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Hi Sharen, i think the suggestions from the others are a great place to start, basically you need think along the lines of that your camera is attempting to capture enough light to generate a clear and well lit image.
At night time, just as humans don't see as well as in the daytime, so does the camera suffer from lack of light, the pupils in our eyes widen to allow more light to enter, and our brain also fills in a lot of gaps to allow us to see at night, the camera also needs adjustments to help see in the dark.
As mentioned before by a previous poster, In basic terms you can make your camera more sensitive to light (increasing the ISO) the downside can be degrading of picture quality (noise or grain in the image) at high ISO, new cameras these days are very good at avoiding such noise so don't be afraid to try, anyway, the way i look at it is, a slightly noisy pic, is better than NO pic at all.
The other thing (also as mentioned) is to allow time for the camera sensor to absorb more light with a slower shutter speed, if you keep the shutter open for long enough you can make night look like day, this method however, is not practical for fast moving objects as it will introduce blur (as you have already seen)
Using a zoom lens on full zoom will often reduce the cameras ability to absorb any available light, try to use use a low f-stop or fast lens (need less light) that operates down to a small "f" number (normally the f-stop is written in the outside of the lens), use it on minimal zoom, sure your image may be further away, but you will have the best shot at getting something you can use, even if it means cropping the image in the PC later to make the subject appear closer.
You can also help your camera by positioning yourself so you are shooting with any available light (such as a track light) behind you, the light behind you will help light the subject, but if you shoot toward a light, the camera may see this light as the overall light available for the image, and if the light is quite bright, the camera will do what our eyes do when we look into a bright light (like when we squint), and so the camera will try and darken the whole image down, this will result in everything you wish to capture looking dull and dark.
The other way to get more light at night is of course by using a flash, unfortunately most standard camera flashes do not work over a very long distance, nor give very much control, a extra external flash is the best way, but will cost more money, and add bulk to your camera/bag, plus external flashes require extra batteries to operate, flash can also be a art in itself to master, and can also annoy the hell out of people having them "pop" off in their face all the time.
Last edited by 04OFF; 26th October 2015 at 09:37 PM.
Thanks Heaps !! greatly appreciate the laymen terms
So my guess would be definitely lighting was my major problem the other night as we were in the stands at the end of the back straight with at least 4 sets of spotties facing us and had the lens zoomed right in ... Yeah my ex husband had a seperate flash for his camera and used to annoy the crap out of me, let alone the people beside us at dog shows.
I don't want to be an expert, just to manage a decent pic would be great 🏼
Speaking of pics - I need to go check out your threads and see how your rebuild finished up ......
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NISSANS Rulz .... "Amelia" the 2006 4.2ltr Patrol Ute & "Seamus" the 2008 3ltr Patrol Wagon
Thanks Heaps !! greatly appreciate the laymen terms
I don't want to be an expert, just to manage a decent pic would be great 🏼
When shooting that sort of thing at night, I would follow Kevs advice above. The Nikon system has an "auto ISO" function, I use it for 90% of my shots. I have a D7200 so assume the 7100 is similar.:
Turn the camera on and press the menu button,go to the photo shooting menu by using the scroll button (the small camera icon on the left hand side) and press the right hand side of the scroll wheel, move down the displayed options until you highlight "ISO sensitivity settings and click the right hand side of the scroll wheel again,a further range of options will now show. the third one down is Auto iso,press the right hand side of the scroll wheel again and select on. Go back one step and then you can select a max iso from the fourth option down and a minimum shutter speed from the fifth.
For night shooting I would max out at 6400 ISO and the subjects you want to shoot need maybe 1/500th, try these settings. and see how you go on, you may need more or less shutter speed. Only you know how dark it actually is out there.
The good side to this is that you don`t have to worry about iso settings, the camera does that for you, so stick it in "S" mode then follow the other guys advice. Personally, I would shoot this in manual mode, some people seem fazed by manual mode, but it is quite easy if auto iso is enabled. I will happily run it through with you if you like. The down side is that high iso does produce a grainy image, as Kev says above, a grainy image is better than a blurred one.
Best of luck and keep at it, help is always at hand.
It is now official, we are not quite so sh@t at cricket as we were! Rugby Union is a different matter.
A bit of a thread excavation. Well, I'm out of action for another three weeks, so I am trying to learn my new camera. I have a Canon 1500D with a standard 18-55mm and scored a 75-300mm zoom lens on special.
I am trying to catologue as many bird species that live on my property as I can. I will need to get a better zoom lens for the more shy species, so any advice on what to go for would be appreciated.
These pictures were taken in auto mode and sports mode with the 75-300 lens.