Taking photos in subdued light

<p>Hi<br>

I have a canon d7 with standard lens and want to take some photos indoors with subdued lighting at xmas of my parakeet by the xmas tree without using flash. As he is quite active I will need a relatively fast shutter speed, say about 250 and would like to know what other settings I should use.<br>

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.<br>

Best wishes to all for the holiday season.<br>

Ian</p>

<p>ISO 1600-3200-6400, whatever gives you the best exposure. I would give at least +2/3 EV: you may need more if Xmas lights dazzle the metering system.</p>

<p>Your only solution, as I expect you knew, is that you have to crank up the ISO to meet your conditions of standard lens (f/4?) and high shutter speed (1/250). As Robin says, you will need to experiment in your particular environment to find out how high the ISO has to be. Bracketing will also help.</p>

<p>In return you will have to accept a certain amount of 'noise' depending on the camera. Post processing with something like Nik Efex Dfine will reduce this at the cost of some detail.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, you might want to bring in some additions to the ambient light such as a gooseneck desk lamp pointed toward the critter from outside the frame. Worry about color balance in post processing.</p>

<p>How fast a shutter speed will depend not only on the parakeet, but also which focal length you are shooting at. (ie. a longer FL will require a faster shutter speed to freeze the motion of the bird). I would expect you'll be shooting @ ~ f5.6 since you'll need to zoom in to fill the frame with your bird, and most 'standard' lenses have variable max aperture.</p>

<p>I would shoot manual for this, and preset your exposure speed, aperture, and ISO before you bring out the bird - all based on the light level, and necessary shutter speed. As they've said, bump your ISO to wherever it needs to be to freeze the action. Adding ambient (as JDM suggested) is also a great idea if you need it.</p>

<p>Luckily it won't hurt a thing to throw away a hundred exposures to dial in the settings that are ideal.</p>

<p>I would also use the Camera in MANUAL MODE. Using any automatic mode gives the TTL Meter aegis over the exposure and I don’t think that is a good idea if the scene has Christmas tree lights. <br>

<br>

If you use an Automatic Camera Mode, I see two main possible problems: <br>

1. Irrespective of what Exposure Compensation that you dial in, you do run the chance of any slight movement of camera or bird changing what exactly the TTL meter is reading and thus changing the exposure parameters . . . which could lead to<br>

2a. for example, if using Av Mode the Tv may wander below that speed which will be safe to alleviate Subject’s Movement . . . <br>

2b. for example, having one very bright tree light screw up the overall exposure . . .<br>

<br>

Probably they were some of the underlying reasons for MI suggesting Manual Mode – I am just expanding on why that is my opinion also.<br>

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*** <br>

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I am thinking using Continuous Shooting Mode might be a good idea – probably Low Speed Selection. Perhaps try with the bird in the cage and see HOW it reacts to the noise: the rationale is I was thinking that the bird might stand still, being focussed on /intrigued by the noise, after the first one or two shots were heard.<br>

<br>

WW </p>

<p>Dial in more ISO and adjust the EV to taste (up or down) as you do a few test shots. They're free, so use them and your preview screen.</p>

<p>I've had some success by putting the subject in the freezer for a while. Works for small children, pets and insects.</p>