pic help!!

say anything off key and that I'm not the 'he-whose-name-shall-not-be-mentioned' that you are referring to. Wouldn't want to offend anyone, particularly when I have no clue as to what I have done wrong. I do know that I was the first to respond to the post which had made it's way to almost the bottom of the page, and it appears by the time of comments, that you were the next poster. So I hope you understand why I am concerned that you might have had me in mind.

I did as much as I could do with my current knowledge with the information provided - even took time to provide an example. I do not think this post would have even been acknowledged if I had not responded - because it was quickly escaping to the second page.

Hopefully, your comment is related to something else (or someone else) - but just wanted to make certain that all was well.

You know, it's so hard sometimes in this mode to get our feelings across and many times we are misunderstood. We can't tell if someone is saying a cheery 'Hello' or a muffled, 'Hello'. One of these days I am certain that we'll all be talking online rather than typing!! Then again, that might not be a good thing either.

As to photography, I too have issues with my H2 in dim lighting. Taking indoor shots is tricky. I had a HUGE spiderweb yesterday that I tried to capture (outside of course!), but it was getting dusky and the photo didn't turn out as I hoped. I kept it - but only as a motivator.

--
Sky

'With the dawn of digital cameras, there are no 'negatives' to photography.' ~ Sky

 
I made the comment to my daughters coach, is there anyway you can get them to all freeze and look at me for about 2 seconds in a volleyball position? Luckily I have known her long enough she didn't hit me....she just rolled her eyes and told me to go play with my camera somewhere else. :-)

Then she YELLED at my husband for letting me buy a new camera( she was happy last season when mine broke)
 
Just needed to make one amendment. This post was 4 hours old (give or take) when I responded to it. Currently, the posts go out several more hours past that - therefore this post wasn't completely in the bottom tier - but I remember it being fairly far down.

--
Sky

'With the dawn of digital cameras, there are no 'negatives' to photography.' ~ Sky

 
You can use software like Picassa2 to tweak them some, but overall, I think these shots are quite good. Imagine if you didn't have a super-zoom camera!

What helps me is if I use P Mode and largest size picture possible, set my WB and use auto ISO. If you shoot wide and then crop, sometimes pictures comes out best. You can also bump up the EV level by +7 and that could help, too.

If you are having problems taking pictures, you can do what I do, and switch to video mode and just take video.

You have to realize you are dealing with low-light and fast action. Believe me, if you had a camera like the P200 like I used to have, this shot would not have been possible.

Again, I think these shots are really good. If you are selling these pictures as a professional, then you'll need to address some issues, but if this is just going up for keepsakes... capturing a moment, then I think you've done great.
 
Thanks so much, these are just keepsakes for me and my daughter. I will try some tweaking of my settings and see if I can get a bit better! Thanks again!
 
... find a
way to steady the camera. A tripod is probably just in the way at
these events and not feasible to setup and get action shots. I have
had good luck with soccor shots using a tripod with a ball head on
it. You can use the ballhead just slightly looser than it takes to
move the cam and press down on the monop[od with the cam to keep it
rather steady and this allows you to aim...shoot..reaim...shoot with
reasonable steadyness.
Uh - how does that help with a subject that moves? You can steady the
camera, but you can't steady the athletes. Well, you can, but a game
with deep-frozen players would probably be very boring to watch... ;-)
DUh- You can't control the action of the athletes. But she is shooting under low light conditions which means she is going to have to use slower shutter speeds. Slower shutter speeds equal more blur from "Camera Movement"! So trying to keep the camera as steady as possible only makes sense. Correct? You can only do so much in these poor lighting situations, why add to it with camera blur? If I'm shooting a night scene with no action without a tripod theres a good chance the photo will end up blurry from camera movement handheld. Right? That's why I have a tripod and remote shutter releases.
Bill

--
Bill B
http://www.pbase.com/bill_b
 
Add to that the fact that you need a very quick autofocus, and you're
in DSLR country even more - non-DSLR digicams' autofocus systems are
just not quick enough to focus on moving subjects.
Stefan...I agree with everything you wrote up to this point. But taking sports shots can be achieved by mastering the half-press focus combined with the art of "Anticipation" of the shot coming up.
Bill
--
Bill B
http://www.pbase.com/bill_b
 
I am going to agree with you Bill because I think that Sue would have responded by now if that were the case. Still, I was concerned. I am a big fan of her photos. Always brilliant.

Thanks for your comment, Bill and reassurance!

--
Sky

 
Add to that the fact that you need a very quick autofocus, and you're

in DSLR country even more - non-DSLR digicams' autofocus systems > > are just not quick enough to focus on moving subjects.
Stefan...I agree with everything you wrote up to this point. But
taking sports shots can be achieved by mastering the half-press focus
combined with the art of "Anticipation" of the shot coming up.
Yes, that's right. For some situations this works; if you can anticipate (as you wrote) where the action will be in a moment. But that's only a workaround for that problem, not a true solution. And it won't work well in a fluid situation such as a most ball games (basketball, handball, ...) where the action is where the ball is, and the ball moves over large parts of the field quickly. You can still get some good shots of the players, but you'll have a hard time catching the one decisive scene where one team strikes a goal or a point.
--
Stefan Hundhammer
Sony R1 and T10
 
Yes, that's right. For some situations this works; if you can
anticipate (as you wrote) where the action will be in a moment. But
that's only a workaround for that problem, not a true solution. And
it won't work well in a fluid situation such as a most ball games
(basketball, handball, ...) where the action is where the ball is,
and the ball moves over large parts of the field quickly. You can
still get some good shots of the players, but you'll have a hard time
catching the one decisive scene where one team strikes a goal or a
point.
You have a point. I've really only taken high school soccor shots which really isn't that bad as far as follwoing the action.
--
Bill B
http://www.pbase.com/bill_b
 
I was hoping you would get some good information from some of the
people who say "there are PLENTY of experts on this list who will
help out if a poster has a problem". I've yet to see any one of those
people step up if it's an H7/9 question
Sorry I can't be more helpful....but if one of those experts who
promised they could help just as much as
he-whose-name-shall-not-be-mentioned would just speak up, as
promised....maybe they would be so kind as to give you some more
useful information. Or were they just blowing smoke?
I honestly do not want to start a war again...but I don't think these
people who said they could help as much as you-know-who even bother
to READ a post about the H7 or H9, and since they don't own
one....they don't know as much as they think they do. They just tell
us that cameras are basically all the same, which is true only to a
point.

I'd love to see someone give this poster some truly helpful
information that actually pertains to the camera he/she HAS.

Sue
I'm indeed one of those to whom you are referring Sue.

Looking at the time of the original post, I had already been on the road this morning for 2 hours when it was posted (spent 8 of my 12 working hours today driving in the rain - yuck). Logged on tonight to see what was up on STF, and this was the second thread I opened. I was going to start a reply to the OP, but unfortunately happened upon yours here first.

You know, I came here tonight thinking that perhaps I could help make someone's day, but instead You Made Mine. (Not)

R2

--
*
You are free to offer critique of any of my images.
Editing and reposting them on this forum is permitted, and even encouraged.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries
 
Sometimes I feel so .......dense and slow. I finally understood. Took me all day and after R2's post, I understood everything clearly.

Thanks again.
--
Sky

 
I was hoping you would get some good information from some of the
people who say "there are PLENTY of experts on this list who will
help out if a poster has a problem". I've yet to see any one of those
people step up if it's an H7/9 question, so I'll just tell you my own
experiences. You won't like it.
You want an expert? Sorry, the best I can do is me.

How do you shoot indoor sports with a digicam? It's tough. You're not going to do it at ISO 80, that's for sure. Here's the one, single thing you'll need-

1/250 sec, at the very minimum.

The camera goes in aperture priority. Set the lens to it's widest aperture (The lowest "f/stop"), then dial in the minimum ISO necessary to get you at least 1/250 sec.

That's all there is to it.

You can lower the ISO and get a slower shutter speed, so you'll have less noise and blurry subjects, or you can do what you have to do to get the 1/250 (at least) that you'll need and end up with noise.

Noise can be dealt with, blurry subjects can not, so I say do what you have to do to get the shutter speed you'll need.

I know, it's a tough row to hoe, but indoor sports is never easy, especially with a digicam.

Sorry, there is no easy answer, other than investing in a DSLR and some fast lenses. I know this isn't the answer you're looking for, and I'm sorry.

Cheers
At this phase in my life, I'll settle for a talking frog...

rich
http://www.iceninephotography.com
 

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