G6 and newbie with newborn

Hi all,

New to this forum and hoping to find some help. I'm just starting out with photography - the impetus was basically wanting to take good quality photos of our new son as he grows up!

I've been told I should not use a flash on a newborn baby for a few months, especially on open eyes. However, a lot of our pics are in low lighting at night - in the crib for example - plus you've got a baby moving and twitching, etc. Is this combination a recipe for disaster? What settings on my G6 could help me take a picture in all of these conditions without a flash?

Even with a tripod I can't seem to get a focus with the baby about 3 feet away either - difficulty in getting a lock sometimes too. I was told that the G6 was not that good in low light focussing...

Actually, in general (in anything less than bright daylight, that is), when not using a flash, I find that my pictures just aren't that sharp. Do I need a higher shutter speed and higher ISO?

Well, you can tell by my rambling that I'm a bit lost. Any tips would be appreciated!

Regards
Ken

Welcome to the forum!

If you can post some examples of the images you're having trouble with, folks here will have a better reference for making suggestions. From your description, it could be either (or both) focus or motion blur.
For focus, have you experimented with the manual focus? Also, the focus-bracketing option may help (check pages 115 and 103, respectively, in the manual for more info on each).
For motion blur, the tripod will certainly help to reduce or eliminate any motion of the camera, but if the subject is moving, you will still have troubles at slow shutter speeds. You can try ISO 200 and 400, though you'll definitely want to run a noise-reducing program on the images at 400.

I'd never heard the warning about flash with infants--good to know! Do you know if it is specifically about direct flash? If so, a possibility would be to bounce the flash off the ceiling, to diffuse it. There are many ways to do this--my crude/cheap method is to hold a 3x5 index card in front of the flash, at a 45 degree angle to it, so the light comes out, hits the card, and reflects straight up. Some of the light will also go through the card, but it will be strongly reduced. Try it on another family member and see if that will work.
Since you do have an interest in photographing your family, and much of that will be indoors, I think you would really benefit from an external flash. It's often one of the top-three recommended accessories on this forum. I don't have one (mostly outdoor) so I don't have specific recommendations, but there are a ton of threads on this forum discussing different canon and third-party models. I would suggest a flash that can pivot as well as adjusting vertically--this could be especially useful for bouncing the flash off walls/ceilings for a softer flash on the subject.

Hey Ken-

Try posting a few examples of pictures that you're not happy with and you'll get quite a few suggestions on improving them.

I would suggest you try using available light as much as possible. Lay the kiddo on a blanket near a window or door. You can try messing with homemade reflectors too. I'll attach a picture I took with my G3 not long after my daughter was born. I only had the light coming in from the window to the left.

If you have it in your budget, I would sure recommend getting an external flash. Get one that bounces and you won't have any problems.

I love my G6. Low light focusing isn't good on any point and shoot camera, except for the sony's with the hologram. Just try to make sure there is enough light.

good luck!

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bounce the flash off the celiing with some folded up peices of white paper.

nick kelsh ahs written some very basic, easy to read books on how to take pictures using point and shoots and the like.

Here is his website
http://www.kidsbykelsh​.com/slide14.html

and the book i bought is
http://www.amazon.com …08955/002-6150918-6253650

On amazon its only 15$ and ill tell you its worth every penny. he talks very simply and uses no technical talk. the books are ejoyable to read. Trust me youll learn a ton. I did.

here is a picture i took after reading his book... (although it looks slightly funky as i have posted it (it looks blocky in some parts for some reason, probably compressed it too much) but you get the idea. my before pics were much worse.

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Ken ...

Probably our best solution (I share the problem with regard to my 2-week old Granddaughter) is to simply take 100's of pictures of the baby with the notion that (maybe) one of them will have captured the expression that we were looking for!

Low light situations coupled with a moving baby coupled with an ISO of 50 makes for a difficult picture taking environment. Things I've tried with my G5 include: Manual/Tv setting at f1/60 and then push-process thru Photoshop because there will never be enough light; Increase ISO to 100/200 and then apply a softening/anti-noise filter; a home-made bounce card for the G5's built-in flash - a cheap alternative to a 420EX which didn't really work well for me; setting focus to manual or setting up a hyperfocal to eliminate the auto-focus time (helpful depending on your distance from the baby).

So far, I haven't found a good substitute for not having enough light or for making my G5 responsive enough (from an ISO/lens aperture) standpoint to get "consistent" results - But then I look back at the 24 year old pictures of my daughters taken with my motorized, manually focused, fast lens equipped, film Nikon equipped with push-processed Tri-X - While my percentage of acceptable shots was higher, the solution which worked the best was to just take 100's of shots (after all, when they're of your son, daughter or grand-daughter, they're all keepers!).

(I figure that I've got about 300 shots of my granddaughter so far - my favorite available light shot is attached - this one set with manual focus, f1/60)

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Hello all,


Thanks for your replies! Being so busy with the newborn, unfortunately I haven't had much to get back until now. Here are some shots I took with the G6.

The light wasn't all that dim in both shots so I thought I should be able to receive a better focus than what I got...any tips?

It sounds like a tough problem to crack - I think I'll try the white card flash bounce for now and meanwhile check out which external flash would be right for me.

I'm very impressed with the photos you guys can achieve - just inpires me to delve into this more. Thanks for your patience and help!

Sincerely,
Ken

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ncie shot. In that book i was talking about he discusses several items:
1. Using good light (can be found by a window with no direct sunlight,doorway,car, etc)
2. Take hundreds of pictures. since it is digital you can always throw em out. you will eventually get a good one
3. get in close. if youa re taking a picture of your baby, fill the frame with the baby, not bikes, or couch etc.
Here is nother pic i took of my son when he was younger. It would have been better if i knew what i know now (better lighting, etc..)
Like I said the best way is to read that book. its a fun read and more importantly its inspiring.

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That is no joke!

Nice pictures...I think the blur in the first picture is probably shutter speed and not focus related.

I think the second picture is great, and would certainly be frame worthy minus the bottle. Looks like you've got quite a photogenic little one!

Hi guys,

I tried the white card flash bounce and it worked well enough that I was inspired to buy a 420EX. Although it looks kinda funny sitting on the G6, I'm now pretty happy with the result.

The pictures are a lot more in focus and I am able to up the shutter speed a bit to get a clearer picture. I have a question: Should I set the White Balance to "flash" or leave it on auto...or...?

I do wish that the G6 was better focussing in low light. It also seems I have more difficulty focussing as I zoom towards the telephoto end.

Getting the flash was a great investment, I think. Hopefully I can also use down the road as I have my eyes on the 350D...but at my skill level that might be overkill! I was debating to get either a 30V (or Elan 7NE it's called, I think) or 300x (Rebel T2) instead, but I think by the time I develop all that film, it might as well just be the same as getting a digital. But that's for another thread.

I'll attach a picture of our son (3 weeks now!) here. I'm not pretending that I have any talent - I'm just happy that it was more or less in focus! The shot was taken in a fairly dim room but the flash helped out a lot. To me it looks pretty good but any comments on it are welcome.

Thx for listening

Ken

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Ken,

welcome to the forum!

the last photo is precious!!!
Very well done!

Best regards,
Andy

PS: My wife would beat me up if I did that. According to her belief (Taiwan), it will bring bad luck if you take a photo of a sleeping baby

Ken,
That looks great! it looks like natural light, rather than the harsh case from the built-in flash.
For the white balance: I haven't used an external flash, but I'm guessing on AWB, the camera evaluates that before you shoot, without the flash, so you might be better off setting the WB to flash.
Alternatively, you can shoot in RAW and adjust the white balance more precisely during conversion. RAW isn't as complex as it sounds--I'm relatively new to it myself, but am rapidly becoming comfortable with it. I'd highly recommend using RAWShooter Essentials from www.pixmantec.com; the workflow is extremely simple! I've been amazed by the capabilites of the G6 in raw.

Nice photo.

The towel how ever looks like its blown. Might want to play with exposure compensation next time.