Blurry photos

I am new to photography other than video and point and shoot and I purchased a

Nikon D300 and the very next day I took it to my sons basketball game using a

Nikon 50mm 1:1.8 lens with an ISO of 800 and got these pictures. What can I do

to resolve this without buying another lens I also have a 18-135 but its slow

3.5. here's a sample of my "work" ha ha.<div></div>

I guess you can tell I don't truly even understand how to resize the picture either I am truly a NOVICE.

You can't shoot basketball with a shutter speed of 1/40th sec. Open your lens aperture up all the way (to f/1.8) and push the shutter speed to at least 1/200th sec and try again. Do a test shot and look at the histogram; if the shot's way underexposed, push the ISO to 1100 or 1600 or higher. Can't remember for sure (I don't have one) but I think the D300 goes higher than 1600 and is supposed to do very well.

You need to read a basic book on photography or take a class. The D300 doesn't have those beginner settings like a "sports" mode so you actually have to learn how to use your camera. The cheaper cameras are actually better for beginners because they have those preset modes.

 

Your picture was taken in Program mode, ISO 800, f3.2, 1/40s shutter speed. Set the camera to aperture priority mode, f1.8, ISO 1600 (or even 3200 on the D300) and you'll get a much faster shutter speed for freezing action.

Thanks for the info, I actually bought a DVD on the D300 and have watched it 3 times and realize that I need more time behind the lens. I still do not quite understand, the DVD said to shoot action to use shutter priotrity and I did on a few pics and they were very dark so I went back to priority. by the way Walt how did you know what settings I was using?

Sam -

 

Every image that is shot with a digital camera contains data (hidden from view) regarding the exposure and camera used to make the image. The data is easily viewable in a number of programs including photoshop.

 

The D300 goes up to 6400 ISO (High 1.0) If you are using shutter priority set the ISO to at least 3200 or higher, shutter speed to 1/250 and let the camera set aperture. Another option would be to set shutter speed (S mode) and then turn on Auto ISO. Let the camera worry about ISO and aperture.

 

I would not recommend aperture priority for sports, since the camera doesn't know what shutter speed will freeze the action or for that matter if you even want it frozen.

 

Dave

Thanks for all of the information! I will have to be honest I love photography!! even though right now it is alittle confusing with all of the different things/options that can be done but still it is awesome!!

Hey Sam,

 

I am still a beginner. I have a lot older camera, but I went straight to full Manual mode right off. I think that was the best way for me to learn. It's total immersion and everything is dependent on what you set it on. I shoot basketball in a very dark gym. I have the same lens and I have found that I like the pictures at 1600 ISO and f/2.0 rather than f/1.8 with 800 ISO. The best thing about full manual and digital is that you can take a picture, look at it, and adjust right away. That helped me to learn so much. The fog started clearing once I was able to rule some things out and see the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

 

I don't know your camera, but another thing that really, really helped me was changing to AI Servo rather than One Shot focusing. That way my camera will continually focus when someone is moving toward me. I must confess that I have a hard time keeping my middle focus point on the moving player. I still need loads of practice, but I'm much happier with my photos. I take lots of pictures and delete lots of them, too!

 

Happy shooting!

 

Marcy

I think before you spend all that money on a camera you should learn the basics first.

Doesn't make since to spend that cash and can't even set the camera properly. Not being

mean, just saying. So many people think if they get an expensive camera their images are

going to be great.

I would not recommend shutter priority for sports in dark venues. You will get the fastest possible shutter speed at a given ISO ONLY by using the lens at its widest aperture, which you therefore need to control in either aperture priority or M mode. 1/40th f/3.2 ISO 800 translates to 1600 ISO f/1.8 and 1/250th-1/320th, which still isn't really fast enough, so try using 3200 ISO and you should get an action stopping shutter speed. Your gym is grim!

[[i think before you spend all that money on a camera you should learn the basics first]]

 

Ronald,

 

Why can't he learn the basics on a D300?

 

Sam,

 

You have received some good advice here. Additionally, I would recommend taking advantage of whatever your library or book store has to offer on both basic/introductory photography and sports photography. Getting the fundamentals down will go a long way to helping you understand the nature of future problems you will run into :)

 

Best of luck.

[[by the way Walt how did you know what settings I was using?]]

 

All of your image files contain what's called EXIF data. This is the shooting information (plus more) that Walt described. The Nikon software your camera came with should be able to describe it to you, otherwise you can google for EXIF viewers that may be quicker/easier to use.

Sam you use whatever camera you enjoy, Nikon didn't make you take a test to buy that camera right? You shouldn't have to take a test here either before you get tips.

 

Here's some ideas for you, I don't know what lens you have other than the 50 1.8 so let's go with that. First 6 tips: White balance, white balance, white balance,... That really makes an OK shot a great shot, the proper white balance.

 

Shoot in RAW or NEF and don't over saturate. Under court lighting over saturation makes everything look like clown colors.

 

Now for the tricky stuff, lighting and ISO. I find that college basketball needs at least 1/350th for the action shots. That's the shutter speed you should shoot for when adjusting aperture and ISO. You may get by with as low as 1/250th but it gets iffy. To control noise in post-processing I use Noise Ninja. I'm not affiliated with them in any way other than I love their product.

 

Keep shooting, you'll get it and start wanting a 300 f2.8 lens very soon.

Oops, I forgot to mention how I white balance. I used to carry a white card. That worked OK until I bought a thing called an Expo Disk. That thing is wonderful, I can white balance in seconds.

Take a photo course! I'm surprised you spent that much just starting out! anyways, I've shooting sports couple of yrs now, and indoor is most difficult because of the typically lousy lighting.

I would suggest manual setup - ISO1600, !/320 - 1/400 shutter and f2.0 aperture. If it happens to be a real dungeon, ie. dark gym, move ISO up. A 1.8 aperture reduces your depth of field and you ned to be able to follow/track you prime subject well to get them in sharp focus. A player a foot or so closer or farther away will be blurry, to some degree. that's nice thing about a wide aperture that you can get something in sharp focus but distant things will not be, thus giving prominence to the thing in focus.

I just got D300 too, but having other kind of focus problem which I believe is internal to the camera. Got a few more tests to do before it goes back.

Steve

Right you are Rob.

 

Sam, didn't mean any harm. Good luck. You have received good advice here.

Michael,

 

How do you avoid over saturating? Is it a setting on your camera or are you talking about in the editing process? I'm always afraid that I will over saturate when I'm editing my photos afterwards. After looking at so many pictures, I lose some of my "objectivity" or whatever it's called. I noticed that the pictures look better if I edit just a few at one sitting. Anyways, I would be very grateful if you could share how you keep from over saturating.

 

Thanks!

 

Marcy

Marcy, if you shoot JPEGs, your camera may have several "style" presets. One of the settings in these "canned" styles will be saturation and in some cases it will be bumped up. Use a "neutral" setting or whatever your camera calls a setting that has no increase in saturation. If you shoot RAW, then it doesn't matter really because you can make the adjustments after the fact without damaging the image file. You can alter JPEGs too but you do damage the image file.

Marcy that's a good question, I actually caught myself oversaturating when basketball season started. I had bumped the saturation to +1 in my D200 when I shot landscapes but under the basketball lights it got real funky.

 

Robert is right on about shooting RAW, let the camera settings be in a "neutral" setting and edit for color in post-processing. Here's the way I do it, if my thinking is right seeing an image on a computer screen is like viewing slide film. Colors are more vivid because it's sort of back lit. The real test of the image will be, how does the print look?

 

If the image prints with the true colors of the uniforms then you got it set right. The WSU red colors were hard to get right in print but I finally got it right I think. Most shots we take now never get printed, I like to print 4 or 5 from every shoot. I guess what I'm saying is a combination of seeing the image on screen and then evaluating the print will get you near the right place.

I purchaed a Nikon D80 to try to get decent gymnastic photos (indoor) and moved to this camera from a Sony (P&S) HC-7. I ADMIT I am "challenged" when it comes to understanding all the technicalities in the book and have become VERy frustrated and sorry that I purchased it. It takes the most beautiful pictures outdoors and close up indoor w/flash. It is me, not the camera and I fully understand that. I took 200 pictures of indoor gymnastic competetion today and all were blurry and had to be deleted. I have a 55-135 lens that came with the camera. I had it on A with f/3.5 (the more I zoomed the larger the f number got). The actual lighting came out really well in the pictures however, all of the kids were blurry. I tried it on sports mode but that was no help. I had the ISO set to 1600 in the A mode. Any suggestions helpful! I'm ready to throw in the towel! (would a telephoto lens help freeze the shots and also get a closer view?)<div></div>

Cathi,

 

The problem with shooting indoors and freezing motion is that there is rarely enough light to be able to use the consumer-grade zoom lenses that most people (myself included) buy.

 

In order to freeze motion, you need a lens that has an aperture of at least f/2.8. Something with f/2, f/1.8 would be even better (smaller number == larger aperture == more light let in). However, telephoto or telephoto zoom lenses with f/2.8 or larger apertures are very expensive. The alternative is to get closer to the action and use a lens like 85mm f/1.8 or even 50mm f/1.8.