blurry pictures at a wedding

[PhotoAmateur]

I'm a very amateur photographer and went to a wedding last weekend. I
forgot to buy more film and all I had was one 400 ASA roll and 200 ASA
rolls. I exposed two rolls, one 400 ASA and one 200 ASA. Almost all of
them were blurry. I had to use my Canon EF 75-300mm 4-5.6 USM lens to get
a close shot and crop off what I didn't want, but I couldn't use a tripod.
I have a Canon EOS Elan IIE camera and I think I used the "P" setting the
whole time for full auto. I zoomed in the full way most of the time, was
it the fact that I didn't use a tripod with that big lens and long focal
length why I got blurry pictures? Is there a way to get sharp pictures with
that long of a lens in that situation?
thanks

[Ken Hart]

If you were shooting available light (no flash), your shutter speed was
probably rather slow, so any camera movement would show up. Add to that the
long lens, you've got a problem. A slight movement at the camera translates
to an extreme movement far away at your subject.
If you were shooting with flash, and the church was large (especially high
ceilings), than there would be little reflection of the flash light and your
flash would be ineffective at long distances.
When shooting with a long lens, the camera _must_ be held steady. A tripod
is best, second best is practicing "body bracing" and gently squeezing the
shutter.
Are you experienced with rifles? Or do you know someone who could show you
how a rifle is braced against the body, and the trigger is squeezed, not
pulled. At the risk of being politically incorrect, handling a camera with a
long lens is very similar to handling a rifle.

[PhotoAmateur]

no flash because the subjects were too far away. I'm a beginner, but I have
"some" money to spend and I like photography. I don't get a whole lot of
time to practice it, but I try to learn how to improve my skills. So, I've
been thinking of buying Canon's 100-400mm IS telephoto zoom. Anyone have
any experience with this lens? I did try to brace myself at the wedding by
leaning on the person next to me, without any good though. I really like to
visit the local zoo and take pictures of animals and they are always moving
and I have to use my 75-300mm zoom always to get a good shot, and a tripod
almost always too. Hopefully this lens with image stabilization will
improve my pictures considerably.

[Georgews]

I agree you should be using a tripod or monopod with your long lens, especially if it is a bit dim.
Another common thing is for people to "push" the shutter button which will result in movement of the camera. A long lens will magnify the movement and cause very blurry photos. Make sure you "squeeze" the button gently and don't poke at it. It takes a bit of practice sometimes.
Have another go and see if some of the tips suggested help - good luck!
------------------
George

[Ian]

I have used both the Canon 75-300IS and the 100-400IS and they are both superb.
Basically IS speeds the lens up and "gives" you extra stops to play with, so it
acts like the lens is much shorter when considering the lens length vs shutter
speed. As I am sure you are aware, when shooting with the camera handheld your
shutter speed should be the reciprocal (s) of the zoom length of the lens. So a
28mm lens can be handheld at 1/28th of a second (call it 1/30) , a 300 mm lens
shouldn't be handheld with a shutter speed slower than 1/300 th of a second.
However these are only guidelines and they can be bent, but not usually broken.
I have never found leaning against people to be effective as you pick up all of
their twitching too. I usually stand with my left foot pointing slightly to the
right of the object and the right foot comfortably behind it and pointing away
at 90 degrees to the object. Then bend the knees slightly so that you are comfy
and not going to fidget. Left hand cups the barrel of the lens with fingers
pointing to the right and thumb towards the subject, right hand grips camera as
normal. Now tuck your left elbow down into your chest so that your elbow is
pressing against your ribs just bellow your left nipple (If R is for rebecca,
then you will have to do the best you can). Your right elbow rests against your
right ribs, then take a breath, let it out, hold your breath and take the photo
within the next 5 seconds, otherwise breathe again and repeat.
What the IS lets you do is push hand held shots harder. The 75-300 gives you an
extra 2 stops at 75mm and 3 stops at 300. For each stop you gain you can halve
the lens length, so the 75mm becomes a ((75/2)/2)=15mm therefore 1/15 of a
second, however using the above stance you get an extra stop so you can shoot at
1/8th of a second. At 300mm you get 3 stops, (((300/2)/2)/2)=30 so hand hold at
1/30 don't recommend pushing this to 1/15 as it starts to get hit and miss.

The 100-400IS L lens gives you 2 stops at the top and bottom of the range, so it
behaves like a 25-100 lens for shutter speed calculations. The 100-400 also has
a second type of IS which allows you to pan horizontally or vertically and the
IS stabilizes at right angles to the direction of panning. The 75-300 was
around £450 when it was release a few years ago and the 100-400 is £1600. These
prices can be beat if you shop around. Both are lovely pieces of kit and I
would recommend them to any EOS user, however, there is another way.

You may not be able to use a tripod, and body bracing only gains you so much,
but you could always invest in a good monopod. They are easy to use and easy to
open and put away. I have a very sturdy sleeved aluminium monopod and a Benbo
MKII. The monopod weighs at most a pound, the BenboII considerably more. I use
the Benbo when I can, the monopod if a tripod isn't possible and IS when neither
is appropriate. When carrying the monopod it sits between the rucksack and me,
across my back, easy for access, and can be retrieved in a few seconds. You
can't really hand carry it cos it look far to much like a club/iron bar, which i
guess could be advantageous in certain situations ;-). The Benbo is used when I
can afford to hire a Sherpa to carry it for me.

Hope this helps

[Eric Hocking]

I'd just like to add, that, when handholding my 75-300mm 4.5/5.6 that I
nearly always shoot in Shutter Priority and set it by default to 1/focal
length and let the aperture sort itself out in "action" shots. This at
least gets you the first "snap" shot or warns that there's not enough light
to shoot at that shutter speed. After getting the first (and sometimes
only ) shot, I then start knocking down the shutter speed and/or adjust
aperture for depth of field. Invariably in Africa it involved snapping my
2XTC between lens and camera for a close shot. Practice with your equipment
and technique will help you gauge just what you can get away with in the
future, but if you're worried about motion blur (ie operator error) try the
above and work on your hand held technique.
In good (African) light, I've been able to handhold the 300mm + 2XTC at f11
(ISO400) and get away with it. Similar technique shooting at the Melbourne
GPs have yielded fair shots of fast action.

[Ted Smith]

This may sound stupid ... but ... try holding your camera upside down. If
you cradle the lens in your right hand, use your left hand to push the body
of the camera AGAINST your forhead (because the camera is upside down the
bulk of the body is no longer below your eyes but above it) ... and use the
thumb on your left hand to gently push UP against the shutter release, you
can actually reduce vibration a fair bit.
Another poster compared rifle and camera shooting ... as someone who does
both, plus pistol shooting, I suggest you pay attention to breath control.
If you take a deep breath and exhale BEFORE you fire ... be it a firearm or
camera ... the chance of muscle tension causing vibration in your arms is
reduced, therefore you will either hit the bulls-eye ... or have a sharper
photo. (By the way, this technique of exhaling also reduces spills while
skiing. An old timer taught me that many years ago ... exhale before
crossing a patch of ice ... and your muscles can't tense up and cause a
tumble.)

Taking the rifle anology further ... if you want to do a lot of freehand
shooting with long lens, look around for a rifle stock camera mount.
Anybody remember the old Zenit Sniper-Shot system from the early '70s? It
was a bad camera, and even worse 300mm lens, mounted on what looked like a
East German sub-machine gun stock ... all of which came in a nifty metal
case with four of the biggest filters I have ever seen. While it was pretty
much a lousy lens, the mount was good. For a reasonable price, you could
probably have a local gunsmith modify the stock from a burned our .22 into a
pretty decent camera mount ... put a rifle strap on it and practice using
the strap tensioned against your left arm the way soldiers are trained (or
were with bolt-action rifles) This would be something you could carry into
the woods for wildlife or use on the sidelines of a sporting event..
Probably NOT something to use at political events. (In 1973 the RCMP gave a
friend of mine a real hastle when he was using a ZENIT SniperShot to
photograph Queen Elizabeth)

And while we're on the subject of breath control ... when you're golfing ...
just before your buddy starts his swing ... ask him if he INHALES or EXHALES
on his backswing ... it'll really mess up his mind for a few holes.

Good luck,
Ted

[Georgews]

If you cannot get a tripod or it is too much weight try a good monopod. Or if you want to try something really cheap and easy to carry, get a bolt which will fir the tripod socket on your camera. Screw the nut down so that there is enough thread showing to screw into the camera but not enought to reach the end of the socket. Glue the nut in this position. next get a piece of kitchen string and tie it firmly tothe head of the bold. You need abour 1.5 m.
To use it screww the bolt into the camera and let the string drop. Stand on the end of the string with one foot and pull it tight when you bring the camera up to eye level.
It is not as good as a tripod etc obviously but it will help you keep steady.
In general, with a longer lens use a faster film. A rule of thumb, the slowest shutter speed should be about the focal length of the lens. With a 300 mm lens always use at least 1/250th if hand held.
Good luck
------------------
George

[Richard Knight]

As has been mentioned before, shooting in shutter priority at the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens can help. If you still can't get a proper exposure, pushing the film up to two stops (while leaving the shutter at the original speed) may get you the rest of the way (be advised that this technique will add contrast to the negative/chrome).