OK so I went to take some night pics of my car and they came out looking like this.



I was wondering whether or not I am simply using a crappy camera (a Casio Exilim) or if I don't have the settings right or what. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

I don't claim to be a photographer, but I do know a little bit. I'll try to help.

When taking night shots, you want to extend the shutter longer to let in more light. Are you able to change your shutter speed? Also, you want to reduce the ISO a bit to reduce the "grainy-ness". You can see a little of it in your picture.

I know there are modifications you can do to the aperture and all that, but I don't know anything about those.

 

Was that picture taken in 'Auto' mode? Switch it to manual. You'll need a long exposure since there's little light. Also, if you can manually change the ISO, set it to something like 200 or 400. There's a ton of noise in that photo. Probably because it's automatically cranking up the ISO due the lack of light.

 

hm... i don't think i can change my shutter speed, if I can I don't know how.... for the ISO i have 4 settings, 50, 100, 200, and 400, as well as auto. So would say dropping it to 100 or 200 help?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eskimo10 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hm... i don't think i can change my shutter speed, if I can I don't know how.... for the ISO i have 4 settings, 50, 100, 200, and 400, as well as auto. So would say dropping it to 100 or 200 help?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The lower the ISO number the less noise you'll have. Can you adjust you aperture? If you do that, it might automatically set the shutter speed to whatever it needs to get the correct exposure.

You'll need a tripod in either case.

 

yea i have a tripod at home, gotta wait till summer to get it.

As far as I can tell I can't adjust the aperture. I should check the manual but I'm not sure where its at.

 

it's the camera. I'm pretty sure you're not on auto mode or unless you turned the flash off. Normally i would just reset the camera and shoot at lowest iso possible with no flash. Tripod is a must for shots like this

 

belongs in the photo thread

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .Hookedonhatch. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">belongs in the photo thread </TD></TR></TABLE>

sorry I didn't know there was a photo thread lol. My bad.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rikaro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it's the camera. I'm pretty sure you're not on auto mode or unless you turned the flash off. Normally i would just reset the camera and shoot at lowest iso possible with no flash. Tripod is a must for shots like this</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well I know that I turned off the flash, but thats all I really know. I used the ground because my tripod is at home and I'm at school, but yea I agree that I need to use it.

 

well as long as it's steady you can put it anywhere. Tripod allows you to make more adjustments in angle and height.

I see that you're using a Casio compact camera. Compact cameras are more likey to have noise than camera with bigger sensors.

But anyway i also see that you're shooting at 1/15 sec (shutter speed). In that lighting situation it does look like you're using a really high iso. Turn it down but keep note that you're now at a even lower shutter speed, which in other words you'll get more hand shakes and blurryness (&lt;- is that a word? haha) so that's one of the reason you want a tripod.