Shooting indoor group people photos with P&S - need tips.

[Gen.Libeb]

Not sure if to post in camera talk or photography thread, so I created this one.

In my recent attempts, I haven't got any exceptional photos shooting indoor group photos , most of them were ok. So looking out for tips on these photos as these constitute about 50% of my photos.
- Photos taken after evening in the home or restaurant.
- There is no additional lighting.
- People shots, either group photos , or individuals, may be some one cutting a cake (not posing for cam)

Here are some questions.

- Whether to shoot RAW or not ?

On one time recently, I did shoot RAW. But PPing 20-25 images to give them the same feel is kind of boring.
People shots have more noise in face.. shooting in RAW. With jpeg, I guess the camera does a better job than me in noise reduction & color rendering or atleast its boring to put much time in several images.

What do you guys think here ?


- Whether to use flash or not ?

I always keep the flash off.
Is there a way to use the in-camera flash & make the photos look not ugly ?


- What camera mode to use, what settings ?

I always keep it in Manual mode. Highest aperture. Shutter speed set to 100-125, ISO max 3200, I reduce shutter speed If ISO goes higher than that.
Tried auto once, but photos had motion blur. Photos come out dark in Tv mode. Not sure why to use Av mode in this case.
WB is set to auto & metering mode to evaluative.

What do you guys think is best setting here ?


Any other tips / links ?

Thanks

 

[sujoyp]

let me first tell you the biggest problem there is light ....cfl tubelight is just not enough for a group photo ...in a group photo u will need at least f7.1-f8 to keep everyone in focus..soo the shutter speed decrease drastically ...and ISO increases ....

If suppose ISO increases to 3200 in RAW pic will be soo grainy that u would reject it just by looking at it...

What I propose is...
1. shoot at f7.1
2. shoot fine jpeg
3. see that shutter speed is at least 1/60
4. get a on- camera flash diffuser...or get a cheap flash with tilting head...an external flash is the only way u can get bounce the light from celing and get descent shots.
5. Dont go beyond ISO 1600.

 

[nac]

All the indoor shots be it day or night, almost all the time there is no sufficient light indoor. You have to push up the ISO. But if you are shooting RAW, then you are good with base ISO.

External flash is good, but sadly your camera doesn't have hot shoe. But there are external flash which will work along with your camera's built in flash. You can try that if you can borrow it from your friend or someone.

I feel using flash will give better image than with out using one. I think you have to make diffuser yourself or white card to bounce the flash. (I have tried both these, but as my camera's flash is not that powerful, I am not getting decent images).

Use proper metering, exposure (both the camera and flash) to get good images indoor. As far as settings is concern, I mostly shooting in Av mode and I am comfortable with it. I switch to manual or Tv only when I am trying some unusual shot with high speed or ultra long shutter speed.

Aperture no.- Even though your camera's sensor is little bigger, using f/8 and all may give you soft image due to diffraction. If your subject is just 8 feet away and you are shooting at wide angle, you can keep your aperture wide open. You will get infinity DOF. We don't have to worry about deep DOF

ISO 3200 seems to be too much unless you are stacking lot of images to reduce the noise.

Don't laugh, it may sound little crazy. How about in camera HDR option for this scenario?

 

[sujoyp]

which camera you were talking about...I am extremely sorry...my answer was based on DSLR only ...I didnt know which cam you have

 

[nac]

Up to my knowledge he is using Canon S110 and H55 (and I was talking about S110).

 

[Gen.Libeb]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, right I was speaking for me shooting using S110/H55/Hx7v(not mine)

You have to push up the ISO. But if you are shooting RAW, then you are good with base ISO.

Base ISO. Mean what ? Shoot at low ISO even if the photo is dark & change during PP ?

I feel using flash will give better image than with out using one. I think you have to make diffuser yourself or white card to bounce the flash. (I have tried both these, but as my camera's flash is not that powerful, I am not getting decent images).

4. get a on- camera flash diffuser...or get a cheap flash with tilting head...an external flash is the only way u can get bounce the light from celing and get descent shots.

I will have to look up on diffuser / external flash. But I wasn't really planning on buying any thing that makes me feel like a dedicated photographer there. I want the photography process to be as discreet as possible
But I guess like you and sujoy said, flash (or some sort of decent lighting ) is the key here.

Isn't there is a way to change in-cam flash settings ? The more close up it is, uglier the photos get.

Use proper metering, exposure (both the camera and flash) to get good images indoor. As far as settings is concern, I mostly shooting in Av mode and I am comfortable with it. I switch to manual or Tv only when I am trying some unusual shot with high speed or ultra long shutter speed.

I never really used Av mode. In manual mode, my aperture is always set to the highest value (f2.0). I compensate with shutter speed.
Is there any reason to use aperture other then the highest for regular people shots ??? (I'm not talking of long exposure or artistic shots )

Aperture no.- Even though your camera's sensor is little bigger, using f/8 and all may give you soft image due to diffraction. If your subject is just 8 feet away and you are shooting at wide angle, you can keep your aperture wide open. You will get infinity DOF. We don't have to worry about deep DOF

which camera you were talking about...I am extremely sorry...my answer was based on DSLR only ...I didnt know which cam you have

Yeah I figured , sujoy was talking of DSLR aperture value.

If suppose ISO increases to 3200 in RAW pic will be soo grainy that u would reject it just by looking at it...

I've got some decent shots at 3200, but they need a some pp which is boring when there are too many photos & faces.

How about in camera HDR option for this scenario?

Never tried but I don't think this will work. People will most probably have slight movements during those shots.

 

[nac]

Base ISO. Mean what ? Shoot at low ISO even if the photo is dark & change during PP ?
Yes, that's what I read somewhere. But doesn't mean you can match up the high ISO with your base ISO image in PP. That would give even more noisier image. Just that don't expect high ISO RAW could be processed to make the image look good at our level (enthusiast).

Isn't there is a way to change in-cam flash settings ? The more close up it is, uglier the photos get.
Yes, you have choices. You can tweak the settings.
You shoot a white guy in a dark room and you set evaluative metering. Eventually, you blow up the important element in the image (his face) with flash on. Understand how your camera will behave in a given scenario and work on how you can get decent image (at least you won't make too many ugly photos)

Is there any reason to use aperture other then the highest for regular people shots ??? (I'm not talking of long exposure or artistic shots )
If you are close to your subject (in your case less than 8') and want deep DOF, you have to stop down. And there are cases where your camera doesn't allow you to hit highest shutter speed at wide open aperture. And when there is too much light.

I've got some decent shots at 3200, but they need a some pp which is boring when there are too many photos & faces.
I have shot in high ISO, but that kinda gives bloated look. People look fatter (try a head shot and compare, it's very much obvious. At least this is the case with my camera).

Never tried but I don't think this will work. People will most probably have slight movements during those shots.
Sorry my mistake. I assumed that camera would take one photograph and process +1 and -1 from the same photograph and merge all of them together. I know in camera HDR doesn't work like that, just confused.