Blurred photos, please help

[minzy]

Hi all,

New to this forum and new to photography as well.

I was just taking photos at a relative's wedding over the weekend and noticed that a lot of my shots turned out like this!

1) blurred shots
2) ghosting effect (did I use the right term?) around the edges of people
3) not sharp

My equipment:
EOS 40D, 17-55mm IS(rented), 580EX II (rented)

My settings:
Av mode, f5, 1/8secs, ISO100, exposure bias 0 step, focal length 21mm, WB auto


- What did I do wrong?
- What should I do to eliminate the camera blur?


Please help as I am very disappointed to the point of despair when I see so many of my photos having this blurred lines around the people. Lengthy explanations are most welcomed.

Not sharp as well. Thanks in advance.
Really want to learn but still can't quite grasp the right techniques yet.

 

[coolin]

did you read this? http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=309544

in short , just increase your shutter speed to maybe 1/30 or 1/60 and you should be fine.

 

[J-Chan]

My settings:
Av mode, f5, 1/8secs, ISO100, exposure bias 0 step, focal length 21mm, WB auto

There is your problem..

Even though you have a 17-55 IS, you ought to take note of the shutter speed.. Its called motion blur, your subjects are moving and even though you have your flash on, the slow shutter nullifies the "freezing" by flash you may been looking for..

Opening up the aperture or increasing ISO would get you a faster shutter speed..

 

[spheredome]

The quick answer to your agony is that your shutter is too slow. The sharp subject is due to the flash which captures majority of the subject instantly. The ghosting is bec the ambient light marginally illuminates the subjects as they move prior the shutter closes.

 

[ortega]

camera shake due to slow shutter speed while hand holding

to get the same image without the camera shake, increase the shutter speed by 2 or 3 stops
then compensate by increasing the ISO by the same amount of stops

 

[blurry80]

For weddings and such events, if the people are posing for you. you can shoot at 1/40 shutter speed. or else use about 1/80 or more if they are moving about or engaged in games.

Indoors usually the ambient lighting is not enough. 3 options for you ,raise ISO untill you can reach the required shutter or use a flash and you can drag the shutter (alittle more difficult). Google "drag shutter", use flash + high shutter speed above 80 if targets are moving or engaged in activity. Each will have a different effect and appearance up to you to determine which is better.

 

[blurry80]

No hard fast rule on the shutter all depends on the effect you want to create.

 

[catchlights]

Hi all,

New to this forum and new to photography as well.

I was just taking photos at a relative's wedding over the weekend and noticed that a lot of my shots turned out like this!




1) blurred shots
2) ghosting effect (did I use the right term?) around the edges of people
3) not sharp

My equipment:
EOS 40D, 17-55mm IS(rented), 580EX II (rented)

My settings:
Av mode, f5, 1/8secs, ISO100, exposure bias 0 step, focal length 21mm, WB auto


- What did I do wrong?
- What should I do to eliminate the camera blur?


Please help as I am very disappointed to the point of despair when I see so many of my photos having this blurred lines around the people. Lengthy explanations are most welcomed.

Not sharp as well. Thanks in advance.
Really want to learn but still can't quite grasp the right techniques yet.

1/8 sec shutter speed, what do you expect?

 

[Numnumball]

1/8s is way too slow of a shutter for a steady shot handheld.

Dun think even the most pro of all wedding photographers can achieve without evident cam shake in the pics.. Up ur ISO or open up ur aperture to increase the shutter duration..
For me i put to ISO auto mostly, restricted to 1/50s where i can shoot confidently on events/weddings, fiddling ard in A mode, mostly in the range of max A to the sweet spot.

P.s. i like ur avatar pic! It makes my day

 

[catchlights]

why you need ISO 100? why don't you shoot at ISO 800? worry about noise?
if your exposure is spot on, you can't even see the noise at 4R prints, it is acceptable on 8R print also.

 

[Elessar]

may i suggest you pick up a couple of books on the basics of dslr photography from the library. it would seem you are unfamiliar with the handling of a dslr. or better still, if you can afford it, attend a course as the practical sessions would benefit you greatly. don't invest in any more equipment for the time being.

 

[Sispecho]

i use a 30d and still dare to use iso 800 or 1000. dont be too afraid of noise. iso 100 is really killing your flash. and other than that constrained by the shutter speed should u want ambient light.

 

[Jeremy1]

As what I read, shutter speed should be at least 1/focal length to prevent hand shake.

I usually set higher as my hand is not steady. But as time goes by, should be getting more steady.

 

[Reportage]

I am guessing havent read the manual or hit the books.

If in doubt then for speed use 1/lens length used. Since the lens was maximum 55mm then your recommended speed would be 1/60th of a second.

another method would be having them pose for you.

 

[Aidil Omar]

There is a surefire permanent way of solving this problem. I recommend attending a photography class to better grasp the basics of the trade and advance up the knowledge ladder.

In the next few months you'd be the expert and no more problems of this sort or some such. :angel:

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Hi all,


My equipment:
EOS 40D, 17-55mm IS(rented), 580EX II (rented)

My settings:
Av mode, f5, 1/8secs, ISO100, exposure bias 0 step, focal length 21mm, WB auto


- What did I do wrong?
- What should I do to eliminate the camera blur?


Please help as I am very disappointed to the point of despair when I see so many of my photos having this blurred lines around the people. Lengthy explanations are most welcomed.

Just curious if you did try to change any of the settings to see if things improved, or you just stuck with your settings (as stated above), getting all the weird effects, feeling disappointed, but basically still continuing along the same path...?

Further to that, may I ask why, when you have an 18-55 f/3.5-5.6, you chose to rent a 17-55 f/2.8, yet set aperture to f/5 ?

 

[shaoken]

ISO is too low = Have to shoot with slow shutter speed.

A fast answer:
- Bump the ISO to 400 + flash.
- Shoot with a faster shutter speed (1/80, 1/100, 1/125 would be sufficient).

This will be better.

 

[Shin Howard]

Many had shared that it's due to your slow shutter speed.
Did you review your pics on your camera in between shots?
You might be inexperience on shooting event/wedding, hence you might want to practice more for indoor shooting.
MY idea shutter speed with flash for indoor, 1/40 to 1/80.
But that's for me.

 

[minzy]

Hi all,

Surprised to see so many replies. Thank you.

I just realised I had a typo error.
ISO was at 1000, not 100 as what I previously typed.


coolin Yes I did read that set of notes posted by sulhan. Thanks for the link again. Will increase my shutter speed.

thanks j-chan. My ISO was already at 1000 (rather than the 100 I mis-typed earlier)
Opening up my aperture, noted.

spheredome Like your explanation. Will increase my shutter speed to freeze the movement to eliminate the ghosting caused by the ambient light.

ortega How do I increase the shutter speed while in Av mode? By opening up my aperture and ISO speed I still couldn't get the right shutter speed so to speak. But then again, it seems like my f5 was not enough. Should have brought it to a larger aperture. Thanks.

blurry80 will google drag shutter as recommended and thanks for the tip of increasing ISO and to also use flash (which I did but probably wasn't pointing in the right direction since it was a very high ceiling)

Will experiment.

catchlights thanks for the HUGE highlight of my shutter speed. I know my shutter speed was low but despite increasing my ISO , I still couldn't achieve the right one. Anyway yes will open up my aperture.

I used ISO 1000 instead of the 100 I mis-typed. Will also remember that increasing ISO even if it brings on noise is ok for print.

numbumball Thank you for your help. Really. And I love my avatar too =) Cute fella.

sispecho Ok ISO was at 1000. Typo.

jeremy1 ok thanks.

Reportage I have been reading as much as I can, but it still takes a while to fully comprehend what I need since I'm new. Noted your advice. Thanks.

aidil omar Thanks.

zerocoolastra I did try to change my settings but I was in too much of a fluster to correctly note my settings and make the right changes. There were of course shots that turned out sharp especially when the lights came on.

Like I mentioned, I am new to this. So making mistakes would have been part and parcel of it. Anyway thanks for your help.

shaoken Very short and sweet, noted. Thank you. =)

shin howard I did review my shots in between but ultimately as I got excited and flurried and all my relatives asking for their photos to be taken, I guess some must have slipped through and turned out this way as I did not know quickly enough what to change.

Will try what you prefer and I believe my problem would be reduced. Thanks!


Thank you all again for your help. Will practise more and keep all your tips in mind.

 

[gimumancer]

Hi all,

Surprised to see so many replies. Thank you.

I just realised I had a typo error.
ISO was at 1000, not 100 as what I previously typed.


coolin Yes I did read that set of notes posted by sulhan. Thanks for the link again. Will increase my shutter speed.

thanks j-chan. My ISO was already at 1000 (rather than the 100 I mis-typed earlier)
Opening up my aperture, noted.

spheredome Like your explanation. Will increase my shutter speed to freeze the movement to eliminate the ghosting caused by the ambient light.

ortega How do I increase the shutter speed while in Av mode? By opening up my aperture and ISO speed I still couldn't get the right shutter speed so to speak. But then again, it seems like my f5 was not enough. Should have brought it to a larger aperture. Thanks.

blurry80 will google drag shutter as recommended and thanks for the tip of increasing ISO and to also use flash (which I did but probably wasn't pointing in the right direction since it was a very high ceiling)

Will experiment.

catchlights thanks for the HUGE highlight of my shutter speed. I know my shutter speed was low but despite increasing my ISO , I still couldn't achieve the right one. Anyway yes will open up my aperture.

I used ISO 1000 instead of the 100 I mis-typed. Will also remember that increasing ISO even if it brings on noise is ok for print.

numbumball Thank you for your help. Really. And I love my avatar too =) Cute fella.

sispecho Ok ISO was at 1000. Typo.

jeremy1 ok thanks.

Reportage I have been reading as much as I can, but it still takes a while to fully comprehend what I need since I'm new. Noted your advice. Thanks.

aidil omar Thanks.

zerocoolastra I did try to change my settings but I was in too much of a fluster to correctly note my settings and make the right changes. There were of course shots that turned out sharp especially when the lights came on.

Like I mentioned, I am new to this. So making mistakes would have been part and parcel of it. Anyway thanks for your help.

shaoken Very short and sweet, noted. Thank you. =)

shin howard I did review my shots in between but ultimately as I got excited and flurried and all my relatives asking for their photos to be taken, I guess some must have slipped through and turned out this way as I did not know quickly enough what to change.

Will try what you prefer and I believe my problem would be reduced. Thanks!


Thank you all again for your help. Will practise more and keep all your tips in mind.

not familiar with your particular model if you can override the shutter speed during aperture mode..but if you cannot override shutter speed during aperture mode, might as well put in SHUTTER priority mode (think that's tv mode in canon) and set shutter to minimum 1/60 (or use manual so you can still control the aperture while the shutter is set to 1/60)..in Nikon when we use aperture priority and we use flash, 1/60 is the default shutter speed the cam gives, kind of a fool proof way to ensure a good shutter speed...you also have to understand the basics of flash photography..from what i understand, the flash and camera meters the scene separately, the camera does not care if there's a flash or not, it will meter the same whether there's a flash or not, it's the flash that adjusts accordingly (i.e. fire a strong flash or not), i've observed that in canon systems when i tried to borrow from a friend, the cam still give slow shutter even if there's a flash, i think that's what happened in your case..can any CANON bros here confirm on this behaviour? im not too sure that's why it got me thinking, how will you adjust your shutter if you're in aperture mode and using flash for canon entry level cams where you cannot override shutter speed?