Natural Coloring without flash and other bits and bob.

[reanimated838uk]

I have a canon a80 powershot and I have taken over 1000 experiemental photos to try and get an idea of the aperture/shutter speed/ISO/white balance etc effects on a photo, but when I took it out for a friends birthday, the few photos I did get (using a customised settings mode) turned out blurry , grainy.

I understand a faster shutter speed or a high ISO value prevents/reduces blurring, but i dont like the grain apperance so i set it to ISO 50, but unfortunately it came out grainy (not sure why).
Also from experimenting, a faster shutter speeds also lets less light in, but I don't like to use the flash as it makes skintones look white and unnatural. So I prefer to keep it off at all times. To compensate a longer shutter speed is used but as you read, it came out blurry (i was drinking too so that didnt help shakes lol).

Anyway, is there any thing i can do to get the desired effect? Natural looking pictures (without flash - i dont mean super high quality realism, just avoiding uneven lighting off photos), in focus and not blurred or grained. I know its a long shot, but anyhelp you can give it appreciated.

Thanks and sorry for the long post.

[Canuck]

I have a canon a80 powershot and I have taken over 1000 experiemental photos to try and get an idea of the aperture/shutter speed/ISO/white balance etc effects on a photo, but when I took it out for a friends birthday, the few photos I did get (using a customised settings mode) turned out blurry , grainy.

I understand a faster shutter speed or a high ISO value prevents/reduces blurring, but i dont like the grain apperance so i set it to ISO 50, but unfortunately it came out grainy (not sure why).
Also from experimenting, a faster shutter speeds also lets less light in, but I don't like to use the flash as it makes skintones look white and unnatural. So I prefer to keep it off at all times. To compensate a longer shutter speed is used but as you read, it came out blurry (i was drinking too so that didnt help shakes lol).

Anyway, is there any thing i can do to get the desired effect? Natural looking pictures (without flash - i dont mean super high quality realism, just avoiding uneven lighting off photos), in focus and not blurred or grained. I know its a long shot, but anyhelp you can give it appreciated.

Thanks and sorry for the long post.

Keep in mind that photography is a huge topic!
Have a look at this: Lenses FAQ, and should answer most of above...
http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html

Failing that, there are a lot of sites for newbies. Just google it and you will come up with http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ , http://www.photozone.de/bindex2.html , www.photonotes.org, and a whole lot more. You can also cull this forum as there is a ton of info on it!

[stopbath]

No. Nothing you can do.

If you want to take a low light image with a compact digital camera without additional light, you will get noise. Also, the camera become tricky to focus at low light levels so the incidence of poorly focused images will increase.

The longer the exposure, the warmer the CCD will become. With that, comes more noise...
Basically, pick one of these: 1) add light, 2) get bigger camera, 3) accept the limitations of the compact digitial.

[reanimated838uk]

:( oh , ah well guess i'll experiment a bit more with it to even it out.

Also im having problems with the custom white balance. I aim it at a piece of plain paper with and without the flash but most of the times, it comes out green or blue even though the LCD shows the right colour. Any ideas why this is.

[robertwgross]

You might try a reflector disc.

They make these collapsible discs in a variety of diameters. Mine is a small 22 inch model.

Get a helper to hold the disc in the sun and reflect that natural light at the subject. It will be natural daylight color, yet not as abrupt as a flash.

---Bob Gross---

[reanimated838uk]

:D not that helpful though out in town especially at night though. :roll: