help!

L

LeahP

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Name
Leah
Edit My Images
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I amber trying to take a good portrait of my granny.

I have a canon 40d.

I am in manual setting with an ISO of 100 and aperture of 11. I'm using a 18-55mm lens.

I am inside, it's not too dark. Every time I take a photo it's black! (Lens cover if off).

What am I doing wrong?
 
Post examples, it helps us diagnose the stuff you don't know to share with us.. ;)

But first off,
  1. Come out of M mode and go into Av
  2. Check the exposure compensation is zero (in the middle)
  3. Set the ISO to 400
  4. Set the Aperture to f/5.6
  5. Try again
 
It must be darker than you think, try switching to shutter or aperture priority and get a meter reading. Or just raise the ISO until you get enough light to get a image.
 
I will post images later :)

I did what you said and image is now bright but orange toned and blurry
 
You didn't say what shutter speed the camera was set to at f11? Taking a shot indoors on a brightish but overcast day at 100 ISO with an aperture of f11 could mean a shutter speed of around 1 second, give to take a stop or two either side. If you've got it set to something like 1/250 it's going to look like a black cat in a coal pit!
 
LeahP said:
I will post images later :)

I did what you said and image is now bright but orange toned and blurry
Click to expand...
Sounds like camera shake (using too slow a shutter speed without a tripod or other way of keeping the camera still) and you have the electric light on?
 
Thanks guys. Eliminated camera shake using a Ian jar as a tripod ha! Thanks so much for tips
 
LeahP said:
I will post images later :)

I did what you said and image is now bright but orange toned and blurry
Click to expand...
Fix one thing at a time.. ;)

Now that the exposure is better we can work on other aspects.

On the blurriness, what shutter speed did ISO400 and f/5.6 give you?

On the orange tones, set your white balance to Auto.
 
No problem, it's all part of the learning curve of getting to know what's possible and how to get the best results in any given situation. :) Probably the best thing to do (until you can use your experience) in lowish lighting situations like that is to try a shot with the camera set to auto ISO and see how the shutter speed and aperture numbers look on full Auto. If the results look a bit noisy/grainy, then lower the ISO a click or two and try again, but this will result in having to use a slower shutter speed and/or wider aperture to let more light reach the camera's sensor.

Anyway, today you've just experienced three ways of controlling light to create an image... ISO (but high ISO creates more noise/grain), shutter speed (but slow shutter speeds cause movement to blur the image) and aperture (but this affects the depth of field). You've also seen how these settings inter-relate, and leant how to cope with some of the unwanted effects of this. It's amazing what you can learn while taking a photo of your Gran. Now all you have to do is remember what you've leant and put it to use next time so you can build on that. :) Unfortunately, it's often that last bit I struggle with! :facepalm:
 
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Thanks guys, I'm heading out now but I'll be on again later and will try upload some photos and show you what my shutter speeds were.
 
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