indoor candid

[cits sesh]

I have been having fun with my point and shoot for about a year now but just this last weekend i picked up an xti. I have been having trouble taking good photos of indoor movement. With the switch from p&s to slr I am tring to leave most of the automatic features behind, so what do you think are some good overall settings to use in an indoor setting with no flash? I was in an airport for about an hour yesterday and i couldn’t seen to capture any good passers. I did also just find this site and have been having fun exploring its contents, I plan on using the critique threads when i get some good chances to shoot.
Dustin

[Skyman]

Welcome to the boards! first off there are guidlines for taking better photos or coping with particular lighting situations but in the end it is all about creative choice! having said that indoor candid shots are a challenging and rewarding subject. Personally I try to avoid using flash for candids as the flash will alert your subject to what you are doing and alter their behaviour thus restricting your opportunity to catch the emotions you are after. so usually the issue is getting enough light. thinking about the space you are in helps. try to get your subjects near a window or brighter light source. if you can't do this, make sure that you are not getting blurred shots by using the guidline that your shutter speed shouldn't be slower than the length of your lens. To achieve this you can either increase the film speed (iso) or use a wider aperture setting (smaller f number) to allow more light to enter the lens. you did say that you are trying to capture motion however. is it your intention to frieze the action or to achieve some blurring to give the sense of motion? the technique described above assumes you wish to frieze the action. if you do not but still want your subject appearing sharp then you can experiment with techniques such as panning (swinging your camera to follow a moving subject whilst using a slower than normal shutter speed) panning is an art in itself. other than that post some examples of shots you are unhappy with in the critique forum and we will suggest more specific things that could be done to improve your shots.

[espressotalk]

Hi, I really like using my Canon 50mm f1.8 prime lens for indoor shots. I keep my camera in Tv mode at 1/100sec or 1/125sec with 400 to 800 iso depending on the available light.

[cyberlord]

For indoor/ low light shots, you will need to set the ISO higher on your camera. If this isn't enough or photos turn out too noisy/grainy, then you might consider a faster (f1.8) prime lens. Canon makes a very nice (optically) 50mm 1.8 lens and it's very reasonably priced.

To freeze motion in low light you really need a faster lens and a shutter speed comparable to the focal length of the camera, to some varying degree (faster motion will require faster shutter etc). Set the camera to Tv mode (shutter priority) and the camera will set the aperture to proper exposure. Above all, experiment and note the exposure settings so you can see what each setting does as it changes.

There are some very good tutorials on this site and others. Grab a beverage of your choice and go read up on aperture and shutter speeds and focal lengths etc. It may seem like a lot at first (it took me several months to absorb it all in to the point I was comfortable with it) but once you get the basics down it will come naturally.

Good luck and enjoy you new toy.. er ah.. tool.

Tim

[cits sesh]

Thanks a lot guys, this was the exact stuff i was looking to find.