Background of photo is dark.......

[lailai68]

I bought a Canon A430 camera a few mths ago. Only uses it a few times in the day. Last wkend i attempted to take a few photo at the Esplanade area at night. To my surprise, the background seem very dark. Only the ppl in the photo can be seen. I try turning off/on the flash light & the problem still remain. I took the photo using the Auto-mode.

Before I click the snap button, the background of the merlion etc can be seen in the LCD displaly, but after i click on the snap button, only the person can be seen in the photo. The background become very dark. Is there a settings or is my camera faulty or the Canon A430 bascially cannot take photo at night.

Hope some of the bros here can advice me..

 

[lailai68]

I bought a Canon A430 camera a few mths ago. Only uses it a few times in the day. Last wkend i attempted to take a few photo at the Esplanade area at night. To my surprise, the background seem very dark. Only the ppl in the photo can be seen. I try turning off/on the flash light & the problem still remain. I took the photo using the Auto-mode.

Before I click the snap button, the background of the merlion etc can be seen in the LCD displaly, but after i click on the snap button, only the person can be seen in the photo. The background become very dark. Is there a settings or is my camera faulty or the Canon A430 bascially cannot take photo at night.

Hope some of the bros here can advice me..

 

[drumma]

i guess one problem could be metering. if not use a slower shutter speed or a higher iso will help..

 

[deckard]

tripod, long exposure, small aperture.

 

[lailai68]

can explain it in more detail pls.. newbie to all these photo stuff..

 

[lailai68]

how to set to slower shutter speed or higher ISO ???

 

[uy_uil]

Hi Lailai68,

perhaps you can try using the night portrait mode where the camera tries to lengthen the shutter speed. this allows more light to enter and as a result, the lights at a distant can be captured.

if you're more adventurous, try palying around with the manual modes in the camera. Reduce the Shutter speed to around 1/15 and turn the flash on. It use to work for me this way, but you have to ensure that you have very steady hands/use a tripod for optimal results, if not the image might turn out to be blurred due to the shakes.

just sharing my opinion, the best way is still to keep practicing! have fun shooting!

 

[lailai68]

okie thanks.. i go try again tonight..

 

[ST_sg]

okie thanks.. i go try again tonight..

Actually nowadays, user manual is the best resources to start with regardless what electornic gadgets you getting...

 

[westwest1]

Actually nowadays, user manual is the best resources to start with regardless what electornic gadgets you getting...

but they dun teach u hw to shoot...

 

[kelccm]

For shooting people at night, the easiest way is to switch the mode to night portrait mode(should be the symbol with a human shape and a star), find a stable support for your camera to rest on (best is a tripod), and ask your subjects to keep still till the shutter click close and not immediately after the flash.

If you just want to shoot still objects at night or indoors, switch to the landscape mode (should the symbol with 2 mountain peaks), find a stable support (tripod still the best), activate the self timer and wait till the shutter has clicked close before you touch the camera again.

What happen when you use the full auto mode is that the camera will always assume that you are just shooting people and will set a minimum speed of 1/60s with flash. While this will prevent shake and ensure that your subjects(people) are nicely exposed, the background will be severly underexposed, thus a black blackground. What you see in the LCD screen have not factor in the flash nor the actual shutter speed used, and it would seem that it looked alright. To properly expose the background will often require longer shutter speed. Using the widest aperture(meaning how big the shutter will open when you press the shoot button), and increasing the ISO(sensor sensitivity) will help to reduce shutter speed. But most of the time it is not enough to prevent handshake. So back to the use of a stable support.

Play around with the landscape mode and night portrait mode 1st. You can always try the manual mode later when you got the hang of aperture and shutter speed.

 

[westwest1]

nice explaination.....

 

[blazer_workz]

Shoot using manual mode..
Set ISO to 400 first (if i'm not wrong ur cam can support up to ISO800)
Set Shutter to 1/60 or 1/30
Set Aperture to f/4-f/5.6
Reduce flash power to half
Shoot and review pic
If subject too bright, change aperture to higher number or reduce flash power by another step..if subject not bright enough, increase flash power first by one step or change aperture to smaller number..
If background not bright, increase ISO to 800..
if u really really need to squeeze more light from the background, u will need a tripod and further lengthen ur shutter speed to around 1/15 or longer..

 

[scramblur11]

I bought a Canon A430 camera a few mths ago. Only uses it a few times in the day. Last wkend i attempted to take a few photo at the Esplanade area at night. To my surprise, the background seem very dark. Only the ppl in the photo can be seen. I try turning off/on the flash light & the problem still remain. I took the photo using the Auto-mode.

Before I click the snap button, the background of the merlion etc can be seen in the LCD displaly, but after i click on the snap button, only the person can be seen in the photo. The background become very dark. Is there a settings or is my camera faulty or the Canon A430 bascially cannot take photo at night.

Hope some of the bros here can advice me..

try using the night snapshot mode in ur cam...

 

[Ivan11]

The darkness at the b/ground is caused probably due to the flash emit by the camera, follow the experts advice, mount it on a tripod with slow shutter and turn off flash (if the ambient light is sufficient to light up the subject), ensure that subject doesn't move before the shutter curtain opens/close, or else it would result in some blurness of the photo.