photos in shade are not sharp enough

<p>Hi...Im brand new here so please forgive if this is a common question. I take alot of pictures at dog shows. Quite often they will be standing in the shade and the pictures are grainy, flashes are not allowed. I have a 70-300mm tamron lens. I used the aperature priority mode and had the aperature set on the lowest number 4.5, my ISO was 800, auto white balance. Im not sure if this would make a difference but I have the camera permanently on the "vivid" setting too. I use the higher ISO because the dogs are often not standing completely still. Would a lower ISO have helped? Is there anything else I can do to improve it. I use photoshop elements and adjust contrast etc. Thank you. Jo</p>

<p>attempting to post a pic.</p>

<p>The problem is probably in the light you're forced to work with. If the dogs are in the shadows, the light will be dim, diffuse and scattered. This gives a low contrast and cause a kind of blur, as well as a noisy look. Nothing really solves this but more light...<br>

It's not entirely possible to revert this in post processing: noise reduction goes at the cost of details, sharpening details increases the apparent noise: so it's more about striking a balance than it is about solving the problem.</p>

<p>Lower ISO might help to some extend, but I doubt whether it will really solve the problem, and indeed you run more risk of movements. I would avoid the vivid setting if you want to use JPEGs as it tends to make contrast quite strong and sharpen a lot (which makes noise seem worse). I would strongly recommend shooting RAW in difficult circumstances like this, and use the RAW conversion in PS Elements to squeeze the best out of your files.</p>

<p>To put it simply, you do NOT have enough light to get pleasing pictures under those circumstances with a zoom lens that only opens up to f/4.5, and even more so because you are forced to use a faster shutter speed to freeze the moving dogs. There's no way around it. NO FLASH means you need a faster lens. A most cost effective way to get it is to use an f/1.8 prime lens rather than a zoom. The only downside is that you would have to get closer, but then, that usually means better pictures anyway.</p>

<p>Additionally, I'm not sure that a VIVID picture control is a good choice for lower light shots. I would use a more neutral or standard setting myself. Vivid increases contrast too much and so it makes the shadows that much darker.</p>

<p>P.S. Many people will say just boost the shadows up in post-processing. Well you could certainly do that, but the results won't be as good as if you got it right in the first place. Anytime you boost shadows, you get noise, or at the very least, a certain loss of micro-contrast which almost looks like you shot the shadows through a veil or something. If it doesn't work as a JPEG, it's because the lighting wasn't right.</p>

<p>Hi Jo. You don't say what camera you are using, but ISO 800 can have some digital noise, depending on the camera. Some of the newer DSLRs have very little noise (grain) at ISO 800. <br>

I don't think the vivid setting has anything to do with your photos being grainy. It just makes the colors more vivid. </p>

<p>Hi Jo. The combination of fast moving subjects and low light is the one any photographer dreads - this is where equipment starts to show its limits just as much as learning good technique helps.<br>

My advice:<br>

- shoot at highest ISO you can. ISO 1600 sometimes works, but depends on what camera you have and what you consider acceptable noise.<br>

- look at prints, not as images on the screen<br>

- shoot in RAW, this will allow you to selectively remove noise and to balance colors and contrast in post processing. Vivid is not great - you will need to post-process your photos to find the best balance<br>

- generally be a lot more careful with exposure times, try to keep them above 1/160 or 1/250, and try not to let the camera overexpose a scene where the light levels are too low<br>

- consider using a dedicated flash (not the dinghy pop-up one, this will make very poor pictures of dogs with evil eyes)<br>

- get a faster lens, at least with f/2.8 aperture, or a prime with f/2 or f/1.8, these do not have to be too expensive. Image stabilization does not help with fast moving subjects, although it can not hurt having it. Mind you, shooting at f/1.8 means very little depth of field, which raises other challenges</p>

<p>In other words, it's tough :-)</p>

 

<p>The only thing I can add is that you might try using a reflector or two if most of your shots are in the shade and flash isn't allowed. That way you could lower your ISO and potentially reduce the noise in the pictures.</p>

<p>The other issue is you might be setting the aperture at 4.5 but if you zoom in it won't stay there. That lens is variable aperture so if you zoom all the way in then you are now at 5.6 maybe higher. I am not sure where that Tamron lens closes down too.</p>

 

<p>Another angle is the rule/guide which tells us to use a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the actual focal length of the lens in use. that 70-300 lens actually has an angle of view of 112-480 so when using it the minimum shutter speed should be 1/112 to 1/480 [ say 1/125 to 1/500, 1/250 in mid zoom ]. To do that you will need to be in Tv or M mode with a Canon camera. With low light the camera will automatically pick the largest aperture it has available to it f/4.5 to f/5.6 I guess.<br>

The only solution with your existing gear is to increase ISO and live with the noise if the picking the correct shutter speed results in dark pictures. If you lift dark areas in editing you still have to live with the noise. It gets results but not anything to write home about I'm afraid.<br>

A solution is to get a large aperture longer prime lense, maybe something like a long f/2.8 or 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 and get closer to the ring, and only shoot the dogs when they are close to you. Long lenses are great for saving your legs but they have their limitations in poor light. <br>

The reciprocal rule is modified when you have image stabilisation but you still need shutter speed to freeze movement.</p>

<p>Hi...thank you all for your responses. It seems the majority say I need a better lens. I forgot to mention that I am using a Nikon D-80. If anyone has a specific lens that you think would work for me without breaking the bank I would love to know.....and, is it safe to purchase used lenses and if so, is there a reiliable source online?<br>

Also, about RAW....Id love to try it. What settings would I use for ISO etc. when taking the pictures?<br>

Thanks again.</p>

<p>Jo</p>

<p>A better lens? Maybe...A lens with a shorter focal length and wider aperture opening as JC indicates is probably the way to go.</p>

<p>I get sharp results shooting in shade during a bright sunny day with my $80 18-55mm kit lens, but the camera's focus metering causes back focus and hunting shooting at dusk or dawn and in late afternoon shade. There's usually not enough light when this happens to check if the intended subject is in focus through the viewfinder due to my f/3.5 max at the widest focal length. 55mm has a max of f/5.6 which makes things look pretty dark in the viewfinder.</p>

<p>Use an ISO setting that allows a shutter speed to stop movement in the dogs. The long shutter speed isn't the only thing causing the soft results. It's a combination of having enough light for auto focus metering to nail the target and for you to see this when it does through the viewfinder and that requires a wide open aperture.</p>

<p>Also you may need to calibrate the diopter that adjusts the appearance of sharpness through the viewfinder which is a subject often not addressed in these types of discussions. I've had to do this and it does work shooting in bright sunny day shade.</p>

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