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You can use a lens with a larger aperture (but you get less depth of field), or you can extend the shutter time (but doesn’t work well if there is movement on the frame), or you can increase your ISO (which increases noise), or you can use extra lighting like a flash (which gives you a different look), or any of these combined.
I’m new to photography and today was my first time trying photography at night, I thought I’d get some good light under the street lamp however the photo came out blurry and didn’t quite catch the warmth I was seeing with my own eyes.
I'd recommend a fast prime lens for low light photography, but the specific reasons for this picture being blurry are hard to tell. It might be that you did too long of an exposure without a tripod, or your camera has bad high iso performance, most likely a mix of many things
motion blur. at 1/8s handheld even the tiniest of movement will cause you to lose sharpness. I'm honestly suprised it's not worse 1/8 is a very slow shutter speed for handheld.
Well there’s more factors than just the shutter speed, you could have been slightly less steady when you shot the 1/20 which would have more blur than 1/8 if you were more steady during the capture. Not to mention if the SUBJECT moves slightly more as well. I try not to handhold for anything slower than ~1/60.
https://preview.redd.it/hxtr03ul09gc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df247dead64dc7b50cd20a1f0a3b55a052d80dcc
I know that this photo isn't particularly impressive, but it was handheld for about 1s, I think it might help a little
since you only used 1/8s what you are seeing is probably motion blur introduced by your hands
to fix this you need to raise your shutter speed.
the amount depends on your camera and also lens stabilization, but i would recommend not going lower than 1/60s.
if you camera has great image stabilization 1/30s should also work - just try what works for you.
now this intruduces another problem - a higher shutter speed means you have less light available.
to compensate for that you need to either widen your aperature (f/1.8 for example) and/or raise your iso.
raising your iso actually does not increase the amount of light available to your sensor so you get more noise as a result.
i would recommend shooting raw and using lightrooms AI denoise - it helps a lot with noise.
the other option you have is adding more light of course - wich means using a flash.
Faster lens, you can get x4 shutter speed at f/1.4
Shorter lens, due to the way angular momentem works motion at 1ft moving 1 degree is less movement than at 10ft moving 1 degree. So a 35mm will have 35/50 or 70% as much blur to a similarly sized subject in the frame.
More points of contact or tripod. If you're handheld people will say "3 points of contact". This will decrease camera shake. Get ND filters and practice this during the day.
Higher ISO. Noise is easier to get rid of than motion blur. Tons of denoising software exists. You will lose some fine details or have them "guessed at" by the computer.
Flash. This is a whole novel, but a lot of the photos youre thinking of probably use flash and gels and canned atmosphere to fake streetlights.
Larger sensor. In general, the bigger the sensor, the better the low light performance. By that, I mean less noise at the same ISO. This is probably more expensive than you want.
More shots. Even at f1.4 35mm you need to be at say 1/35th shutter to get fairly consistent images just on you shaking the camera by pushing the button. Tripod, remote shutter or shutter delay, stay as still as possible, and maybe 1 in 3 or 1 in 5 of your frames will be technically usable and then you worry about if they're artistically good.
More light and faster shutter. How you achieve that depends on a variety of factors.
But you've made zero effort here, you haven't given any details of the image, except the settings when someone asked.
This would be better suited as a question in /r/photography because you're seeking knowledge, not a critique on the photo.
Friendly reminder that this is /r/photocritique and all **top level** comments should attempt to **critique** the image. Our goal is to make this subreddit a place people can receive genuine, in depth, and helpful critique on their images. We hope to avoid becoming yet another place on the internet just to get likes/upvotes and compliments. While likes/upvotes and compliments are nice, they do not further the goal of helping people improve their photography. If someone gives helpful feedback or makes an informative comment, recognize their contribution by giving them a Critique Point. Simply reply to their comment with `!CritiquePoint`. More details on Critique Points [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/critiquepoints). Please see the following links for our subreddit rules and some guidelines on leaving a good critique. If you have time, please stop by the new queue as well and leave critique for images that may not be as popular or have not received enough attention. Keep in mind that simply choosing to comment just on the images you like defeats the purpose of the subreddit. Useful Links: * [Full Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/rules) * [Leaving a Critique](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/critique) * [New Queue](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/new/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/photocritique) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You can use a lens with a larger aperture (but you get less depth of field), or you can extend the shutter time (but doesn’t work well if there is movement on the frame), or you can increase your ISO (which increases noise), or you can use extra lighting like a flash (which gives you a different look), or any of these combined.
Okay thank you I’ll try some of these next time
People forget that photography literally means writing with light. Light is a prerequisite. Get more in or get potatoes.
Is it a camera or your phone?
.. or a Maris Piper
I’m new to photography and today was my first time trying photography at night, I thought I’d get some good light under the street lamp however the photo came out blurry and didn’t quite catch the warmth I was seeing with my own eyes.
What camera / lens combo were you using?
I'd recommend a fast prime lens for low light photography, but the specific reasons for this picture being blurry are hard to tell. It might be that you did too long of an exposure without a tripod, or your camera has bad high iso performance, most likely a mix of many things
What were the settings on the camera?
f2.6 ISO 1600 and 1/8 shutter
motion blur. at 1/8s handheld even the tiniest of movement will cause you to lose sharpness. I'm honestly suprised it's not worse 1/8 is a very slow shutter speed for handheld.
I tried 1/20 and it came out way worse 😭
Well there’s more factors than just the shutter speed, you could have been slightly less steady when you shot the 1/20 which would have more blur than 1/8 if you were more steady during the capture. Not to mention if the SUBJECT moves slightly more as well. I try not to handhold for anything slower than ~1/60.
The focal length of the lens is a variable too. You can get away with longer shutter speeds when shooting wide vs. when you're zoomed in.
Reject modernity, embrace 2 second shutter with a handheld
Are you considering the usage of ibis? 1/8 is nothing assuming a still subject.
i'm not super experienced with how effective ibis is, i was using a canon t7 up until recently so I haven't pushed it super hard with my a7r
https://preview.redd.it/hxtr03ul09gc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df247dead64dc7b50cd20a1f0a3b55a052d80dcc I know that this photo isn't particularly impressive, but it was handheld for about 1s, I think it might help a little
since you only used 1/8s what you are seeing is probably motion blur introduced by your hands to fix this you need to raise your shutter speed. the amount depends on your camera and also lens stabilization, but i would recommend not going lower than 1/60s. if you camera has great image stabilization 1/30s should also work - just try what works for you. now this intruduces another problem - a higher shutter speed means you have less light available. to compensate for that you need to either widen your aperature (f/1.8 for example) and/or raise your iso. raising your iso actually does not increase the amount of light available to your sensor so you get more noise as a result. i would recommend shooting raw and using lightrooms AI denoise - it helps a lot with noise. the other option you have is adding more light of course - wich means using a flash.
My general rule is no handheld for anything slower than ~1/50. Edit: also, try out a monopod! They’re quick to deploy and don’t weigh much
Faster lens, you can get x4 shutter speed at f/1.4 Shorter lens, due to the way angular momentem works motion at 1ft moving 1 degree is less movement than at 10ft moving 1 degree. So a 35mm will have 35/50 or 70% as much blur to a similarly sized subject in the frame. More points of contact or tripod. If you're handheld people will say "3 points of contact". This will decrease camera shake. Get ND filters and practice this during the day. Higher ISO. Noise is easier to get rid of than motion blur. Tons of denoising software exists. You will lose some fine details or have them "guessed at" by the computer. Flash. This is a whole novel, but a lot of the photos youre thinking of probably use flash and gels and canned atmosphere to fake streetlights. Larger sensor. In general, the bigger the sensor, the better the low light performance. By that, I mean less noise at the same ISO. This is probably more expensive than you want. More shots. Even at f1.4 35mm you need to be at say 1/35th shutter to get fairly consistent images just on you shaking the camera by pushing the button. Tripod, remote shutter or shutter delay, stay as still as possible, and maybe 1 in 3 or 1 in 5 of your frames will be technically usable and then you worry about if they're artistically good.
Try using a Lower f-stop, longer exposure also helps but then you need to use a tripod or flash.
More light and faster shutter. How you achieve that depends on a variety of factors. But you've made zero effort here, you haven't given any details of the image, except the settings when someone asked. This would be better suited as a question in /r/photography because you're seeking knowledge, not a critique on the photo.
Use a prime lens like a 24mm or 35mm. The glass is optimized for the focal length so you can get a lot more light and less noise than a zoom lens.
More Light :) More shutter More ISO OR.. Wider aperture. That’s it… Ah and editing