Need to take snaps without flash

We were blessed with a baby girl on 28th.
20 days earlier than expected and I had to rush n get a new cam ASAP. Indicom urned its back on me, so no research possible with the little time I had and using a little common sense (I hope so) I ended up getting a Canon SX100 IS.

Trouble is, I need to take the baby's pics without using any flash as it its ill-advised use flash on newborns. The lighti9ng at the hospital ain't that great either.

I tried increasing the exposure time, however the images are toooo grainy to even consider. I am doing things at 1600 ISO, and clicking from about 2 feet without using any zoom, and with the focus at 4 and below.

So looking for a "Dummies" guide to click without flash.

1600 ISO? Man u need some tubelights in the hospital.

OT: Congrats sarang

Maybe lower the ISO settings and try a higher exposure with a tripod - cannot think of anything else that you can do (maybe the pros on the forum would know)

^^ Nope using a tripod/keeping camera on support and using manual settings to set a long exposure with the lowest possible ISO is the only way to get a decent snap without flash.

take on iso 100 -200 but keep exposure time to 2-5 seconds and use auto white balance.. use tripod for support. i have the same digicam and have taken relatively grain free pics on these settings using only a 11w cfl lamp.

buy a new tripod. I got one for 600 in hyderabad. and take long exposure shots when the baby is sleeping and not moving much.

congrats

OT: Thanks techie_007.

Thank you for the suggestions guys. Will try lowering the ISO today.

@6pack: Already using auto White balance.
@booo: Brand name please, and snaps of the tripod if possible. 600 sounds like a good deal to me.

you mean making iso value high(no more than 800)
babies always keep moving around so long exposure times wont be possible
see if you can get a table lamp there, or maybe couple of candles

Congrats man....

Thanks a tonne peeps.
This is what I did,
1. ISO 80 (This is as low as I can go on my SX100 without CHDK)

2a. Went to night mode and adjusted the focus to ~(+1) depending on the kind of zoom I am attempting.

2b. Also took a few in manual mode with the same settings as above with an exposure of 3 seconds.

3. Took videos as extracting clips is simpler and you get plenty of different angles without the hassle. The quality can then be enhanced using genuine fractals, focal point and other photo tools in PS.

^^ Well did they work ? Did you get useable snaps ?

Your problem is lack of light and a camera which is noisy over ISO 400.

What you can do:

1. Keep ISO at 400, underexpose the shot but around -0.3EV and keep shutter-speeds at 1/3-1/5s for an almost still baby. This will give you an underexposed slightly grainy shot.

2. Open this in PS and use NR software like Neatimage (my preferred tool). And use levels to increase the exposure to your heart's content.

3. Do NOT use zoom, ensure your aperture is always set at f2.8 for the highest shutter speeds possible. If you're using zoom you need more light or more ISO to have proper exposure.

That's the best you can do. I do not recommend tripods since your baby would move eventually. :-s

BUT an even better way is to try bouncing flash off the ceiling. If your pop-up flash goes high enough, place a white cardboard under the flash and take a shot with flash so that light bounces off the ceiling. Raise ISO to atleast 200, ideally 400. Use NR software again. I can show off some wonderful shots I have taken with this technique.

Payne

Thanks -d.payne- will sure try it out tomorrow.