What went wrong?

[CindyChris]

I spent an afternoon at the Bison Range, an hour or so from where I live, taking pictures of the wildlife and surrounding mountains. They all turned out beautiful except for every photo I took of this elk. My camera is a Konica Minolta DiMAGE that I received for Christmas so I am just getting used to it. I kept all the settings on auto because I was thinking the elk was going to run off so I needed to take the photos quickly. Turns out he stood there for quite a while. It was getting dark, is that the problem? I have never seen this kind of result before.

[pedron]

I think your AF is getting confused here because the elk and the background is almost the same shade (especially then when it started to get dark). When this happens try to aim your center focus area at a sharper edge (like the head as apposed to the belly (which is almost the same shade as the backgroud) press halfway and then move to the center to take the shot.

[Breathephoto]

You were using AUTO mode, and the light was dimming. This looks like your camera chose a shutter speed too slow for your situation. Do you have the EXIF data? If your shutter speed was any slower than say 1/60 on handheld then you would have a tough time without this blur. A good rule of thumb for handholding is never reduce your shutter speed lower than your focal length. So, on a 100 mm lens, don't try to go lower than 1/100.

This is just a rule though, and meant to be broken. If you brace your camera well, you can surpass this. But it's a good guide for starting out.

[donmarchand]

I suggest that when light is dimming the camera can be confused as to how much light is entering - suggest you aim camera at the lowest point (below sky level), which will open the aperture and slow down the shutter speed. Unfortunately this will cause more blurring with any slight movement of the camera. Might I suggest using a monopod - they are extermely light and easy to carry and use. Helps to stabilize camera in this situation -

[CindyChris]

I checked on the photo, it said the exposure time (same as shutter speed, right?) was at 1/3 and the f-stop was at 3.5. The iso was at 200. The pictures didn't look that bad on the camera or I would have tried to adjust something. I do have a tri-pod but I didn't have it with me. So, I need a slower shutter speed to let in more light, then a tri-pod to avoid blur. I get so confused.

[CindyChris]

Thanks for all the feeback, by the way.

[yokolok]

it doesn't seem to be a focussing issue, but a camera shake issue. The whole image is blurred...if it was focussing, some parts would be in focus. This was probably shot handheld at slow shutter speed...that you've been shooting almost all afternoon, you hands might have been tired already...that coupled with low light = camera shake...might have been good to get down on the ground and maybe use something to prop up the camera to steady it - maybe your camera bag?

1/3 is 1/3 of a second...slow...slower shutter speed keeps the shutter open longer, thereby letting in more light, but because of this, there is tendency that the camera will shake or the object will move thus causing the blur...think of the car light trails of some night shots...camera steady, subject moving...

maybe a higher ISO might have reduced the chances of camera shake, but would have increased noise...

[pedron]

Yep on re-examination i realize now that it's not an automatic focusing issue since no part of the picture is in focus. Sorry for the bad advise Cindy. Yes these things can get pretty confusing but yoko explained it nicely i think.

[Breathephoto]

There may not have been much you could have done to improve this. Your camera probably won't go lower than 3.5 on aperture, or it would have. You can boost the ISO, but that only goes so far. Maybe if you had gone up to 1600 or something, you could have got to 1/30, but then you'd still have to brace your camera awfully well to get a truly sharp image.

Sometimes you just run out of light! No worries. Go back and find him again! You might not find this exact guy, but you'll find something to take pictures of!

[Breathephoto]

Tripods are wonderful! You could have definitely got more light in with a tripod, but you still have to have a fast enough shutter to stop any motion of your subject. So I don't know if a tripod would have saved this image, even if the elk was standing fairly still. It's doubtful if he would have stopped completely for the 3-4 seconds exposure. Maybe though!