What's wrong with these?

[scott1120]

Cheetah: Is this lens flare or camera motion?
Girl: Can this be fixed or is the camera shake too much?

just when I thought I was getting better at photog skills I get produce some bad shots.

[amadjuster]

The Cheetah was taken at 1/13th with a telephoto. Rule of thumb is to use a shutter speed equal to the focal length, 1/250 or more for a 200mm lens. The shutter speed on the girl was 1/20, also slow for a hand held shot. These can be tough with a stabilized lens. Try increasing the ISO and shoot at a higher shutter speed or use the fill flash on your D50, which will set the shutter to 1/60.

[RandySmith]

Scott,

Not familiar with the D50, but per the exif data in your pictures:

Cheetah - f5.3, lens was set at 250mm, and shutter speed 10/130 ...

Little girl - f4.2, lens was set at 105mm, and shutter speed was 10/200 ...

It has been told to me that the shutter speed shouldn't be less than 1/(lens), ie: if lens is 250mm, then the slowest shutter speed should be 1/250 ... unless of course you have it on a tripod then it would be okay providing you weren't trying to capture something moving.

I don't know exactly why the numerator in the exif data is showing 10 ... do you know what shutter speeds you were using ? Also, it didn't show the iso settings either. If you have a low iso (100) the shutter speed will be longer than if you bump that up to say 400, 800, etc.

Hope this helps.
Randy

[xseption]

Originally Posted by scott1120

just when I thought I was getting better at photog skills I get produce some bad shots.

I have been shooting for a few years now and I still get bad shots

[amadjuster]

Originally Posted by RandySmith

Scott,

Not familiar with the D50, but per the exif data in your pictures:

Cheetah - f5.3, lens was set at 250mm, and shutter speed 10/130 ...

Little girl - f4.2, lens was set at 105mm, and shutter speed was 10/200 ...

It has been told to me that the shutter speed shouldn't be less than 1/(lens), ie: if lens is 250mm, then the slowest shutter speed should be 1/250 ... unless of course you have it on a tripod then it would be okay providing you weren't trying to capture something moving.

I don't know exactly why the numerator in the exif data is showing 10 ... do you know what shutter speeds you were using ? Also, it didn't show the iso settings either. If you have a low iso (100) the shutter speed will be longer than if you bump that up to say 400, 800, etc.

Hope this helps.
Randy

Randy, what EXIF program are you using? Mine is Panda and it shows the normal fraction of 1/13 (I didn't know a camera had a 1/13!) and 1/20. Yours is showing the same, except in 10's. Strange.

[scott1120]

I was shooting at ISO 200. Since it was overcast I guess should have bumped it up. I am going to switch to manual, because keeping it on AV is not getting it done. Does anybody know of any plug-ins for CS2 that might help with the camera shake in the shot of my youngest, I really like that shot?

[RandySmith]

Scott -

You might try Noise Ninja, and there are others as well ... I believe you might have a free trial period too. Although, I am not certain it's going to totally fix the camera shake. Those programs are designed to optimize photos that have a 'little' aberation that with help to be corrected with some of the software algorithms ... but unfortunately, it can't fix it all ... don't worry about not being perfect, I shoot an enormous amount for the school where I live, and for the local paper and my ratio is better than when I started, but by no means is it 100%. What I try to do though, is minimize my obvious mistakes by making sure I have a fast enough shutter speed to minimize camera shake, make sure I lock focus on the "eyes" of the kids, and I try to have the photo tell a story all by itself. Of course I'm not 100% successful, but I try, and I keep on trying. Don't dispair, there are a lot of really good photog's here on this forum that are willing to share their wisdoms with you when they can. I realize you like that photo of your youngest, but why not try to capture some others ? I'll bet you can and will create some for unforgettable images of your daughter that will blow that one away ... just keep trying, and get to have fun with you in the experience ... ask "her" for ideas ... some of my favorite picture ideas have come from kids themselves.

take care.
Randy

[AndrewCCM]

Yeah as previously stated.. Keep an eye on that shutter speed. There really isn't a fix for motion blur other than shooting at a manageable speed.. The rule of thumb listed above usually works. ie, shooting at 60mm you'll need at least 1/60th Shutter.

[Kathi]

one idea to "fix" the girl... use "watercolor" filter in PS... I've done that before... turned out beautifully...

[xseption]

Originally Posted by Kathi

one idea to "fix" the girl... use "watercolor" filter in PS... I've done that before... turned out beautifully...

I did the same with flowers and it worked beautifully:

[Kathi]

Beautiful, Edd!!!

[scott1120]

Originally Posted by RandySmith

Scott -

You might try Noise Ninja, and there are others as well ... I believe you might have a free trial period too. Although, I am not certain it's going to totally fix the camera shake. Those programs are designed to optimize photos that have a 'little' aberation that with help to be corrected with some of the software algorithms ... but unfortunately, it can't fix it all ... don't worry about not being perfect, I shoot an enormous amount for the school where I live, and for the local paper and my ratio is better than when I started, but by no means is it 100%. What I try to do though, is minimize my obvious mistakes by making sure I have a fast enough shutter speed to minimize camera shake, make sure I lock focus on the "eyes" of the kids, and I try to have the photo tell a story all by itself. Of course I'm not 100% successful, but I try, and I keep on trying. Don't dispair, there are a lot of really good photog's here on this forum that are willing to share their wisdoms with you when they can. I realize you like that photo of your youngest, but why not try to capture some others ? I'll bet you can and will create some for unforgettable images of your daughter that will blow that one away ... just keep trying, and get to have fun with you in the experience ... ask "her" for ideas ... some of my favorite picture ideas have come from kids themselves.

take care.
Randy

I think part of my problem is I am not patient enough. For the "candid" shots, I don't know the camera good enough yet. It's just memory space, so I need to just keep clicking away.