93 of 96 shots are noisy and blurry... please help me

I was shooting the most beautiful fall leaves on a cloudy day, slightly breezy, but I had a tripod. I waited until the air

stopped for a second and shot. Most are noisy and blurry, some are noisy if not blurry and some are just ridiculously

focused on the wrong thing. I've accepted that I have "focusing blues" but I want to shoot in light other than a super-

nova of sunlight, or directly under halogens. I am using a Canon G9, in RAW, ISO 80 for all, f2.8 or f5.0, 1/60th to

1/25th. I used my flash, at varying strengths, but they all look rotten. I can't manually focus on things correctly even

with focus bracketing. Sigh. M

Without any samples posted, I cannot help you much.

I'm not sure I'm supposed to attach files, but here goes. (Admin, I apologize if I did this wrong.) M<div></div>

I have other shots that I will post in my gallery so they don't pollute here. M<div></div>

I don't think they are blurry or noisy (now posted in gallery), just shot with a very shallow DOF (f2.8) and the

focus isn't where you expected it.

it is a very shallow depth of field. try to use auto focus if you can. take a few samples, read your manual and take it from there. the meter can be quite easy to fool with a point and shoot camera and often cloudy conditions could prove tricky at low iso. i did not notice any noise in the samples you posted.

I agree with the very shallow dof to fix this use F6 -F8 no flash and a longer exposure when you use the flash its going to to shoot faster and if you want it all in focus speed isn't what you need

 

 

Amber

Some parts are tack sharp, so I'm with the others on shallow DoF. Plus the breeze doesn't totally stop, so at your shutter speeds you're getting motion blur. The noise isn't showing on my monitor, just some attractive fall color shots

It looks more like you might need a better understanding of how your camera operates (including the various functions available to you) and some more practice.

 

The nice thing about digital is that it costs you only your time to practice, practice, practice!

Ok. Thanks everyone. Maybe I should get new glasses?

Be careful with flash, it can create more problems than it solves. It's NOT natural, so your shots will look NOT

natural. Hmmmmm........

I'd like to see the 3 shots that were not noisy and blurry (93 of 96 were 'bad'). Cloudy days give bland results, and a

flash will exacerbate that situation.

Try the same shots on a sunny day, late in the afternoon. You'll amaze yourself, gar-run-teeeed !

Also, shallow DoF can create muddy, distracting backgrounds. Try the fastest ISO you can without incurring noise,

and close up the aperture. Your camera has optical stabilisation, so where does any 'shake' come into play,

especially with a tripod? Are you an overly critical person? I've known people who are so critical of themselves that

they get very little pleasure out of life. I hope that's not you!

And of course, practice, man, practice!

 

 

Bill P.

Good guess... I am very critical of my photos. I'll try to lighten up a bit.

 

As far as closing the aperture and up-ing the ISO, I tried that. But with the breeze and the longer shutter speed it was a mess.

 

I have wanted to shoot the fall leaves for over 20 years and now I have the equipment to do it. I especially want to shoot glowing leaves against a black tree trunk with a cloudy sky. I think I need to accept that I need a better goal.

 

I did work on the other shots, based on what I heard above. I scrapped the vision I had based on the focal point and used them for something else. I'll be posting those later today.

 

Thank you very much for your help. M

Sometimes I cheat. If it's windy, fluttering leaves are unavoidable but one can stablize a small branch with a tie off to something with twine. I carry a few bamboo thin stakes just for that purpose and a couple of clear dry cleaning bags. The stakes can provide a steady point to secure a flapping branchlet. The stakes combined with the bags stretched over them create a useful and unobtrusive windshield that still lets light come in (unlike dark trash bags). Obviously this only apples for low to the ground subjects. I sometimes also use off camera remote flashes to 'freeze' motion. Properly placed they mimic natural light rather effectively. I also agree you need more DoF with a smaller aperture, but understand the limitations imposed by longer shutter speed. The world's not a perfect place. The below shot of a fall blooming Ben Franklin tree, Franklinia Alatamaha, is done with remote flash and a windshield as discussed. It was shot at 90mm, F 11 and 1/30th sec. The wind was really agitating those large, paddle shaped leaves. Even with my 'bag' I had to wait for the lull to happen. Nice color in your shots, just keep trying - never give up, never surrender! Jim M.<div></div>

Another way to change your dof is by taking a step back. If you have to shoot at f2.8, then make the distance between the lens and the subject greater. This will help bring more into focus.

A shutter speed of 1/25 is not very fast, so even an undetectable breeze could cause blur. Even if you are using a tripod there could be vibration, particularly if you're not using a cable release. You should be able to increase your ISO to 200 or even 400 without noise. What you are interpretting as noise or blur on your posted images could be just lack of depth and detail due to your wide aperture. I would suggest doing without the flash as it causes glare from the water on the leaves, particularly if the sun is shining. I find bright overcast conditions provide more saturated colours and less glare You might also try moving further away from your subject and zooming. Maintain your wide aperture but focus on one leaf or branch in the foreground, such as the branch infront of the trunk. Isolating that area with sharpness and detail and throwing the background leaves more out of focus will have more impact, while retaining the colour of the background leaves. You could also underexpose a little as the dark trunk is causing slight overexposure of the pale leaves. Don't get frustrated, just enjoy your surroundings and don't be afraid to experiment.

I'll practice my maktar stealth haze and that should help too. :)

 

Today I went to the same trees (much more color even today) and I shot in varying ISO's and f's. I up'd the ISO and went for a smaller aperture, like suggested. I have yet to upload them to see, but I'm excited. Also, the sun was shining. But as it set I ran from tree to tree like a kid on halloween trick-or-treating. So even if they don't turn out, I had a blast shooting them... which is my usual goal anyway. I think I was unrealistic yesterday. But did I have fun? Yep. I froze my butt off and had a great time. M

m nelson-

try the following. for all general photography use a shutter speed of 1/125second or faster. fstop of f5.6 or smaller. adjust iso to make the first 2 items happen.

try not to exceed f11.0 or you will run into diffraction distorsion beyond f11.

 

if your subject has exceesive or high speed movement then use a faster shutter speed. the ideal fstop range is f5.6 to f11.0

 

the attached flower wa taken at f7.1, 1/400, iso 800.<div></div>

Hi nelson,

If you are getting problem with an photography in blurring and noisy result. The main important solution is try to learn about photography tricks. It is helpful for me and also i hope you are also learning well.

I almost always start at 400 ISO at an aperture of 5.6 and try to stay over 1/100 shutter speed. You also need to remember that you loose 1/3 of the depth of field in front of the sharp area and 2/3 of it behind the sharp area. So when shooting the leaves, it is also possible that you were standing too close with your lens too wide open. A good website to help you understand this is:

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html