How di I get best results photographing indoors?

[revdup]

Just wondering if you could help me out with this - those of you who are more experienced than me. I have got the basics of outside photography but still have trouble at night. Example: It was my brother-in-law's retirement dinner last friday and I took a heap of pics of the people at tables eating, those giving speaches.
What settings of apeture, shutter speed, ISO, flash etc give the best results. How do you cater for "movement" at night - how do you get a fast shutter speed when the ambient light is not good. Flash washes out the ambient mood!

Look forward to your instruction.

Les

[candleman]

good question
...and welcome Les

the trick is to NOT have a faster shutterspeed.
, you actually go for a slower shutterspeed to actually capture the ambient, and then use a touch of the flash to freeze the motion, typically by bouncing. direct flash (as you say) just destroys the image.
its a fine balancing act but you geth the hang of it pretty quick.
how this is done will depend on the kit you have..
i presume you are using a dslr, if so, have a read of planet neil and "dragging the shutter"
what are you shooting with?

[inkista]

Originally Posted by revdup

...how do you get a fast shutter speed when the ambient light is not good. Flash washes out the ambient mood!

You can increase the shutter speed by opening up the aperture (and using a lens with a max. aperture larger than f/2.8 [smaller f-number]), increasing the iso, and/or adding flash.

Learn to balance your flash against the ambient.

Also, on Planet Neil? van Niekirk just rewrote his dragging the shutter piece.

[revdup]

Thanks for the info. I have a Fuji FinePix S100FS with a 28-400 fixed lens.

[Drkranger]

The "trick" to getting a good photo indoor or outdoor is in capturing the light. Most likely you'll have less light to deal with indoors. The sun is a pretty big light source outside that you don't have inside.

So, if you know how to set the shutter, aperture, and ISO to get a well exposed shot outside, understand how you came to those settings. Did you guess? Did you use a light meter? Trial and error?

Either let your camera set the settings (one, two, or all) and use that as a base, or if the camera has a built in exposure meter, use a setting that allows you to view the meter and then change the settings until you get a proper exposure. Typically, auto mode does not show the built in camera meter, but others like shutter or aperture priority do.

As for your specific question on "...cater for 'movement'...," set a fast enough shutter speed to stop the movement or use a slow shutter speed and pan. Panning, in this case, probably won't help you. If you set the shutter speed to stop movement, then the other two settings, aperture and ISO, are set to balance to a proper exposure.

And finally, if you can't get a proper exposure just using ambient light, then look at the technique of dragging the shutter as described above.

Taking indoor photos is no different than taking outdoor photos. Use settings that capture the light you have available. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that says if you use these exact numbers, you'll get a great photo every time. It depends on your individual light situation.

You might be better served posting a sample or two with the EXIF (camera) settings. We could see some possible explanations and ways you could improve the shots.

Hope that helps.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by revdup

Thanks for the info. I have a Fuji FinePix S100FS with a 28-400 fixed lens.

Um, just a small nitpicky clarification, but you only have a 28-400 equivalent lens.

What you really have is printed on the front of it: a 7.1-101.5mm f/2.8-f/5.3 lens.
(f = focal length. The Φ67mm means it takes a 67mm diameter filter thread).

Your sensor gives you around a 4x crop factor, which is why you get a 28-400 equivalent lens. And your lens's maximum aperture @7.1mm (the wide end; zoomed all the way out) is f/2.8, while at 101.5mm (the long end, when you're zoomed all the way in) is f/5.3.

A smaller f-number means a bigger aperture opening, and more light coming in. So, if you can't get your shutter speed up any farther, and you're maxed out on iso, and on aperture, you can always try zooming out/back to get a little more aperture.

But chances are good you may not be able to shoot fast action indoors with this lens, because f/2.8 is a borderline maximum aperture for shooting available light, and fast action tends to require much faster shutter speeds than the norm. This is one of the reasons we like dSLRs: their larger sensors give them much higher usable iso settings, and they can mount lenses that have max. apertures wider than f/2.8, which means much better low-light capability.