Beginner What am i doing wrong now?

friesianfan69

friesianfan69

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769
Name
Donna
Edit My Images
Yes
Ive changed a few settings as advised, but tonight pics are awful.
They are not blurry but really faded and grainy :(
grrr cant load pics as says an error occured





f/4 1/1000
iso 128000 ( automatic )
 
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ISO 128000 would give a clear indication as to why they are grainy...Whoa!
 
Hi Donna,

You will see some kind of grain with the ISO setting of 128000, When setting an exposure in bad light then something will have to suffer. I don't think the images are that bad for grain believe me I've seen a lot worse. (embrace the grain, grain is better than a blurry shot)
 
friesianfan69 said:
Ive changed a few settings as advised, but tonight pics are awful. They are not blurry but really faded and grainy :( grrr cant load pics as says an error occured
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I think your mains dissatisfaction come from the WB that is improperly set.
Is this to your liking?

riesianfanpp.jpg

Set WB to auto to test
f/4… is ok
1/1000… 1/250 should be enough
iso 128000… must be lowered, try Auto.

I would need to know the gear used…
 
Again, you're fighting against totally crap light.

I hate to bang on about this, but you really must understand that crap light needs better gear, awful light requires skill and great gear.

The people who bang on about all the great images shot with modest equipment just idiotically ignore the perfect conditions those images are shot in.

There's no contrast from the lighting as the sky is just overcast, there's not much light so your ISO is so high that you'll get noisy images.
 
But it was set to automatic?
Can I alter it in Lightroom to make the picture better?
Where should my WB be?
 
friesianfan69 said:
Can I alter it in Lightroom to make the picture better?
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Not really, see Phil's comment. When you're fighting crap light the only defence experience (sometimes backed up by better gear).

If you shot raw you might be able to pull up some more detail and lower the noise.

Look for the light, hopefully there'll be some decent light at some point over the holidays. When opportunities present themselves in crap light have a go and don't expect miracles, but make the most of the winter sunshine when you see it.
 
friesianfan69 said:
You will be all glad to hear I'm getting canon 6d book for dummies for Christmas [emoji14]
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One of the most honestly titled photography guides I've seen is Shooting in Sh*tty Light by Erik Valind. No idea if it's any good, but I like the title!
 
Danzaroonie said:
Hi Donna,

You will see some kind of grain with the ISO setting of 128000, When setting an exposure in bad light then something will have to suffer. I don't think the images are that bad for grain believe me I've seen a lot worse. (embrace the grain, grain is better than a blurry shot)
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ISO is 12800 ..... NOT 128,000

the image has just been not taken or processed at all very well

WB on original looks OK
 
This is always a risk when shooting auto, the camera might make bad decisions about what you're shooting
Best advice I would give is get an understanding for the exposure triangle and use one of the priority settings to control shutter or aperture depending on your subject
It's good fun learning it all and will transform your shots which you can have motion blur or nice bokeh or freeze motion.
But the triangle is the key to it all
 
A camera is a box for capturing light, it can only capture what's there.
Large apertures allows more light in, (depending upon what you want, this could be at a cost, by having a shallow depth of field). Some sensors are better at using the available light than others. Like Phil V said, better gear is the way to go. Sometimes you just have to admit defeat.
I recently went on a camera club trip to a brewery. To my eyes it looked quite bright, but according to my camera it wasn't. This restricted my shooting opportunity's, all shots were handheld, with slow shutter speeds, high ISO (well for my camera, that's anything beyond 1,600) and apertures as large as possible on my kit lens. I ended up leaning on things, wedging myself in gaps, resting my camera on things and using the timer, just to stop camera shake and not raise the ISO any higher. In an ideal world I would have better equipment, but that's not possible at the moment.
What I'm trying to say is, do the best with what you've got but don't expect miracles.
 
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I would only really repeat what has been said already. I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with the picture, I assume it is a fair reflection of the actual conditions / light. Any grain will likely be due to the iso chosen. I don't think there is much you can do in lightroom, and I would say that usually the best approach is to get it right at the time rather than trying to fix it later in software. The only other suggestion i have on those would be to crop them, as the blown sky and blue things in the background catch the eye a little as they are the brightest things in the photo so perhaps consider cropping to remove them as much as you can?
 
friesianfan69 said:
But it was set to automatic?
Can I alter it in Lightroom to make the picture better?
Where should my WB be?
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With some practice and a lot of effort you could make them into well processed crap pictures.

I'm not trying to be unkind, the most important lesson in photography is not how to use a camera, or how to use Lightroom, it's learning to 'see' light.

In those conditions and with your kit, I'd forget any chance of an action shot, I'd be looking for a nice background to shoot the rider as an environmental portrait. With my own gear, I'd be getting out some lighting to create something attractive.
 
I don't think it's all to do with the lighting. The angle of attach isn't great and if I think about it I feel like I would want to be in front of the horse just to the right for something a bit more inspiring. The OP also mentioned blur but is likely too far away to achieve this especially with the background being so close.
 
One option might have been to pose your daughter and the horse rather than an "action" shot, and something as simple as a reflector* held by the riding instructor would have given a little more light to lift the exposure of her face. You don't have to take the shot as it presents itself to you, sometimes you need to intervene and create the shot - especially when the circumstances are less than perfect.

* nothing complicated, a reflector can be a piece of white cardboard or some brown card covered with kitchen foil.


PS nothing wrong with shutter priority in low light, but if you do this make sure you're choosing the minimum shutter speed you're comfortable hand-holding. Rather than 1/1000 with a 105mm lens I'd have gone for 1/250.
 
...In fact, just spotted one of your other pics with the exact angle I had in mind when I wrote my last comment:
 
friesianfan69 said:
They are not blurry but really faded and grainy :(
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connersz said:
The OP also mentioned blur but is likely too far away to achieve this especially with the background being so close.
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I think you're misreading it, my reading of the OP's post was that blur wasn't one of the faults. I don't think there was an intent to create a shallow depth of field.
 
Alastair said:
I think you're misreading it, my reading of the OP's post was that blur wasn't one of the faults. I don't think there was an intent to create a shallow depth of field.
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Yes now I have re-read it I agree although a bit of blur could have actually helped separate the subject a bit but I do understand that's not the concern.
 
You've had advice about light and ISO and angles.
My advice is to look at the background of your potential photos and make it better by moving to a different position or clearing up / covering those bright colourful distractions lying by the hedge there.
Even grainy dull evening photos will look less bad with a better composition.
 
boliston said:
Definitely 1/250 rather than 1/1000 as it does not look like a high speed scene :D
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That'd have got the ISO down to 3200, but it'd still lack definition, the background would still be distracting and there'd be no 'pop' to the subject.

Once again, the problem is 'the wrong photo', which is so often the case, and beginners become drawn to taking the perfect example of a picture that's tricky to do, and isn't even that great when done well. This time next year Donna will be taking great pictures and they'll rarely be of a pony on a line.
 
Phil V said:
SNIP.... the most important lesson in photography is not how to use a camera, or how to use Lightroom, it's learning to 'see' light.
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Best advice ever, in my opinion. Look for the interesting lighting. It's not all about the amount of light, but how well it can be used to illuminate the subject and make it stand out. Looking at your pics, you've got a dark-coloured horse against a dark-ish background. The final result can only ever look flat. You made the best of what you had to work with. In the end, if you're successfully capturing memories, then 'art' is a secondary issue as far as I'm concerned.
 
Thankyou everyone, great advice as always.
I see what your saying.
Thanks again for the advice [emoji4]
 
Phil V said:
That'd have got the ISO down to 3200, but it'd still lack definition, the background would still be distracting and there'd be no 'pop' to the subject.

Once again, the problem is 'the wrong photo', which is so often the case, and beginners become drawn to taking the perfect example of a picture that's tricky to do, and isn't even that great when done well. This time next year Donna will be taking great pictures and they'll rarely be of a pony on a line.
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Thankyou :)
 
A better shot. It is stationary and while there is still a lot in the background the DoF is small enough to throw most of it out of focus, but the big difference is that the light is much better.

Dave
 
As @Tringa said, a lot better. The extra light helps a great deal. All I would say is it needs straightening a little.
 
Completely off topic. Do you run this business or are you taking your daughter? My daughter also loves horses!!
 
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