My Biggest Frustration!

[jodyangel]

Hey guys thanks for your input here.
As I am trying to learn the art of portraiture I find that alot of my people photo's come out blurry. I'm shooting manuel and find that there almost always is motion when I look at my photo's later. I know I'm not shooting with a fast enought shutterspeed..but not sure what to do about it.
I went out to dinner last night with girlfriends and the lighting was not the best. I set my camera on Manuel mode and wide apeture. Most of my shots had motion blur in them.

I looked thru my viewfinder and adjusted the dial so the needle was in the middle for proper exposure. But this led to a slow shutter speed. Would I be better shooting in Apeture mode or TV?

[mstark70]

In situations like that I do tend to shoot in TV mode. You can also try a few shots in TV mode, note the camera settings and then go back and set them in Manual. I am not an expert but worth a try anyhow! Did you up your ISO in the low light at all?

[jodyangel]

I've read that for subjects that are moving..use a shutter speed of at Least 1/60th of a second...

Yes I did up my ISO..I thought I had it all right. But apparently I forgot to check the speed and it was too slow!

[RexK_Cozumel]

1/60th will still give you motion blur depending on how fast the subject is moving. Either use a flash to freeze subject motion or bump your iso higher.

[WooD]

Maybe I'm off track, but when I shoot portraits the model isn't moving at all when I take the shot.

Could your motion blur be coming from an unsteady hand instead of a moving model?

[jodyangel]

I didn't mean portraits necessarily where people are posing. I was talking more about candid photo's where people are talking and moving a bit.

[JectigatingScript]

Originally Posted by jodyangel

I didn't mean portraits necessarily where people are posing. I was talking more about candid photo's where people are talking and moving a bit.

You will want to test out using a flash.
With close to no light, or lots of low ambient light, I can get perfect pictures [so to speak], with no blur, or very very little.

Try shooting at 200-400 ISO and having the flash on 1/16th or 1/32nd.

[LoveDSLR]

Another factor is the direction in which the subject is moving. You'll need a faster shutter speed to stop motion if the subject is moving horizontally or vertically across the viewfinder than if that same subject is moving toward or away from you. A subject moving diagonally toward you might need a shutter speed somewhere in between.

[jodyangel]

Originally Posted by JectigatingScript

You will want to test out using a flash.
With close to no light, or lots of low ambient light, I can get perfect pictures [so to speak], with no blur, or very very little.

Try shooting at 200-400 ISO and having the flash on 1/16th or 1/32nd.

I'm very ANTI flash..being how it flattens out the photo so much. But I do have a Speedlight. I probably should of pulled it out of the camera bag =)

[RexK_Cozumel]

Originally Posted by jodyangel

I'm very ANTI flash..being how it flattens out the photo so much. But I do have a Speedlight. I probably should of pulled it out of the camera bag =)

It only flattens out the photo when used incorrectly. There are a huge number of ways to use flash and not get a flat photo.