Just a quicky

[Graemey]

Hello All,

I took a couple of shots at Remembrance Day of the parade and a few came out not as I would have liked. I first used A priorty on say f22 then I played about with the aperture and a few shots were blurred and I noticed the shuuter was really slow, hence the blur I guess.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated,

Thank you as always,

Best wishes
Graeme

[mosgood]

Use a lower aperture next time or a monopod if a tripod would be too bulky. I'm not sure how much DoF you were trying to achieve, but the camera needed a slower shutter speed to deal with the tiny aperture.

Post some images to the critique section with your exif data & we would be able to help you more.

[Hill Country Hack]

Graemey,

Start of by reading this Learning about Exposure – The Exposure Triangle It may begin to answer all your questions.

After grasping the dreaded triangle one can then manipulate the DOF and still maintain proper exposure. When I shoot parades I take some at f8 if I want a lot of DOF, or I open up the apeture (smaller f number) if I want to have bokeh for effect. It all depends on what I'm trying to accomplish.

My main goals are to set the DOF I want, maintain a desired shutter speed, and have the lowest ISO I can and still achieve the DOF and SS.

[graciousness]

At f/22, it's no wonder the shutter speed were slow. The camera is trying to bring more ambient light in by using slow shutter speed because you chose to have a very narrow aperture (high f/stop number).

I can understand that you were probably trying to bring everything into focus therefore choosing f/22 and such, but you have to compensate that with having lots and lots of light to have properly exposed photos so that you can use fast enough shutter speed to freeze motions on moving people. You would have also had diffractions at such small f stops.

Diffraction Limited Photography: Pixel Size, Aperture and Airy Disks

Be really mindful when choosing your aperture settings and keep in mind if your subject/s are in motion, how much light is around or lack of it. With a parade where everything is in motion, I would have personally chosen manual to lock in shutter speed and ISO and only change aperture when necessary.

[Graemey]

Thank you,

I guess the shot was about 50m from where I was standing, it was a slightly misty day and can I also ask what a lower aperture might be better?

Thanks

[NathanFranke]

Originally Posted by Graemey

Thank you,

I guess the shot was about 50m from where I was standing, it was a slightly misty day and can I also ask what a lower aperture might be better?

Thanks

That all depends. Light changes constantly. Luckily, you camera has a light meter. It looks like this:
<-3..-2..-1..0..1..2..3>
^

and it lives inside your viewfinder. You want the arrow to be under the 0, so adjust the aperture/shutter speed until the arrow moves into place.

[graciousness]

It's really hard to say because we don't know what you were trying to capture. Did you have a particular subject from the parade you were shooting or was it an entire scene you were trying to capture?

If you chose f/22, I can only guess that you were trying to get the whole scene into focus. Still, we don't know what you were looking at so the best thing is if you post the photo in the critique section with EXIF data and then people can really analyse and help you more properly.

[Graemey]

Hello again,

The parade was staionery and I look at the pipe band which was in the front and the rest of the parade behind, all in line. The shor, in my mind! was to look along the ranks, does this help?

Thank you

[graciousness]

So you want to capture pretty much most of the scene.

I still really can't say, you know, and someone more knowledgeable may come along and advice. However, I think I would go for around f/5.6 to f/8 give and take based on what you've described. The thing is, with the mist, it's you'll have to play around with your ISO, too and if you have exposure compensation, I would use that to increase or decrease overall exposure.

You can always zoom in on your shots on your LCD and see if everyone you want is in focus, then adjust accordingly if required on your next set of people. You also have to accept that there will be people that will be blurred (and to an extent, it's preferable) and they will only serve as background in such a busy scene. I would focus on only really interesting aspects of the parade, not trying to get EVERYTHING in the scene as it would be too much.

Sorry if this isn't much help, but at least you now have an idea that f/stops matter highly when it comes to depth of field and where you want and how you want your focus to land on your subjects and images.

Do try and post a photo in the critique section - it will be better as people can help you more.

[ccting]

Originally Posted by graciousness

... I think I would go for around f/5.6 to f/8 give ....

I thought sharpness is everything... Why we are not referring to the MTF curve from widest to smallest aperture. Difference lenses have different sweet points. Wider aperture at far distance should give sufficient DOF to the parade?

"Aim.. set, and SHOOT!"