Shutter speed and ISO

Hi guys,

Just need a bit of an advice here re: shutter speed and ISO.

I like taking pictures of my kids at play and don't have problems with it when the flash is on. However, when the flash is off, pictures really get hazy. I try increasing up the shutter speed but still the same thing happens.

I also tried increasing the ISO during low light conditions and at the same time increasing the shutter speed. What happens is that some photos just came out blank especially when ISO is at 200 and shutter speed is more than 400.

Can someone explain why is this so? and what settings should be used when taking action shots during daytime outdoors and nighttime indoors without the flash. I am using an A620.

Thanks in advance!

God bless!

DeoP said:

Hi guys,

Just need a bit of an advice here re: shutter speed and ISO.

I like taking pictures of my kids at play and don't have problems
with it when the flash is on. However, when the flash is off,
pictures really get hazy. I try increasing up the shutter speed but
still the same thing happens.

You should be decreasing your shutter speed to capture more
light. Of coarse theres a fine line here because to slow and
your childrens actions will be blurred.

Click to expand...

DeoP said:

I also tried increasing the ISO during low light conditions and at
the same time increasing the shutter speed. What happens is that
some photos just came out blank especially when ISO is at 200 and
shutter speed is more than 400.

Click to expand...

DeoP said:

Your statement above is two fold. Gaining up ISO and shutterspeed
at the same time will help you catch more of there action, but
will not increase your lighting. (rob peter to pay paul).
Sounds like to me that might not be enough light at 1/400.
At that ISO try some where around 1/100 to 1/10 range, indoor
of coarse if your not using flash. Bewarned though falling that
low a shutterspeed of loosing action shots. A simple head turn
on that type of camera is give or take in the 1/100 range with
the lens wide open. These are almost impossible shots, capturing
indoor no-flash action shots without good lighting. Hope this
helps some.

Click to expand...

DeoP said:

Can someone explain why is this so? and what settings should be
used when taking action shots during daytime outdoors and nighttime
indoors without the flash. I am using an A620.

Thanks in advance!

God bless!

Click to expand...

--
Keith Lawrence
Perryville,Mo. USA

http://www.pbase.com/keithallenlaw

Canon Powershot S2
Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 115 (film)

Thanks Keith.

Am I right in assuming that high ISO and shutterspeed is a bad combination resulting to darker images/shots? and that high shutterspeed will only work well under sunny or bright conditions?

Exposure is made up of three components - Aperture/Shutter Speed/ISO. Every scene has a specific exposure. If one of the three variables change, the other variables must change to compensate.

For example, if you are outside on a sunny day, a given scene might meter to be f8/500/@100ISO. If you want to change your Aperture to f11 to increase depth of field, that would be a one stop change. The shutter speed and or ISO must also be changed to compensate to give the equivalent exposure. In this case, if you wanted to keep shutter speed high at 1/500, you could change the ISO one stop. The exposure settings then would change to f11/500/@200ISO. Or if you wanted to reduce depth of field, and keep ISO at 100, then you would have f5.8/1000/@100ISO. All three examples have equivalent exposures, but each image has the potential to be different with different DOF's, different motions, or different "noise" levels.

If you are trying to capture kids, the minimum shutter speed should be 1/500. The faster the better. If your aperture is already fairly open at f5.6 of f4.5, but your meter is under, don't hesitate to bump your ISO up. ISO 800 still looks real good with today's cameras. ISO 1600 still isn't bad - I've used it for low light hand-held shots that I converted to B&W.

CPNW

Gee, Charles that was a great explanation!

I actually have my camera beside me at the moment and was trying to follow what you have written, and it perfectly answered my question. Thanks a lot!

God bless!