Went to a car meet last night, and to say it was my first go personally i dont think i did too bad (although room for improvement) excpet for a few that i need tweeking if at all possible please? I will one day learn how to do it.

 

1. The pole removing - http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/nathy2k6/General%20Photos%20from%20SLR/2015-09-27%20Car%20Meet/IMG_0022_zps2kgdamls.jpg

 

2. The young lady removed - http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/nathy2k6/General%20Photos%20from%20SLR/2015-09-27%20Car%20Meet/IMG_0141_zps7acwqq7h.jpg

 

3. Lighting up a little - http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/nathy2k6/General%20Photos%20from%20SLR/2015-09-27%20Car%20Meet/IMG_0023_zpslrpjehgb.jpg

 

 

Question.

 

While at the meet last night I found it difficult picking up anything because of the light.  I tried to use Night mode but didn't do anything.  The best outcome for me (which SWMBO) found was to switch it to A-Dep and use the torch from an iPhone (other smartphones are available) anyone give me some tips please? As winter is coming this will be a regular occurance.  Camera Canon 1100d.

 

 

Thanks in Advance.

Not sure about the young lady being removed.............. what about all the crap on the floor?

yeah and that lol

Anyone please?

For low light, you want to turn your ISO up to as high as you're willing to go (you'll get more grain as you go up) I stop at 1600 on my 50d but the 750d I use can pull of 3200 happily and 6400 if I'm not too bothered or only doing web-sized images. I'd assume the 1100 probably will be ok at 3200. Shooting RAW and using noise reduction in post can help immensely here rather than shooting JPG and letting the camera do it.

 

You want your aperture to be as low (wide) as possible for more light (but be aware that your Depth of Field (bit in focus) will be smaller).

 

If you're hand holding the camera then you want a shutter speed that won't give you blur from camera shake - rule is usually 1 over the focal length minimum - so at 50mm you'd be 1/50th as a minimum to handhold. With some practice and technique you can go lower than this but to begin it's a decent enough rule.

 

If you're doing all these and it's still too dark then you're in the territory of wanting new glass (expensive glass) unfortunately. Or go to slightly earlier meets with more light.

 

Do not, ever, under any circumstances, be using the flash on your camera. With the amount of high-reflective parts (numberplates) and the fact paint will show the hotspots it will make all your photos look very amateurish. When you get experience you could try some off camera flash or bulb-exposure light painting but for now the flash is your enemy - use high ISO and wide aperture to get the light into the camera - an excellent time to be experimenting with fully manual controls and really get to know your camera.

Will need off camera flash for night shots

I still use a tripod, shoot in 100iso, & don't mind sticking it to F11 & having a long shutter time...............

 

However if your camera has an automatic night composition mode use this!!! Still put on tripod & it takes several individual shots at a shorter shutter speed & overlays them on top of each other, very effective............