Hi all: I was at my son's wrestling "banquet" and they wanted someone to take pictures of each wrestler receiving their certificate. I had my 40D and 100 f2.8 macro lens, it was in a cafeteria, and my only spot to shoot was about 30 feet away with yellow/orange lighting and motion sensitive lights that would often go off. I tried to shoot sraw so I could change the exposure at the end.
These look terrible to me - what can I do differently next time or change in post processing?
Edited by KE David on Mar 07, 2008 at 03:07 PM GMT
You have some motion blur/oof focus issues which means that, you either had too long of an exposure or some camera shake. Increasing ISO, shooting wide open (you were), shortening exposure as much as possible, using a tripod, how you were focusing (auto or manual) would effect the outcome. What software do you use for PP?
exif says 1/25s, iso400, 100mm, f2.8 for shooting. The rule of thumb for shooting is that the the shutter should be more than 1/100 without tripod or greater than 1/reciprocal of the mm of the lens, which in this case suggests the lowest shutter speed for this shot of 1/160 (160 because of the 1.6x multiplier on 100mm). [And even faster for sports >1/500]
I would have upped the iso to at least 1600 ISO which would allow the 1/100s. 3200 ISO would allow 1/200s. For safety in this shot I would go to 3200 ISO myself because you can't reshoot.
The problems I see with the picture is that the color cast is off, the background is quite distracting, and you dont have a good spot to get faces. The background and face angle problems are only solvable with a new position which you said you can't fix.
I would use photoshop cs and in my version when you open a raw you can change the kelvin setting and then each of the next just use the same setting that will fix the color.
I would then crop as much of the girls in poster out behind and if you had lots of time I would see if selecting and average bluring the poster - it is way too distracting.
Edited by Scott Stoness on Mar 08, 2008 at 10:07 AM GMT
Thanks to both of you - that is what I was looking for.. The shooting angle I had was the only one available and I knew that poster was going to be a problem, but didn't realize how bad it was until posting pictures.
I read about all the camera settings for different situations, but then forget it all in the heat of the moment. Just need to take more pictures I guess.
Again, I appreciate the comments!
Your profile says you have a canon 50/1.8. This is significantly faster than your 100f2.8. If you had space you should have moved in 1/2 distance and then you would have had 2x faster shutter speed for same settings. It would have blurred the background more too.
This sort of thing is not easy if you are not used to it because hindsight tends to let you down.
You might have done better with the camera in portrait mode as that would have eliminated some of the background and shown more of the certificate in the subject's hand.
You will be aware that high ISO images look noisy but they can be cleaned up a lot with the right software (I use Neat Image Pro) and the result will look better than a blurry clean capture.
To fix the colour cast you can try adjusting the kelvin WB temperature as previously suggested or just use a WB click pointer on the white board in the background. Anything that should be white or pure grey is ok but make sure that none of the colour channels are maxed out or you will get a wrong WB.
Look at the bright side - you got the guy's smile
If you were the only photographer then you might have gotten away with asking the people to face you a bit and smile while you took the photos.
Move up to where you need to be when it's time to shoot.
Shoot flash.
Don't be afraid to tell the coach beforehand to grab and hold each kid for a nice shot.
Don't be shy about speaking up during the handshake to get what you need.
People who are not used to being in front of a crowd can shoot through there like startled deer, with no thought of how precious these moments will be later in life.
My youngest played well in several sports, on successful and not successful teams. How he and I now wish we had more snaps of these moments. Think ahead and lose the shy approach!!!!!!!!
These last 2 feedbacks are very inspiring as well. I tend to want to fade into the background and use longer lens. Many parents came up to me afterwards and asked about copies that I wished I had been more assertive. I have been able to fix many of the pictures I took and even cropping has made the background seem less obtrusive.
I am a slow learner, I guess, but I am finally getting the idea of approaching picture taking as an art rather than just point and shoot. After so many years of snapping shots of our kids with point and shoot, the best I have are candids or when I have taken the time (ah, Mom......can't we just go play?...) to compose a shot.
This is such an inspiring forum - helps to see what others are doing.
We aren't talking art here; we are talking the steps necessary to get a solid clear memory. It may be somewhat ham-handed, but it doesn't need to be objectionable. You really have to come back with solid pictures--no excuses----and you have to get every single kid---anything less isn't fair.......
Don't be concerned if you pictures are not perfect or you miss some - unless you are a professional just have an attitude of doing your best and don't fuss when it is not perfect.
You can't learn by attempting perfection the first time out.
I have taken lots of my son's football shots more than 3000 per season and they get better and better as the season goes on and whenever I give a picture to someone as a volunteer they are polite and say thank you. So don't fuss and keep on trying.
