What is the secret?

[Shannon]

What is the secret to the bright, clean, crisp photos? My best guess is that I need an external flash and should starting shooting in manual or portrait or program? Here is what I have:

a Canon Digital Rebel XT (which rarely sees any action outside of the auto setting :lol )
2 very wiggly children
Mediocre indoor lighting
Very little understanding of instructions that come with lots of technical jargon and numbers. :lol

Help! I've had this camera for almost a year and I am irritating myself for not knowing how to use it properly. I really should sign up for a class I think. :think

[Hollie]

What a good question, Shannon!! I hope that Lauren tells us :) :) Or someone with good knowledge, but she does come to mind :)

Anyhow, I'll give you my totally amateur ideas--LOL

I *think* that it is good exposure--really good, I mean. Even lighting. I still haven't figured out how to get it to happen on a regular basis. But I try to get good light in a number of ways--it just doens't always work for me (I don't shoot portratis nor do I have the set-up for it).

I've also noticed that it is very, very important to make sure there are no funny shadows near the eyes of a subject and try to get the sharpest focus point on them as well. At least that makes a huge difference to me.

It is SUPER hard to get it the way you want with wiggly kids though. I've come to realize that the idea of snapshot photography tends to come with less than perfect photos and I try not to dwell on it. I try to get the moment and if photo stinks, then it stinks. You can't adjust all the settings you need or make sure the lighting is right if you want to get a moment that is spontaneous. Once in a while, yeah, but mostly, no. At least we have PS to make those better :)

Does that help??

[Kim2002]

Shannon, I have a Rebel, so I am only assuming the viewer is similar.......given that statement, look through your viewer and you'll see some numbers down below. For the exposure to be correct, you need the line in the center.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/Kim2002/Metering-Diagram.jpg

If you slightly depress your shutter button, this exposure bar will illuminate and show you, by way of a flashing bar beneath the button, what your meter reading is. If it is not on the center line, then you need to adjust either your shutter speed, aperature (Fstop) or film speed.

I usually keep my shutter speed at no less than 1/125 when taking pix of my kids cuz otherwise they are a blur from all their running around. So that leaves me the option of changing the Fstops or the ISO setting. If you find that you are in a low light situation, first open up your aperature as wide as it will go (some open up to 1.4, 1.8, 2.4, etc). If that is still not enough to bring your meter to center, then bump up the film speed to 200 or 400.

[Hollie]

If you find that you are in a low light situation, first open up your aperature as wide as it will go (some go up to 11, 16 or 22).


Okay, I thought wide aperature meant a lower number? But the lower F-stops give me shallower DOF (bad for moving kids) so I'm usually bumping my ISO to 800 or more to avoid flash if I can-LOL.

Just making sure I've got it right--

lower f-number=wider opening (allows more light in)
bigger f-number=smaller opening (allows less light in)

correct, or no?

[Kim2002]

You are right - I got it backwards. DOH!

Numbers 1.8-4.5 are shallow
5.6-11 are average
16-32 are wide

Let me go revise my original post so as not to confuse anyone else. LOL

[Hollie]

Numbers 1.8-4.5 are shallow
5.6-11 are average
16-32 are wide



DOF, right?

Darn aperature--so confusing!!!

[Hom74]

Yeah, I'm sure Lauren will chime in...whenever she's awake...I don't know her time zone.

I'm just a wanabe, but here are some things I've tried to take better pixs overall:

--get a better lens. My first purchase was the 50mm 1.8. It was an easy one to jump onto b/c of the low price...compared to all the other lenses out there. Some people don't like too much blur...I confess that I'm a big bokeh-addict lol. Most people don't like to leave it so wide open especially when the subject's face isn't straight onto the camera...I use it all the time for profile shots but it's b/c I like the feel of the gradual blur right there. At least I like it right now lol.

One of the reasons why I finally jumped into a dSLR was b/c I felt my sharp photos w/my P&S were clear, yes...but there was some emotion loss in my eye.

Here's a recent photo where I wasn't afraid to have her other eye blurry (had to crop this and can't so the LO yet ;) Should be one of the LOs on the SSD homepage come Dec 1st ;) ). It may not be that noticable or dramatic at this size, but at the full-res I have I love it!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v612/Hom74/20061031_WOW_dreamer.jpg

--I pretty much only shoot in "M". When I first got my dSLR in July 06 I shot in the 'no flash' auto setting. Manly b/c I have no idea how to adjust the settings but I KNEW I didn't want flash. I have many flash photos from last year and the photos just seem 'harsh' to me. But sometimes it's better to get the picture even if the settings aren't all perfect. Than I did venture into the Creative Zones and used AV. mainly just set the f-stop that I wanted (which was always near 2 for my taste lol) and the camera was supposed to do the rest. So honestly I still didn't know what I was doind hahaha. Then...I ventured into "M". Yeah it was difficult at first and I was ALWAYS confused. I read the manual and some other online stuff....but I needed to somehow have hands-on experience. Yes...I see that blinking thingie telling me that I'm so cold, cold, cold to getting it correctly exposed (lol) but which way do I turn that dial thingie??!?!? haha. It took a little while to get in punched in my brain that I'm supposed to turn it (it being the black dial on top) towards the direction it was flashing....I had this BIG tendancy to turn it the other way. So when you look in your viewfinder, press the black button halfway, if the meter line is flashing all the to the left side....you're supposed to move the dial toward the left until the line moves towards the center. Note....some people do purposely under or over expose it a little.

--Shoot in RAW. Again, another thing I had no idea what it was or how to use it...but you learn as you go and use it. I find myself changing the white balance all the time and it makes such a big difference on the photo! You can also change the exposure, the brightness and the shadowing better in RAW then in the JPG after. And when you're practicing and don't know if RAW is the thing for you.....shoot in RAW + JPG mode. This gives you BOTH a JPG version and the RAW format. Warning - RAW images are very large! But I have several CF cards (one being a 4GB haha) and scrap so often that I'm very good about transferring pixs to my computer long before the card is full. There are lots of PROs and CONs in the JPG vs. RAW debate but I'll spare you the rest of my blabber and leave you with a recent example.

This weekend after putting up our tree I shot in the RAW + JPG version. Mainly b/c I tend to have noise problems on my pixs if they are too underexposed (and I haven't purchased any software like Neat Image to combat that yet...but soon) and I didn't want to miss any pictures. So here is the JPG version of one of the pixs (no editing...just resized for web. Yeah...take a look at the crappy pictures I take :lol. This is like the celebs w/o makeup:lol):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v612/Hom74/IMG_8987.jpg

And I played with all the little sliders in my RAW editing and the only other thing I applied to it was a Michelle Pearson action and I got this photo for my 2006 Christmas Card (http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=45786&cat=500&ppuser=12&sortby=l&sorttime=9999&way=desc). I actually did try to lighten up the JPG version, but the edited RAW version was way better and cleaner. Side note...all that work and I chose to leave the bruise on my little girls head in there lol.

After shooting only in RAW....I find that I don't have to play w/levels or curves anymore on my photos before scrapping.

Man...I've talked for so long I forgot your question and what my point was :lol

[nbeaudreau]

Karen, you should write a book!!

This is awesome stuff, ladies! I'm learning so much everyday and I've had my camera for a few years. I finally got out of that auto mode and keep it in manual mode now. And I so hate the flash! Never really noticed how bad my pics were before I started shooting in manual! :)

Here's a pic that I took last night. We put up our tree and was practicing by taking pics of my ornaments.

http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/data/525/photochallenge2.jpg


Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Shutter Speed: 1.0 sec
f/5.0
ISO 100
tripod
No flash

I think on this one the only editing I did was use the Screen blending mode.

[Shannon]

:clap You guys are AWESOME!! I had no idea about that meter slide thingy (:lol see how technical I am?) I just played around with that a bit in manual and NOW I realize why I can be in the same room at the same time of day and one photo turns out fine and the other turns out overexposed :duh Now, in manual with no flash, the photos are pretty blurry - is the tripod pretty much a necessity then?

Also, what would really be the priority for me - external flash or a better lens?

And how to I switch my settings to shoot in RAW?

[Lauren]

Karen, I'm awake now! :lol Time zone is +10 and an extra hour at the moment for daylight savings. Anyway, getting called two times in a thread, I feel special. ;)

Shannon... Better lens, definitely. I don't even own an external flash and the 5D doesn't have one onboard. It's been 4 months and I don't miss it at all. Try out the 50mm 1.8 because it's cheap - great to start with. See the lens thread that's been hanging around here today. It works well in low light so you can get your shutter speed up, meaning you shouldn't need a tripod.

Now back to the original questions... the big key in crisp photos is focus. Switch to center point focusing (you can choose your point by pressing the top right button on the back of the XT and scrolling through until you hit the center) and always aim for the eyes - I try to aim for the edge of the eye itself, so the camera has a good contrast between light and dark, helps it to focus more accurately. Switch to back button focusing if you can (it's a Custom Function - 4, I think) as it's more accurate than holding the shutter button halfway, which can slightly refocus on full press. Anyway, if the eyes are in focus (even if they're the only thing in focus) the shot will look a LOT clearer than if it was focused anywhere else.

For brightness, don't be afraid of pushing the ISO up. I used to sit at 100 or 200 (leftover from my film and old digicam days) but as long as you're correctly exposed using the meter method Kim explained, the XT can go to 1600 with no problems. And honestly, while manual mode is good to know, if you're chasing after toddlers and trying to get their photo, do yourself a favour and shoot in Av to begin with. You can set your aperture and ISO in advance, then the camera sets the shutter speed to get a balanced exposure so you can concentrate on running and clicking. Save learning manual mode for still shots of the tree, like those above. Here's another thread where I explained a bit more though... http://www.digishoptalk.com/boards/showpost.php?p=213811&postcount=11

But the TRUE secret of crisp photos is actually post-processing! As Karen suggested, shooting in RAW is a great start. It'll be in the Menu somewhere, under file format. (Karen help - I've forgotten the menu already! LOL) You cannot shoot RAW in Auto though (the option won't even come up on the menu) it needs to be in at least P mode. It'll knock your storable images down to about 100 per GB though, so card upgrades may be necessary. I went in to a bit more detail on RAW over at ScrapArtist awhile ago, so I'll just link that... http://www.scrapartist.com/scrapforums/showthread.php?t=1563

If you still feel it needs a bit of pop after you've converted, the simplest solution is to pick up a good set of actions. I feel like I'm just linking today, so here's another - my action comparisons site... http://www.laurenbarden.com/index?sec=2

[Kim2002]

To shoot in RAW, click on the menu button on the back of your camera. The first menu that pops up is the camera settings and the first one at the top of the list should say QUALITY. Select that and change it to RAW. You will need a RAW editor to be able to open and process these once you take them off the camera.

As for the exposure itself, it is blurry because your shutter speed is too slow for you to handhold. If you are photographing your children, I would consider setting that to a minimum of 1/60 or 1/125. You can do that by spinning the wheel near the shutter release button. The shutter speed will display on the back of your camera in the upper left corner.

Given that it sounds like you are shooting indoors with busy children, you may want to consider an external flash and some sort of frame to mount it on. I have two frames - one is a stroboframe (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=6993&A=details&Q=&sku=149562&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation) which is very bulky, but it positions the flash several inches above the camera. The other mount is a speed grip (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=40881&is=REG&addedTroughType=search) which mounts to the bottom of the camera and then the flash clips to the side.

[Hom74]

I think Kim already mentioned how change it to the RAW setting on the camera.

I think this manual focusing is key....esp w/the blur. When I let it choose the focus point...sometimes the focus can be hit or miss. I manually choose it a lot if the situation allows (another thing I need to get quicker with and will with more use...I'm just proud I can do it w/o my eye leaving the view finder lol)

Here are my laymen terms to finding these. On the back of your camera there are 2 gray buttons on the top right-hand side. Were interested in the corner button w/the rectangle w/the dots/rectangles arranged in a cross. Click that once and you notice 2 things. 1 - the top of your LCD (or is that top part something different than the LCD lol) will change and it will give you 2 brackets w/a bunch of dashes between them. those are the focus points. 2 - in the viewfinder...all 7 focus points will be lit up. Then you can use arrows next to the LCD screen to cycle through these spots to choose which focus point you want to use. When you've chosen your spot...hit that corner gray button again. Now when you press you shutter button halfway...the camera's gonna try to focus on that that spot that you picked. Sometimes the camera goes 'crazy' (that's what I call it :lol) and seems to be searching for something to focus on. This happens to me a lot when my subject is too close.

What I do a lot of times is pick a focus spot near where my subject is....click the shutter button halfway to focus on that spot...then move my camera to how I want my photo taken/cropped/framed. That's why I would want more focus points...like I think the XTi has.

Very important point (lol - it took me forever to figure it out since I'm horrible about reading manuals and the such)....how to 'turn off' the manual focus spot so that it auto focuses/picks the focus spots for you again.
--Click that corner gray button
--Using the arrows next to the LCD screen...cycle through all the points until all the points light up at the same time
--Click on that corner gray button again.

Thanks for the tip about focusing on the eyes. I never really aimed for that just tried to hit the moving toddler's face :lol but will be trying for the corner of the eyes from now on.

Now back to the original questions... the big key in crisp photos is focus. Switch to center point focusing (you can choose your point by pressing the top right button on the back of the XT and scrolling through until you hit the center) and always aim for the eyes - I try to aim for the edge of the eye itself, so the camera has a good contrast between light and dark, helps it to focus more accurately. Switch to back button focusing if you can (it's a Custom Function - 4, I think) as it's more accurate than holding the shutter button halfway, which can slightly refocus on full press. Anyway, if the eyes are in focus (even if they're the only thing in focus) the shot will look a LOT clearer than if it was focused anywhere else.

[Shannon]

Shannon... Better lens, definitely. I don't even own an external flash and the 5D doesn't have one onboard. It's been 4 months and I don't miss it at all. Try out the 50mm 1.8 because it's cheap - great to start with. See the lens thread that's been hanging around here today. It works well in low light so you can get your shutter speed up, meaning you shouldn't need a tripod.

:clap Thank you! I was so overwhelmed with all the choices on flashes and lenses and not even knowing which one I should get. I really just needed someone to say "THIS one!" :lol

Now back to the original questions... the big key in crisp photos is focus. Switch to center point focusing (you can choose your point by pressing the top right button on the back of the XT and scrolling through until you hit the center)
My top right button is my zoom in button. Is there a little symbol next to the button I'm looking for?


For brightness, don't be afraid of pushing the ISO up. I used to sit at 100 or 200 (leftover from my film and old digicam days) but as long as you're correctly exposed using the meter method Kim explained, the XT can go to 1600 with no problems.
So is it ok to just leave it at 1600 or is this something I'll need to adjust all of the time?

And honestly, while manual mode is good to know, if you're chasing after toddlers and trying to get their photo, do yourself a favour and shoot in Av to begin with. You can set your aperture and ISO in advance, then the camera sets the shutter speed to get a balanced exposure so you can concentrate on running and clicking. Save learning manual mode for still shots of the tree, like those above. Here's another thread where I explained a bit more though... http://www.digishoptalk.com/boards/showpost.php?p=213811&postcount=11

:clap I just did a test shot in AV (I don't think I've ever even NOTICED this setting before :lol) and the ISO at 1600 and it was a lot less blurry (and I'm sitting in a pretty dim room. Thank you Lauren! So many awesome tips and resources!!




To shoot in RAW, click on the menu button on the back of your camera. The first menu that pops up is the camera settings and the first one at the top of the list should say QUALITY. Select that and change it to RAW. You will need a RAW editor to be able to open and process these once you take them off the camera.

Yay! That worked. Is there a RAW editor that you recommend?

As for the exposure itself, it is blurry because your shutter speed is too slow for you to handhold. If you are photographing your children, I would consider setting that to a minimum of 1/60 or 1/125. You can do that by spinning the wheel near the shutter release button. The shutter speed will display on the back of your camera in the upper left corner.
I thought the wheel by my shutter-release button was the one that adjusted my aperture? This will be another thing where I sound dumb but there are no fractioned numbers on the back of my camera. :think

[Kim2002]

Yes, that wheel will adjust your aperature if you hold in the AV button while spinning. But if you just lightly depress your shutter button, you can then use the dial to change the shutter speed.

As for the ISO, honestly, I would rarely use that high a speed because it gets pretty grainy looking, especially if the exposure is off. If you want to shoot in manual mode inside your home, in the evening, with nothing other than the typical indoor lighting, then yes you will need to set the ISO pretty high. But it will still likely need some boost of lighting from either a flash or extra lights set up in the room. I just did a quick trial and with two halogen lights in my family room, I had it set at 1/5th of a second shutter speed, ISO 1600, and F5.6 as that is the lowest setting I could get. And it STILL was underexposed. So this is why I suggested you get a flash.

As for the RAW editor, check out the Adobe site. I think there is a free one there. Also, your camera should've come with software which may have included a RAW editor.

[Shannon]

Here are my laymen terms to finding these. On the back of your camera there are 2 gray buttons on the top right-hand side. Were interested in the corner button w/the rectangle w/the dots/rectangles arranged in a cross. Click that once and you notice 2 things. 1 - the top of your LCD (or is that top part something different than the LCD lol) will change and it will give you 2 brackets w/a bunch of dashes between them. those are the focus points. 2 - in the viewfinder...all 7 focus points will be lit up. Then you can use arrows next to the LCD screen to cycle through these spots to choose which focus point you want to use. When you've chosen your spot...hit that corner gray button again. Now when you press you shutter button halfway...the camera's gonna try to focus on that that spot that you picked. Sometimes the camera goes 'crazy' (that's what I call it :lol) and seems to be searching for something to focus on. This happens to me a lot when my subject is too close.

What I do a lot of times is pick a focus spot near where my subject is....click the shutter button halfway to focus on that spot...then move my camera to how I want my photo taken/cropped/framed. That's why I would want more focus points...like I think the XTi has.

Very important point (lol - it took me forever to figure it out since I'm horrible about reading manuals and the such)....how to 'turn off' the manual focus spot so that it auto focuses/picks the focus spots for you again.
--Click that corner gray button
--Using the arrows next to the LCD screen...cycle through all the points until all the points light up at the same time
--Click on that corner gray button again.



Ok, I never knew. :lol I mean seriously, it's like I'm seeing all of these symbols for the first time. So this is something that works best in manual mode?

[Hom74]

Yay! That worked. Is there a RAW editor that you recommend?
What scrapping software do you use? When I first started...I just double clicked the RAW image in windows Explorer and it opened it up in PSCS2 for me and I've been editing it in there ever since. Adobe Lightroom (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/) is another one I d/l later on to see the difference between the programs. I still have this on my computer, but right now I prefer just doing it through CS2.



I thought the wheel by my shutter-release button was the one that adjusted my aperture? This will be another thing where I sound dumb but there are no fractioned numbers on the back of my camera. :think
What that wheel adjusts depends on what mode you are using! (I need a light-bulb smiley here). In AV you are adjusting how open it is/f-stop. In manual...that wheel adjusts the shutter speed. In order to change the f-stop in manual mode ("M"), you need to press the "AV+/-" button....it's a gray button just to the lower right of the view finder. While pressing that button you move the wheel at the same time.

[Hollie]

Switch to back button focusing if you can (it's a Custom Function - 4, I think) as it's more accurate than holding the shutter button halfway, which can slightly refocus on full press. Anyway, if the eyes are in focus (even if they're the only thing in focus) the shot will look a LOT clearer than if it was focused anywhere else.



Does the 30D have a function like this--I'm going to check my manual--do you know??? I'd love to try it if it does. I get accurate focus more often with manual--always have (same thing with my old film cam--pretty much kept it in manual all the time) but maybe I'l try this. Thanks!!

[Lauren]

As for the ISO, honestly, I would rarely use that high a speed because it gets pretty grainy looking, especially if the exposure is off. If you want to shoot in manual mode inside your home, in the evening, with nothing other than the typical indoor lighting, then yes you will need to set the ISO pretty high. But it will still likely need some boost of lighting from either a flash or extra lights set up in the room. I just did a quick trial and with two halogen lights in my family room, I had it set at 1/5th of a second shutter speed, ISO 1600, and F5.6 as that is the lowest setting I could get. And it STILL was underexposed. So this is why I suggested you get a flash.

Kim, I somewhat agree with getting a flash (or just some good lamps in your living rooms - Shannon, think of it as an excuse to redecorate! LOL) but choosing between the two, IMO a low light lens would be better buy first than the flash. But it does depend on your photo style, I know you like nothing blurry so have to keep your lenses stopped down, where everything looks right at 2.8 to me - that's a lot of extra light. Shannon, I'd still suggest trying the lens first and if it's still not getting you the results you want, then look at flashes. :)

Oh and you need to set your ISO each time depending on the lighting. But staying at an 800 minimum when indoors is probably a good place to start. I explained that around here somewhere, let me grab another link :lol

http://www.digishoptalk.com/boards/showpost.php?p=90917&postcount=10

BTW Kim, do you have the original Rebel? The XT's noise is supposed to be greatly improved. As I said earlier, I've shot in 1600 a lot and not had that much noise - the 5D is even silkier, FWIW. I love 1600 on the 5D.

[Lauren]

Does the 30D have a function like this--I'm going to check my manual--do you know??? I'd love to try it if it does. I get accurate focus more often with manual--always have (same thing with my old film cam--pretty much kept it in manual all the time) but maybe I'l try this. Thanks!!

Hollie, it does - it's the AE/AE Lock function. As I said, I think it's CF4 and I think you need to set it to AF/AE instead of AE Lock/AE but I'm not anywhere near my camera (it's about 30 miles away) to check! :eek


It takes a bit of getting used to as you have to focus using the * button, then use the shutter (half press to lock the exposure, or full press for the shot) but once you do, it's like second nature and I love doing it this way - never have to worry about refocusing when I accidentally take off my half shutter press.

[Hollie]

Hollie, it does - it's the AE/AE Lock function. As I said, I think it's CF4 and I think you need to set it to AF/AE instead of AE Lock/AE but I'm not anywhere near my camera (it's about 30 miles away) to check! :eek


It takes a bit of getting used to as you have to focus using the * button, then use the shutter (half press to lock the exposure, or full press for the shot) but once you do, it's like second nature and I love doing it this way - never have to worry about refocusing when I accidentally take off my half shutter press.


Ack! 30 miles!!! How'd that happen??!?? Thanks for the info--I'm not sure I quite "get it" but I'll play around. I think I found the CF in the manual for it. I'm gonna try it--it sounds like a great feature. I have a love-hate relationship with auto focus-LOL! Maybe this will be the ticket for me :) :)

[Hollie]

Yes, that wheel will adjust your aperature if you hold in the AV button while spinning. But if you just lightly depress your shutter button, you can then use the dial to change the shutter speed.

As for the ISO, honestly, I would rarely use that high a speed because it gets pretty grainy looking, especially if the exposure is off. If you want to shoot in manual mode inside your home, in the evening, with nothing other than the typical indoor lighting, then yes you will need to set the ISO pretty high. But it will still likely need some boost of lighting from either a flash or extra lights set up in the room. I just did a quick trial and with two halogen lights in my family room, I had it set at 1/5th of a second shutter speed, ISO 1600, and F5.6 as that is the lowest setting I could get. And it STILL was underexposed. So this is why I suggested you get a flash.

As for the RAW editor, check out the Adobe site. I think there is a free one there. Also, your camera should've come with software which may have included a RAW editor.


If the exposure is good, my ISO 800 and 1600 shots are great. If the exposure is poor, even shots at ISO 100 end up grainy for me. That's why my "thing" is making sure I get good exposure, and then of course, sharp focus.

I really try to avoid flash but if it's too dark, it's too dark and not even ISO 1600 and F 1.8 will allow me a fast enough shutter speed. Or sometimes the lighting is just so uneven that I have to use a flash. But I do try to avoid flash if I can.

I used to own a "prosumer" style cam and checked the forums at dpreview a lot. I remember some people posting about using cheesy home-made "diffusers" for the on-board flash. Basically, they'd just take a piece of paper or cardstock and tape it right below the flash (when it was popped up) and then bend it upwards on an angle. This would give them added light, but it would not be so harsh and it's dirt cheap-LOL. I think I read where some people used a tissue and directly covered the onboard flash. That one kind scared me just because tissues tend to emit some dust and I don't want that landing on my lens-LOL. But anyhow, it's just an idea :) :)

Oh yeah, and I did try the cardstock a few times and it actually worked pretty well :) I think you can tape the paper above the flash too (to what is the "top" when it's closed) and then angle the paper down.

[Lauren]

Ack! 30 miles!!! How'd that happen??!?? Thanks for the info--I'm not sure I quite "get it" but I'll play around. I think I found the CF in the manual for it. I'm gonna try it--it sounds like a great feature. I have a love-hate relationship with auto focus-LOL! Maybe this will be the ticket for me :) :)
I wish it was more interesting, but I'm currently commuting 30 miles each way for work and I don't bother bringing my baby with me. Anyway, When I switched to back button, I sat there just focusing on DH for an hour to get a feel for the movement. Drove him nuts, but I got used to it!

Oh and the couple of times I did use the flash on my XT, I just stuck my hand in front of the flash so it bounced off it - I have pale hands. Cheapest of the lot of them! :lol

[Hollie]

Ah, okay Lauren, that makes sense-LOL. Yeah--you are at work now--it's night time for me-LOL!

I just wanted to post a shot at ISO 1600 (F1.8, 1/500 sec). If you view @ 100% you can see a small amount of noise, but nothing crazy. And in prints you won't see it anyhow, unless the prints are really big.

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/113365632-L.jpg

But I took some shots the other day in lighting that wasn't as good and they were VERY grainy (after PP) becuause of the bad exposure. Sigh...

[Terri Walsh]

Great forum, nice shot Hollie! Now I might have to go try some low light photos just because...

[Kim2002]

Nice shot! How much light did you have coming in? Apparently a nice amount to be able to shoot at 1/500.

[AndreaBurns]

MUST HAVE books, put them on your Christmas List! These will deff explain exposure and such to you! (Eye candy alone is worth it!)

Understanding Exposure (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780817463007&itm=1)by Bryan Peterson (No. ONE MUST HAVE!)

Understanding Digital Photography (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780817437961&itm=1) by Bryan Peterson

OK books to have.....

Joy of Digital Photography (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781579905781&itm=1) by Jeff Wignall

Photography (http://www.ideabooks4u.com/ecom/product_info.php?products_id=12) by Scrapbooks Etc. (this one is GREAT for beginners!!!!)

Designing with Photos (http://www.ideabooks4u.com/ecom/product_info.php?products_id=26) by Autumn Leaves

HTH!

[Hollie]

Yeah--giant window in our living room-LOL! I did just get a few photos of those great and famous cake balls from Andrea the other day and I was just in my kitchen at night with the overhead light on. Those were 1/100 sec, ISO 1600 and F1.8

That F1.8 really helps-LOL but the DOF is very shallow!!

[Inkspots]

I really need to check this forum out more. Thank you for all the great info!