How to take a decent photo in the restaurant??

[ypurcaro]

Have you been to the Romano's Macaroni Grill? If you have, you know how their lighting is, right? For those of you who have not been there, the lights inside the restaurant are dim and they are not fluorecent lights, but those yellowish light bulbs. This picture looks like a photo in Sepia, right? This was not the color I saw.

Of course, I didn't have a tripod with me. (Who would bring tripod to the lunch) I really want to capture some nice shots but they all turn out blurry (motion blur). I guess first I didn't have the tripod, second, not enought light and I don't know what kind of settings I need for that kind of environment. I saw some food photos taken by others in the restaurant, they all look sharp and clear. Now, don't tell me they bring their tripod to the restaurant as well.

I need your advise. Thank you.

Camera Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Exposure 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 60 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

[babithor]

Would changing your white balance setting do the trick

[i speak in math]

Fix your white balance to match the color of the lights in the restaurant. Use a white napkin and use it to set a custom WB. Increase your shutter speed to 1/100 by either opening up the aperture or raising the ISO. You were at 400, and should be able to hit 1600 pretty easily. Thats 2 stops there which could bring your shutter speed up to 1/60. Open up the aperture to f/2.8 and you are at 1/120, easily enough to stop motion. Lastly, focus on the correct subject. In your photo, you focused on the wall behind the chef instead of the (i assume) intended subject, the chef. From a compositional standpoint, your subject is almost dead center (boring) and not enough of his environment is shown. Go wider and closer and throw him into one of the thirds.

[IABoomer]

The lighting is probably more like tungsten. Ideally, you could shoot RAW so you could fix this later in post if it's badly off, but it's probably still salvageable.

If you're wanting to spend some money, a faster lens (lower f/stop number) will let more light into the camera which will let you bring your shutter speed down and remove the motion blur. I'm guessing you're not wanting to fire flashes to lighten up the scene.

[danbaileyphoto]

I agree, a faster lens is often the best solution for shooting inside. Also, shooting in RAW allows you to correct the white balance later on. This practice is more common than you might thing.

Here's an article I recently wrote on The Photoletariat about photographing inside without using studio lights.

5 Tips for Shooting Beautiful Interior Photography - The Photoletariat

Hope that helps.

[ypurcaro]

Originally Posted by danbaileyphoto

I agree, a faster lens is often the best solution for shooting inside. Also, shooting in RAW allows you to correct the white balance later on. This practice is more common than you might thing.

Here's an article I recently wrote on The Photoletariat about photographing inside without using studio lights.

5 Tips for Shooting Beautiful Interior Photography - The Photoletariat

Hope that helps.

Thanks, but the RAW format is a huge file. Have you thought of that?

[ypurcaro]

Originally Posted by IABoomer

The lighting is probably more like tungsten. Ideally, you could shoot RAW so you could fix this later in post if it's badly off, but it's probably still salvageable.

If you're wanting to spend some money, a faster lens (lower f/stop number) will let more light into the camera which will let you bring your shutter speed down and remove the motion blur. I'm guessing you're not wanting to fire flashes to lighten up the scene.

I thought my lense is fast enough, it's macro 2.8 USM. So, what kind of fast lens do you prefer?

[ypurcaro]

Originally Posted by i speak in math

Fix your white balance to match the color of the lights in the restaurant. Use a white napkin and use it to set a custom WB. Increase your shutter speed to 1/100 by either opening up the aperture or raising the ISO. You were at 400, and should be able to hit 1600 pretty easily. Thats 2 stops there which could bring your shutter speed up to 1/60. Open up the aperture to f/2.8 and you are at 1/120, easily enough to stop motion. Lastly, focus on the correct subject. In your photo, you focused on the wall behind the chef instead of the (i assume) intended subject, the chef. From a compositional standpoint, your subject is almost dead center (boring) and not enough of his environment is shown. Go wider and closer and throw him into one of the thirds.

Thanks for the detail info. So, how do you count how many stops for what kind of shutter speed? where can i find more information on this area?

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by ypurcaro

Thanks, but the RAW format is a huge file. Have you thought of that?

I just saw a 2 TB hard drive on sale at newegg.com for $100. That would fit roughly 100,000 RAW images, the average lifespan of the shutter mechanism. So, even if every image you take for the lifetime of the camera isn't a keeper, you can fit them all on 1 $100 hard drive.

I guess it depends on if you want quality pictures or quantity pictures. I think most photographers would say quality.