Help with camera settings: I have 16 mo old twin girls that are a nightmare to try to photograph, but after I've spent all this money for equipment, I'm determined to learn how. I...

gmccaleb Loc: East KY / South AL

I have 16 mo old twin girls that are a nightmare to try to photograph, but after I've spent all this money for equipment, I'm determined to learn how. I generally use a 24-70mm 2.8 and Nikon d7100. I have good natural lighting in my house and would prefer not to use a flash. I started out with a 4.0 f stop and boosted my ISO, my problem is...I can't seem to get my shutter speed high enough to freeze them. Setting suggestions, PLEASE???

Old Timer Loc: Greenfield, In.

`Children, pets, birds, and sports all are hard to shoot without a fast shutter, all are always moving. You say you do not want to use a flash, why. If you use a flash and aim at the ceiling or off a wall and bounce it you should not have a problem. I usually use shutter priority bounce the light. A good reflector also helps. If you are shooting indoors you usually do not have enough light. A tripod also helps with good panning head or ball head. I do under stand why some do not want to use a flash, after all you are painting with light. With f4 stop you need good light. I use the Canon 70 200 f4 with a light and have good results.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

gmccaleb wrote:

I have 16 mo old twin girls that are a nightmare to try to photograph, but after I've spent all this money for equipment, I'm determined to learn how. I generally use a 24-70mm 2.8 and Nikon d7100. I have good natural lighting in my house and would prefer not to use a flash. I started out with a 4.0 f stop and boosted my ISO, my problem is...I can't seem to get my shutter speed high enough to freeze them. Setting suggestions, PLEASE???

try auto. then check the exif settings on picture when you get a good one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXuhMgtEFkY

Alfonso

lower f stop to 2.8. set metering to center weighted. you can under expose a little and fix exposure in post but keep in mind under exposing can increase noise in shadows. But that shouldn't matter much. You can use a 1.4 lens. The Nikon 50mm lenses aren't great. You can use the Nikon 58mm but the Sigma 50mm Art and other prime Sigma 1.4 Art lenses are better (but heavier) than the Nikon 50 or 58mm 1.4. Sigma has a 24-35mm f/2.0 zoom that's sweet.

Marc-Wi Loc: Oshkosh Wi

You really need to learn the exposure triangle. It's obvious you don't have the light you think you do. At f2.8 or f4 you have little depth of field, something you'll badly need for good shots of the little ones. You can't just ask for settings. Every situation is different and noone answering can know what they are at any given time at any given place they are not at. For now auto is your best bet.

PhotoMan1929 Loc: Virginia, USA

gmccaleb wrote:

I have 16 mo old twin girls that are a nightmare to try to photograph, but after I've spent all this money for equipment, I'm determined to learn how. I generally use a 24-70mm 2.8 and Nikon d7100. I have good natural lighting in my house and would prefer not to use a flash. I started out with a 4.0 f stop and boosted my ISO, my problem is...I can't seem to get my shutter speed high enough to freeze them. Setting suggestions, PLEASE???

In photography, LIGHT is the essential ingredient. Simply asking for "settings" is a waste of time. You very likely do not have enough light to successfully capture moving subjects - children. Bounce flash likely would be the answer. The truth is, you have purchased some expensive equipment, but do not have the basic knowledge to use it effectively.

As others have stated, you have a need for good depth of field and the ability to stop movement of the children. One need hampers the other. Try some experiments without the children present. Keep your shutter speed reasonably high, 1/250 sec. or above and see what you get. I have an area in my home near a north-facing window where I measure a light level of 64 foot candles. In order to get an exposure of 1/25 sec. at f/8, I would need to boost the ISO to 6400.

Frankly, I have never made successful photos of children while they were "jumping around." Good luck.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

gmccaleb wrote:

I have 16 mo old twin girls that are a nightmare to try to photograph, but after I've spent all this money for equipment, I'm determined to learn how. I generally use a 24-70mm 2.8 and Nikon d7100. I have good natural lighting in my house and would prefer not to use a flash. I started out with a 4.0 f stop and boosted my ISO, my problem is...I can't seem to get my shutter speed high enough to freeze them. Setting suggestions, PLEASE???

You need more light, or a higher ISO. With bounce flash you'll lose some light, so need big units. An FX camera would be better for high ISOs. You have your work cut out for you, good luck!

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

gmccaleb wrote:

I have 16 mo old twin girls that are a nightmare to try to photograph, but after I've spent all this money for equipment, I'm determined to learn how. I generally use a 24-70mm 2.8 and Nikon d7100. I have good natural lighting in my house and would prefer not to use a flash. I started out with a 4.0 f stop and boosted my ISO, my problem is...I can't seem to get my shutter speed high enough to freeze them. Setting suggestions, PLEASE???

Nightmare??? Nah, you don't have a nightmare, just a major challenge, doubled. Good "natural lighting"? OK, use it to your advantage. Remember, distance can be your friend when it comes to shutter speed. Back away from your subject, if possible and the shutter speed will "increase" without actually changing. Play with your light, take advantage of everything you have. Count your blessings, then post a few of the results. GL.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

Buy a Nikon SB910. Set it on TTL. You are fighting a losing battle. Especially with a 16 month old. Good luck.

Wilsondl3

You need to work with your girls to have them sit still. Put your camera on a tripod and have them sit on a bench. Have someone stand behind you and make faces. I love to watch store (now a dying breed) work with kids. We have six children and I was able to get them all cooperating even when the younger ones were that age and younger. - Dave

Clemens Loc: Maryland

What about adding a LED video light with adjustable color temperature settings. There cheap nowadays (well some) and they can give you that additional light to get the shutterspeed you want without adding too much ISO.
We use them all the time and work great

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Do the obvious first:

Turn on ALL of the lights in the room.

ADD lights if you have to.

Then open your lens up all of the way as wide as it will go (smallest f/stop number)

Then boost your ISO as high as you can within reason.

Then see what you can squeeze out for a shutter speed.

If that doesn't work. Buy a TTL flash and learn to bounce it. In my experience, folks who say "I like natural light, I don't use flash" mean "I don't have the skills necessary to make flash look good so I'll not use it"

bobfitz Loc: Kendall-Miami, Florida

Not long ago I was shooting an evening party outdoors in Miami. I had two SB800s die on me. I set the ISO to auto and the results were amazing. Perfect exposures with better than acceptable noise.

rbfanman

Try to use a shutter speed at least as high as, or higher than, your top lens focal length in number. For a 70mm lens, use at least a 1/100th of a second shutter speed setting. 1/200th would be better. 1/60th of a second will not be so good. For fast movers-running children / animals, sports action, moving cars, etc-use at least 1/500th of a second....or 1/1,000th of a second. Do not shoot under fluorescent lights, or regular incandescent lights. Put 'Daylight', or 'Full Spectrum' bulbs in your lights / lamps, indoors, to simulate sunlight.

Instead of bouncing your flash, you could put a hanky over the flash head, and hold it in place with a rubber band. That will give you most of the lighting power of the flash, but soften the light, making for less starkness / glare.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Clemens wrote:

What about adding a LED video light with adjustable color temperature settings. There cheap nowadays (well some) and they can give you that additional light to get the shutterspeed you want without adding too much ISO.
We use them all the time and work great

😀😀😀😀😃

LED allows you to mix stills and video. Surely, those little ones are worthy of a bit of HD capture?

When my twins were little, (1999), I used film. I bounced two Vivitar 285 strobes off of white ceilings. One (on camera) was set to auto, the other, triggered by photoslave, was adjusted to manual power that looked right (usually half or full; it wasn't critical). I loved the results. I used a white card on the on-camera flash to kick some light onto the kids, while most of the light was bounced.