How do you take digital photos at night?

[aquariaguy]

Got the camera SD 630, and I'm struggling to take pics at night. Or I guess, minimal lighting? They always have the "shaking" icon and it always turns out blurry. How do i do it? I put a high ISO (800). Thats all I can do. If i use flash, it darkens the pic so much. I take off flash, and its blurry. Any tips for a newb photographer? Shutter speed??

[atforum]

Tripod is a must.

[aquariaguy]

[QUOTE=atforum;5160971]Tripod is a must.[/QUOTE]

Forgot to add, I used a tripod for the night shots.

[jollyeskimo]

Try putting it on a timer or use a remote instead of pressing the button... it might be the actual pressing of the button that's blurring the shot if the camera chose a long exposure.

[M@rk]

[QUOTE=aquariaguy;5160985]Forgot to add, I used a tripod for the night shots.[/QUOTE]

In that case the photos shouldn't be blurry at all, unless the tripod is the cheap-type that moves when you press the shutter. Use the self-timer to minimize the vibration from pressing the shutter.

Aside from that, try using a really long shutter speed (unless you're taking pics of people obviously)... you get really beautiful results with lots of range.

[Oni-kun]

Use the manual mode and set the shutter to open for longer and use the self timer instead of pressing the button and mount it on a tripod. Use the built in light meter to help with exposure.

[importpsycho]

isn't there any digicam that takes care of this automatically without need for tripod?

[Oni-kun]

[QUOTE=importpsycho;5161053]isn't there any digicam that takes care of this automatically without need for tripod?[/QUOTE]

The short answer is no. If your hands shake and your shutter speed is too slow (which it should be in low light settings) you'll get camera shake and blurry pictures.

The long answer is yes, there are such technologies in some cameras but it is not perfect and I don't think it works very well.

[BD006]

[QUOTE=importpsycho;5161053]isn't there any digicam that takes care of this automatically without need for tripod?[/QUOTE]

Image stabilization?
But even that won't be perfect.

Tripod/put the camera on something and using the 2 sec timer are pretty much the only good solutions.

[dolphie]

[QUOTE]isn't there any digicam that takes care of this automatically without need for tripod?[/QUOTE]
i've always had this same problem.....i assumed my camera didn't do it automatically for some reason-heh....i guess none of them do :)

I'm surprised there isn't one that does-for newbs like me. All I want is a clear picture of my christmas lights one year without having to by a tripod! lol

[toujours]

+1 for tripod plus timer and flash OFF

[iridescent]

[QUOTE=dolphie;5161169]i've always had this same problem.....i assumed my camera didn't do it automatically for some reason-heh....i guess none of them do :)

I'm surprised there isn't one that does-for newbs like me. All I want is a clear picture of my christmas lights one year without having to by a tripod! lol[/QUOTE]

Just find some sort of table to set your camera on, use the timer mode, and take the picture. If the framing is inappropriate, you can always crop the picture. Also, if you put it on a table or tripod, then you should be free to put the ISO back to 100 (it'll just take longer to expose the pic, but at least it won't be grainy like 800). If you get a crisp picture after that, and it is too dark or too bright [bright lights, like xmas trees, can fool the camera's meter], then apply exposure compensation (+ for dark, - for bright)... your camera should have this... and then the picture will turn out perfectly.

[Bazooka Joe]

Take the dark picture and fix it up afterwards. Even with normal windows picture viewer you can do a fair bit, if you've got photoshop you can make any picture the best picture you've ever taken.

You can't fix a blurry picture, but once you start playing around with it, a dark picture is relatively easy to bring everything out.

[thelefteyeguy]

[QUOTE=Bazooka Joe;5161258]Take the dark picture and fix it up afterwards. Even with normal windows picture viewer you can do a fair bit, if you've got photoshop you can make any picture the best picture you've ever taken.

You can't fix a blurry picture, but once you start playing around with it, a dark picture is relatively easy to bring everything out.[/QUOTE]

...noise...

[billdozer]

Paging Korruption to settle this once and for all.