I'm new pls help....shooting Leopard in low light

[willow572]

I took this photo with fading light and my bridge camera (Panasonic Lumix FZ38) struggled with the conditions;

P1020987 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I hope I'm not flaunting the forum rules (I'm new!) but I could do with some advice as to how I could have taken this to improve the clarity of the image in low light. Any other comments such as composition etc very welcome!

It's perhaps not obvious but it was dusk and light was fading fast.

I'm going to Rwanda next year to trek for gorillas - black animals likely to be under dark trees, possibly in the mist! - so I could do with all the advice I can get.....and hopefully not just "buy a DSLR!"

[Matthias099]

Originally Posted by willow572

I'm going to Rwanda next year to trek for gorillas - black animals likely to be under dark trees, possibly in the mist! - so I could do with all the advice I can get.....and hopefully not just "buy a DSLR!"

That seems to be an awesome trip you are taking next year! Enjoy.

As far as the picture goes, I think you did (or the camera did) the best it could do under those lighting conditions. But with this kind of camera however you see how fast you reach the limits of its capabilities. With no lenses to exchange etc. it is difficult to influence the exposure. You mostly at the mercy of the camera as far as lighting and noise is concerned. ISO was very high due to low light available and that increases noise dramatically, in film photography we used to call it grain, but its essentially the same.

So the only influence you have is composition and how far you are willing to approach your suspect. Leopards and Gorillas I wouldn't go to close to. And never use a flashlight either! So no improvement there either.

So here are the limitations I can see, but you did the best you can with this equipment. However, I don't think there will be a dramatic improvement over this photo with the lighting conditions you expect to find.

Sorry, my honest opinion. And I won't say get a DSLR ....!

[willow572]

Thanks for taking the time to have a look.
I generally just use the 'Auto' setting or the pre-set 'scenes' on my camera so I was hoping that joining this site and looking at some of the hints and tips may help me use the manual settings I do have on my camera (albeit I realise they will still be fairly limited compared to a DSLR) so perhaps I'll have a play around. I just need to read the sections on this site which tell me what 'P' and 'S' etc mean!! (I did say I was new!)
You're right, flash photography is forbidden on the gorilla treks and I'm definitely not going to risk annoying them!
Thanks again for your advice

[spcandrew]

Originally Posted by willow572

I took this photo with fading light and my bridge camera (Panasonic Lumix FZ38) struggled with the conditions;

P1020987 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I hope I'm not flaunting the forum rules (I'm new!) but I could do with some advice as to how I could have taken this to improve the clarity of the image in low light. Any other comments such as composition etc very welcome!

It's perhaps not obvious but it was dusk and light was fading fast.

I'm going to Rwanda next year to trek for gorillas - black animals likely to be under dark trees, possibly in the mist! - so I could do with all the advice I can get.....and hopefully not just "buy a DSLR!"

You need to see if your camera has any kind of manual or aperture priority modes. If it does, in low light set it first for the widest aperture (e.g. lowest F stop #) and see if you get acceptable photos . If not, then you have to start bumping up the ISO which will get your more noise in your photos.