Low light photos

[michelle_musser]

I have a S3 IS. A lot of my photos are grainy/dark looking. It appears to me mostly when I am in low light settings. I try to use my flash and then the photos are washed out. Any suggestions? I have only been using a digital camera for a few months and have been trying different settings...nothing is working for me.

[Nicole]

I have a S3 IS. A lot of my photos are grainy/dark looking. It appears to me mostly when I am in low light settings.

The graininess in the pictures is probably due to your camera using a high ISO. If you haven't changed any of the settings, the camera probably has it set on auto, which means that it will set it according to how much light the situation has (higher ISO means more light gets on to the sensor). The drawback of a high ISO is usually graininess though.

I try to use my flash and then the photos are washed out. Any suggestions?


It looks like your camera has a pop-up flash on it, if it does, you might want to try this DIY flash diffuser (http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/showthread.php?t=222) idea that was posted in the forums.

I have only been using a digital camera for a few months and have been trying different settings...nothing is working for me.

One possible suggestion could be to try putting your camera on the night snapshot mode to see if that helps any. You can also try reading up on how to set your settings manually. There's a lot of help explaining the settings over at the DPS blog in the Tips for Beginners (http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/category/tips-for-beginners/) section and the post on Understanding Exposure (http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/learning-exposure-in-digital-photography/). :)

We've also got a thread on night photography (http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/showthread.php?t=516), so if you want to post some of your examples there who knows, we may be able to provide even more help :)

I'm sure other people with your camera will be able to offer more camera specific solutions, but there are some things to try in the meantime.

[michelle_musser]

I have tried switching ISO settings and that doesn't seem to help much. I have played around with the Apeture and shutter speed, etc. I have noticed that night snapshot helps some. I will try to post a few pictures so you can see what I am talking about. Thanks

[michelle_musser]

Here is a photo of mine to show what I am talking about.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/361833549_4d441e37af.jpg

[PnwGuy]

Here is a photo of mine to show what I am talking about.

Hmmmm...I was not able to view the exif data. Do you have the original file? Have you used ZoomBrowser (included with your S3 IS) to view the exif data to find the ISO that was used?

How about the recording pixels and compression settings on the camera (page 36-37 in the advanced manual for your camera)? Try setting them to M1 or Large for pixels and fine or superfine for the compression.

[ab.bs]

I have an S2... by looking at your picture it does look like you have it set at a 400-800 ISO.

Try changing it to 80

[Berengaria]

PnwGuy:
I have a S3-IS but don't know what ZoomBrowser is. Can you tell me? When I download a picture and read the info it tells me exposure etc. but the ISO is left blank and this annoys me.
Thanks for any enlightening. Berengaria

[Seltzer]

ZoomBrowser is the program packaged with Canon camera products. It should be on one of the CD's that came with your camera if you got it as a retail box set. Otherwise I will see if I can find a download for you from Canon's website, a quick search only got me so far as finding updates for it.

[michelle_musser]

According to my flickr account the image size is medium. I can't find the ISO on there though. I will make sure the settings are at find or superfine though. Thanks.

[Saralonde]

If you don't have zoombrowser, you can try downloading http://picasa.google.com/. It's free. It will give you all your exif info.

[michelle_musser]

Last night I was able to get some great shots. I put the camera in the P (Program) Mode, set the ISO to 100 and used the flash. They turned out a lot better. Thanks for the ISO information. I will have to keep playing the setting to get even better pictures.

[Saralonde]

Glad it worked out for you. People here are always willing to help! Have fun with your camera.:)