Blurry toddlers in action: Hi. I'm shooting blurry indoor and low-light outdoor pics of our toddlers playing. I shoot in manual mode, have tried to tweak the iso, and iso sensitivity...

pipehitter

Hi.
I'm shooting blurry indoor and low-light outdoor pics of our toddlers playing.

I shoot in manual mode, have tried to tweak the iso, and iso sensitivity, aperture, shutter speed, etc. And only about 10pct of my photos/action shots are not blurry.

I shoot with a Nikon d850 and no flash.

Any camera setting suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Frustrated Dad

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

pipehitter wrote:

Hi.
I'm shooting blurry indoor and low-light outdoor pics of our toddlers playing.

I shoot in manual mode, have tried to tweak the iso, and iso sensitivity, aperture, shutter speed, etc. And only about 10pct of my photos/action shots are not blurry.

I shoot with a Nikon d850 and no flash.

Any camera setting suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Frustrated Dad

Upload a couple of samples, and check store originals, so we can see what you're experiencing and see the EXIF data.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Children playing are in the same category as fast-moving wildlife so keeping the shutter speed up is a necessity (I don't shoot children or wildlife, but my guess would be 1/500 or faster). With a camera as good as the D850, high ISOs aren't as much of an issue as they would be with a lesser camera, and a bit of ISO noise won't be as detrimental as motion blur. For close-up and indoor stuff you can use a flash which helps to freeze the action.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

pipehitter wrote:

Hi.
I'm shooting blurry indoor and low-light outdoor pics of our toddlers playing.

I shoot in manual mode, have tried to tweak the iso, and iso sensitivity, aperture, shutter speed, etc. And only about 10pct of my photos/action shots are not blurry.

I shoot with a Nikon d850 and no flash.

Any camera setting suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Frustrated Dad

Sorry Dad but you are trying to do something you might want to reconsider, shooting action in the dark. There may be several things you could do but the easiest would be to increase your light! Get your subjects in a different environment ( another room perhaps?) or find a floor lamp or even a speedlite. Tale the show on the road and go outside.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

If you're concerned with harsh light from flash, research your camera's fill flash options. As already mentioned, blur from moving subjects is usually a function of shutter speed. ISO and aperture do not directly affect this issue. Aperture does affect depth of field.

Your comments suggest that you don't yet understand how exposure works and the properties of shutter speed and aperture. Frankly, manual mode is useless until you take time to study exposure, this most basic but hugely important aspect of photography. Your keeper rate will improve greatly from 10% and your frustrations will float away

Dave327 Loc: Duluth, GA. USA

Could it also be focus mode? I’m a canon shooter and switching to AI servo helped a lot getting action shots of my pups.

IR Jim Loc: St. Louis

Give this a shot:

1. Set the aperture to the lowest number f-stop.
2. Set the shutter speed 1/500.
3. Set metering to matrix or center weight.
4. Ensure Vibration Reduction switch is set to ON (on lens barrel).
5. Set focusing mode to Continuous.
6. Look through your camera at your toddlers, increase ISO until the exposure bar in the viewfinder shows correct exposure or slightly underexposed.

This should give you a decent starting ground. You can increase shutter speed to compensate for any motion blur but you'll need to up the ISO to bring the exposure meter close to center.

Haydon

I am quite sure a fast moving target in low light with a high megapixel camera would be substantially aided by introducing a flash to freeze the action.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

pipehitter wrote:

Hi.
I'm shooting blurry indoor and low-light outdoor pics of our toddlers playing.

I shoot in manual mode, have tried to tweak the iso, and iso sensitivity, aperture, shutter speed, etc. And only about 10pct of my photos/action shots are not blurry.

I shoot with a Nikon d850 and no flash.

Any camera setting suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Frustrated Dad

I use a couple of low cost manual speed lights, set up in strategic locations in the room to provide more or less even illumination. Bouncing the speedlights makes it work. Use a shutter speed of 1/250 to minimize ambient light and the short burst of the flash will even freeze a hummingbird's wings so kids shouldn't be an issue.

I didn't follow my own advice on shutter speed and shot at 1/30 - 1/60 - but the ambient wasn't that bright.

In any case, the advantage of using this approach is that you are less concerned with ISO that is too high, and you don't have to rely on vibration reduction. With more control over the amount and quality of the light, you can adjust the aperture to give you a bit more depth of field, the images will come out better and be completely without blur.

On first look, one wouldn't think these were taken with flash. The clue in the first image is the very warm light on the back of the couch, coming from a halogen, compared to the color of the bounced light.

.

(Download)

queencitysanta Loc: Charlotte, North Carolina

Use a flash

Shutterbug57

Pick your camera’s brain. Set the camera to auto ISO, set the aperture to wide open then play with the shutter speed. See what the camera suggests for ISO at shutter speeds that freeze the action. If they are too noisy, adding light will be necessary.

dreamon

Those little buggers often move fast. Indoors with a low-light situation (houses tend to interfere with sunlight, don't they?), even bumping the ISO may not get you to the place where you can stop motion.

It can be just a game sorting... blurry, blurry, sharp (keeper), blurry...

nsmock

I know you think it's cool to use manual, I think that is a lot of your problem. For low light and fast moving subjects why are using manual? I suggest use spot meter centered, continuous focus on the same center spot, ISO auto, program or auto mode.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

queencitysanta wrote:

Use a flash

What a novel thought. Thanks, Santa.

RickTaylor

Set the camera to shutter priority 1/500 af c and auto iso. You shouldn’t have any trouble with the D850 handling that