Desperate for help learning how to use manual settings!

[hluscre]

Hi. I'm obviously new to posting here, but hoping I could find someone willing to help! I got an Olympus SP-565uz when my daughter was born and my husband got me some a very budget home studio set up so that I could take pictures of her myself. Figuring out lighting was tricky and I still wouldn't say its great, but its ok. I pretty much stuck with the auto setting on the camera and it was fine when she was an infant and just laid still, but now that shes a wild toddler the auto setting always leaves me with blurry photos. I tried the "sport" setting on the camera and the blurriness was lessened but my pictures were always grainy and pixelated. So, now for the "please help" part. For the past few months I've been reading basic digital photography books and dozens of online tutorials related to exposure in hopes that I could venture into the manual settings. Its left me completely frustrated. I thought I understood the basic concept of a histogram and how the expose triange works but my photos are always way too dark, way too bright & (worst of all) so grainy and pixelated! I though graininess was caused by the ISO being too high but I've only ever used and ISO 64/100/200. Today I just only adjusting shutter speed and leaving aperature on auto but it was still disaster (super dark, grainy). Its enough of a challenge trying to get a 1 yr old to cooperate but then when all the pictures are completely unusable its really discouraging. I'm sure I'm leaving out most of the important details that would help in diagnosing my problem so I apologize.

Sorry for the rambling. Thank you in advance for any help!!

[SusanH1970]

Can you post an example photo along with the EXIF? It would be much easier for us to help you out if you did.

[Sterling]

Under exposure always emphasizes any noise in a photo. If you are aware of the exposure triangle, are you even looking at your camera's meter when taking your pictures? The meter will clearly indicate if your settings will be too dark or too light. You may just be trying to shoot in conditions where it is impossible to use the settings you are using. If your pictures are all too dark, then you need more light. Assuming you can't add more with a flash, this will require you to use a longer shutter speed (may cause blurring), using a larger aperture (smaller f/number), or increasing the ISO. If you have determined that you need a minimum speed of say, 1/250 to stop any motion blur, and you have your lens set at its largest aperture, then increasing ISO is all you have left.

Again, look at your meter to see if you have set a proper exposure. A properly exposed photo at a higher ISO will likely show less noise than a too-dark shot at a lower ISO.

[BCampbell]

Samples would help, a lot.

If your pictures are dark even when you're on something like shutter priority, it's probably one of two things; you have exposure compensation set to underexpose the photo, or you just don't have enough light.

How are you viewing your photos? A lot of people pull their pictures into whatever editing software, view at 100%, and say oh man, it's so pixelated and unsharp. Of course it is, you're viewing at 100%.

[wulf]

Take pictures of something that isn't a fast moving toddler to practise. Manual settings are really quite easy to use but not if your attention is partly on keeping up with the movements of the toddler and partly on making sure she is safe. Find a bit of time and a few static targets to build the skills you need for a more active assignment.

Wulf

[doctorjames]

I would probably venture into the settings of your camera by starting out in aperture priority

If you set this rather than shutter speed, you wont get under-exposed shots, you will just get blurry ones if your shutter speed is too slow. In almost all conditions, the camera will always be able to go slower, but the limits of aperture are reached much more quickly. For example:

Aperture set to f5.6 automatically asked for shutter speed of 1/15 (correct exposure)
Shutter set to 1/250 aperture automatically set to f5.6 (as this is as low as the lens allows) (incorrect exposure)

The first one will give you a correct exposure but may be blurred given the slow shutter speed.
The second will give you a sharp but terribly (almost black) under-exposed shot.

You may say... well both are going to give you bad shots, so its a waste of time.... not so in my opinion, as the first one tells you that you need more light, the second just says your camera cant cope with the settings.

By setting the aperture, it will tell you the shutter speed. If its not fast enough, with the widest aperture (smallest f number) then you need more light, end of story. If you just straight into manual you really have a lot on your plate, as you need to manage the aperture, shutter speed on a second by second basis as the lighting/exposure required changes with movement. Ive been shooting for 20 years and I still only use manual for carefully set up shots (usually still life), where the timing of me pressing the shutter release isnt the slightest bit important.

I hope this helps, and makes sense

James

[LoveDSLR]

In a brightly lit home interior, you may need to shoot at ISO 800, 1/60 @ f/2.8 (~EV 6). Otherwise, ISO 800, 1/30 @ f/2.8 (~EV 5).

The Olympus camera lens is f/2.8-4.5 and able to get images with acceptable noise level up to ISO 200-400.

You can try setting your camera to Centre Weighted or Spot metering and zoom out as much as possible, if not all the way (to get f/2.8). Crop the photo instead of zooming in to compose.

[BEGM83]

Originally Posted by wulf

Take pictures of something that isn't a fast moving toddler to practise. Manual settings are really quite easy to use but not if your attention is partly on keeping up with the movements of the toddler and partly on making sure she is safe. Find a bit of time and a few static targets to build the skills you need for a more active assignment.

Wulf

I disagree. My first shots in manual were of my 4 year old

I say just play around with the settings on the camera, get to know it that way - because if you're anything like me the stuff in the books will make you say 'wha?!' and learn what settings work best for what situation.

[inkista]

I just looked at the manual that Olympus has on line (p.19), and I can see why you're having trouble. Here's the skinny:

When you're in Manual mode, the LCD looks like this:


See that +2.0? That's your light meter/guide as to whether you're under- or over- exposed, according to the auto-exposure system in the camera (which can sometimes be wrong). The number will be + for overexposure, - for underexposure, and the number itself is given in stops. If you want to get the exact same exposure your camera would have gotten in an automatic mode, fiddle with the settings until that number is 0.

So, for example, in the image above, the setting is 2 stops over-exposed. So to get to what the camera thinks is correct, closing the aperture to f/5.6 or increasing the shutter speed to 1/4000s, or using one-fourth the ISO setting would have gotten that number to 0.

But since that's a night scene--underexposing one more stop might be even more helpful. That's because the scene is mostly black. A scene that's mostly white, you'd want to bias more towards +1.

Most other cameras don't use a bare number like that, they usually use a scale. Also, your scale will max out at ±3EV. If you're more than three stops over/underexposed, it'll just show a red three.

Also, if you're not in Manual mode, that same number is no longer your light meter, but becomes your compensation scale: how much you adjust where the auto-exposure is sitting.

[hluscre]

Thank you for all of your input and suggestions. I'm sure now that the noise is from under exposure. I think I was misunderstanding the histogram and thinking that it indicated the exposure. I have 2 umbrella lights, one shoot through, and one is silver reflective. When I would take photos on the auto setting the pics were more likely to come out over exposed so I know that the light can be enough in some situations. I will try shooting in aperature mode, as suggested. One more very silly question, For manual white balance the manual suggests using white paper, I've heard other people use an 18% grey card. Is grey or white better? I can't help but feeling I've bit off more than I can chew!

1st picture
ImageDescription : OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Model : SP565UZ
ExposureTime : 1/80Sec
FNumber : F3.5
ExposureProgram : Manual
ISOSpeedRatings : 200
ExposureBiasValue : EV0.0
MaxApertureValue : F2.8
MeteringMode : Division
LightSource : Daylight fluorescent
Flash : Not fired(Compulsory)
FocalLength : 6.64(mm)

2nd picture
ImageDescription : OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Model : SP565UZ
ExposureTime : 1/125Sec
FNumber : F3.2
ExposureProgram : Shutter Priority
ISOSpeedRatings : 100
ShutterSpeedValue : 1/125Sec
ApertureValue : F3.2
ExposureBiasValue : EV-0.7
MaxApertureValue : F2.8
MeteringMode : Division
LightSource : Unidentified
Flash : Not fired(Compulsory)
FocalLength : 6.32(mm)


Heather