first go round ever with DSLR :) ... you have been warned lol

First pic was just normal with no flash. Still not crisp ...
2nd pic. had flash on but still not sharp and clear ...

shot with Rebel XS and 18-55mm

I am hoping by the end of the thread I will be able to show you 2 clean really clear pics ...

Soooo lets have at it

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The reason why neither pic looks crisp is actually for 2 different reasons.

The first pic looks blurred because the shutter speed was too low. Those are very challenging conditions you're shooting in.

The second photo is actually far better and while it doesn't look crisp all over, the flash has brought in enough light for the camera to increase the shutter speed to a level where your camera can freeze the image. The reason it doesn't look crisp all over is because you only have a tiny part of the image in focus. Look at the word D-Tek - that's perfectly crisp and sharp. Now look at something closer to the camera like the screw on the bottom right - that's mainly out of focus because your depth of field is shallow.

Sorry if you know all this already

It's going to be very difficult to make everything in the frame look sharp, because it will either involve moving your camera back and getting more of the board in shot, or reducing your aperture (increasing your f/number), which will mean putting your camera on a tripod or moving the whole thing to where there's more light - like outside on a sunny day

Yes they are very challenging conditions ... my room has awful lighting

Thanks for the input. I think from what I gathered in reading your post is that for this, I should probably get a tripod for my room shots. Turn up my F number a decent amount more. keep my ISO really high and hope for the best?

if your gonna use a tripod, you don`t need high iso since the tripod will make the camera sturdy. With a tripod you can use slow shutter speeds and get crispy pictures.

edit: since you dont have a tripod, try set the camera on a chair or some books and set the self-timer to 2sec. ( use aperture priority and have a F-stop 5.6-11)

ok, I took all the suggestions so far and think I have come out with some really impressive stuff ... give me like 2-3 minutes to get them loaded and I will show you what I have come up with so far...

Ok using CD holsters I made my own tripod

The first one I impressed myself big time haha I think it looks great and was exactly what I was going for ...
The second came out just a little too bright ...
No flash was used and this was in awful room lighting

1)shutter 3" (I think) F18 ISO 1600
2)shutter 3" F32 ISO 1600

Just was messing around with settings to find the right look.

Also... I have a hell of a time in manual mode to get the lens focused right. I cant ever do it. So, I flip it to auto to get the lens focused and then switch to manual mode and change me settings. Is that a good way of doing it? Am I missing something with the manual focus?

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There is a minimum distance a lens will focus at. printed directly on the lens actually. also, if you are using a tripod (or a chair) make sure to disable the IS feature on your lens.

try with a much lower iso like 100-400 and alittle lower f-stop like 11. would be much better quality.

yes you can autofocus then set it to manual, but just let it stay on auto.

The second photo looks better to me. Just lower the exposure a little in your editing software and it'll look fine.

nüborn wrote in post #10668667
There is a minimum distance a lens will focus at. printed directly on the lens actually. also, if you are using a tripod (or a chair) make sure to disable the IS feature on your lens.

Ok, thanks for the IS tip!

tomme wrote in post #10668671
try with a much lower iso like 100-400 and alittle lower f-stop like 11. would be much better quality.

yes you can autofocus then set it to manual, but just let it stay on auto.

Alright I will try lower F-stop and see how it does

JoYork wrote in post #10668679
The second photo looks better to me. Just lower the exposure a little in your editing software and it'll look fine.

Because I got more on the right side of my water tubing and it is not directly in the middle? That is what I think ... is that what you were thinking?

and set the ISO LOWER, try 200

tomme wrote in post #10668705
and set the ISO LOWER, try 200

I tried 200 ... it came out really dark

The lighting in the room and in my case is really bad. The case is black besides my 2 UV lights inside. I built it that way to give the UV lights more of a presence to shine on the tubing to turn it the blue I like.

I can take some pics to show it off so you can see what I mean if you want ....


EDIT: Also, does shutter time help with making it better? I mean I know it does but is there a cut off on when it wont make it any clearer? what if i tried something around 20" or 30" instead of 5"?

longer shutter speed, more light you let in and lighter the picture will be. thats why you need a tripod, because you cant hold a camera steady for 20" sec . so try a longer shutter speed.

tomme wrote in post #10669055
longer shutter speed, more light you let in and lighter the picture will be. thats why you need a tripod, because you cant hold a camera steady for 20" sec . so try a longer shutter speed.

ah ok .. so the longer the shutter speed the lower the ISO will need to be as well right?

I am gonna need to buy a legit tripod as well ... any ideas on one? I dont think my CD tower 'tripod' will hold up more much more

There are so many on the market and it all depends on your budget
I have a Manfrotto 090XPROB with a 496 head, but all depends on your needs. I suggest you explore the following thread
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=740131