simple. There's a lot of technical info and stuff, but basically the aperture is the size of the hole that is opened, and the shutter speed is how long it's open for. Most of the stops along the scales of shutter speed and aperture are designed to let twice as much light or half as much light in as the stop either side.
The typical aperture stops on a camera are: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 and 22
The typical shutter speeds on a camera are: 2000, 1000, 500, 250, 125, 60, 30, 15, 8, 4, 2, 1
Many cameras will use 1/2 stop or 1/3 stop increments, so you'll see a lot more numbers in there, but those are the main points :)
you don't need to worry too much about it, because your camera knows all there is to know about them, and if it doesn't, then it's a manual camera the therefore you probably know more than me anyway :)
All you need to know is that if a shot is correctly exposed at 1/250th, f8, then it's also correctly exposed at 1/125th, f11 and 1/60th, f16 and 1/500th, f5.6 and 1/1000th, f4.
Basically the columns on the stop lists line up.
If you want to get a faster shutter speed, you need a wider aperture (smaller number) so you move down the scale a few stops.
When you change the ISO sensitivity up a stop (50 to 100, 100 to 200, 200 to 400) you get to shift the columns across one. (a shot at ISO 100, 1/30th would be 1/60th at ISO 200)
So that's starting to get a bit technical, but basically, up the ISO and it will double or quadruple the light coming in, and drop the expose one or two stops will double or quadruple it too, and you end up with a much higher shutter speed for your lowest aperture, making it much more likely to be able to capture the action.