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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Need camera settings help for a charity event tonight-Update
I am volunteering for an event tonight at a local charity house and there was a last minute issue that came up and I offered to bring my camera to take pictures for the event. Problem is I haven't really mastered the camera yet, It's a Canon Rebel XS. I tried playing with some of the settings last night, I think I have them where I want them, but incase I need to change some of the settings cause of lighting is there a quick guide or online tutorial for dummies that anyone can recommend? I would HATE it if these pictures didn't turn out.
Edit: The event was fabulous and all the pictures turned out great...thank you all again.
Re: Need camera settings help for a charity event tonight-Update
honestly, if you don't really know what you're doing, don't mess with settings too much. just put it on Program mode so the camera can think for you.
what kinds of pics are you taking?
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Oh boy...here I go, forgive me if this doesn't make a lot of sense. Since I figure the room will be darker with no natural light, I set my ISO to 800, my shutter speed is at 1/60, I have no idea how to change the f/stop to put an entire image into focus and not have a blurry background....I think it is at f/5 or 6 right now and I need a higher one. As far as the lens, I have the one that came with the camera, which is probably no help to you. I also have an extra, longer lens that is in the camera bag, but I have never used that one...I call it my papparazzi lens. I put the camera in program mode last night while taking some prep pictures in my living room and they came out too dark, which is what made me change the settings up for a better picture.
I'm just a hobbyist (and really only in the summer) but you are in way over your head, I'm sorry to say.
If you have time today, you can take a look at this:
http://sites.google.com/site/biowbiow002/twopeas_12week
To change your aperture settings, look at the top of your camera. There is a dial that is ribbed (you can only see the sides). That changes the aperture. I'd suggest that you put most everything on auto (ISO, white balance, etc.) then set your camera to Aperture Priority mode (Av on the dial where you select Program, Manual, etc.). This way, you can select the aperture opening which controls depth of field while the camera will select the appropriate ISO and shutter speed for you.
ETA: If you have the kit lens, it's an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
It's ok, your honesty is appreciated and it's not like I didn't know...we are just in a pickle and it's an event for children, so I obviously don't want blurry, dark pictures. Thank you for your suggestions, I have some downtime before the event and can change up the settings and mess around with everything unless I get scared and go get my old digital camera. The camera is a recent purchase and I haven't had much time to play around with all its capabilities, a class is on my list of things to do.
what sort of lighting is in the room? you really are going to need a flash, especially with children.
do you have a flash that slides on to the top of the camera?
how high are the ceilings, and are they a dark or light color?
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ok, cameras "come with" different stuff, i just want to make sure you do not have a SEPARATE flash that slides on to the top of your camera... you just have the one that will pop up, correct?
i really need to know what kind of lens you are working with to give you the right advice. if you just lok on the barrel of the lens, there WILL be wording that gives you the info.
for instance, it will say "18-55mm f.3.5-5.6". tell me those numbers. this will help immensely.
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I have the kit lens as PP said so I am almost certain that is the correct lens. I won't know for sure until later this afternoon when I can get a chance to look at it.
That is the kit lens that comes with the Canon.
ill let jax continue to help with the technicals...
but by "local charity house" - what do you mean/where is this place? I doubt it is, but if by chance it's near me, I'd be willing to swing by and help out for a little bit. I'm just so far friggin south and dont have my cameras with me at work today to go straight there.
Med Center, Ronald McDonald House.
if it is that 18-55 lens, you probably really need to just set the camera to P and pop up the flash. there should be a small button with an icon that looks like a lightning streak + arrow. push it and then shoot in P (the flash should pop up).
unless you have a faster lens (2.8 or faster), your pics are not going to be fantastic in low light even if you bump the ISO like crazy.
in using your pop up flash, try and be about 5-12 feet away from your subjects. too close and you can light them TOO much, too far and you won't light them at all (you'll light the stuff in the foreground).
you can play with settings if you like, but realize that you might not get the great pics you want.
for future reference, a good way to get that "pretty" lighting is to use a hotshoe flash (the kind you slide on top of the camera) and point it upward to the ceilingor sideways to a wall so that your light "bounces" and is prettier on your subjects.
edit: where in RMH is it? those ceilings are insanely high in places.
edit #2: if you are in the lit places (the flourescent lighting) you should be fine using the pop up flash because it is pretty bright and the flash won't be like it is in your living room. unless you live in a gymnasium.
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crap. what you might try...with jax suggesting an external flash/faster lens...
see if you can get in touch with brad over at www.photorentalsource.com - might be able to rent something. he's local.
Yeah, the original plans fell thru last minute, so I jumped in....here is my main concern and I am not sure where it will be set up until I get there. We are having a backdrop that is going along with the theme for the night, think high school prom, and having the families pose in front of it and have their pics taken, I have my tripod for this. THAT is my main concern, cause from there those pics will be framed and given to the families. I have no clue what the light will be like or ceiling height, I can only guess based on the space I have seen before. Any other pics I am almost certain will be in the eating area, since we are serving dinner, which are right next to each other on the main floor.
I haven't read every response to this because I think you've probably got it covered by now. But I will add (if it's not already stated) that if you're in a room with 15ft ceilings and you only have a pop up flash, you had better be pretty close to your subjects. Without any bells and whistles, an additional flash is only going to give you about a 10ft range ahead of you. Throw in those ceilings and nothing to bounce that light off of and you're going to lose a ton of light when you fire your camera.
And it seems like you might want to hear this based on a response to someone trying to help you earlier, but I think that even if you tried to shoot on anything but program you're still going to have a problem. Even in manual your camera is going to try and tell you what your best settings are (as it would in program), and unless you know your lens and math and can manipulate those rules well, you might be fidgeting with your dials more than you will be shooting.
I'm not saying you're over your head, I just wouldn't take it off of program and get much closer to what you shoot.
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