Thanks, this is something I need to work on, with my D40x ISO was always on 400. I'm only using D300/700 since January.

I spent a fair bit of time learning to change the ISO with my eye in the view finder. It's just a matter of muscle memory and knowing the camera. That said- if you're able to change ISO via muscle memory, it takes almost no time. You could have bumped that from 200 to 1600 in 1/4 of a second and still gotten the shot.

It's one of the simple things that took some effort one day, but has dramatically improved my hit rate for quick and sloppy candids.

And if use Noise removing software like Define, Noise Ninja and others thing can be improved

great capture of a neat moment

Pete

Hi Pete

This picture was taken with my D700 and my 70-200 VRII at 125mm ISO 3200 and 1/200

There was minimal noise, and I'm going to try ISO 6400 next time out and up the shutter to 1/500 and see how we go.

Rusty1963 said:
Thanks Pete, I suppose it's possible to try and "recreate" the moment since this pic was taken at my inlaws. I may very well have a go, although I have noticed a certain reluctance within myself at the thought of it.

I think that my reluctance is something that I need to overcome, I like spontaneity and setting up "the moment" just seems to run against the grain a bit.

I think that this is an issue that I'm going to have to deal with pretty soon though.

I would not actual set up the same moment, but use what you have learned on the wrongs of this picture and retake a similar picture when you have that chance again, but maybe you should get more familiar with your camera first, like how high can I set the ISO and still have a useful picture, I would take your camera and same lens, then at the same time and light, take some pictures at different settings, and figure out were they should be at for the next time

Pete

BTW I would add that it is better do deal with noise from high ISO than blur from a shutter speed set to low

You can play a little bit in photoshop, and could probably get little bit more sharpness, but is it worth it. I imagine You can have some emotional feelings with this photo, but from the technical and compositional point of view it's... well, could be better. I would probably go lower (knee) and make sure the child is facing the mother (so You could see both eyes - mother and child facing each other).

That is the downside of only taking spur of the moment shots of family, you'll often miss them because you don't have the right settings. If I am going out and I know I'll be shooting indoors in the evening I'll bump up the ISO to 800, just in case.

Thanks Pete, I suppose it's possible to try and "recreate" the moment since this pic was taken at my inlaws. I may very well have a go, although I have noticed a certain reluctance within myself at the thought of it.

I think that my reluctance is something that I need to overcome, I like spontaneity and setting up "the moment" just seems to run against the grain a bit.

I think that this is an issue that I'm going to have to deal with pretty soon though.

I have taken lots of pictures with the wrong setting, and in heat of the moment it just happens, I would try to soften everything around them

Or find the moment again and get the settings worked out on your camera, properly min 1/60sec

Good luck and BTW this is a great picture of a special moment

Pete

Thamks for the feedback.

I agree, re ISO, although this was shot as soon as I had taken my camera out of the bag, - no time to change settings. I have my camera set on ISO 200 as default.

It's probably not so noticeable unless you can zoom in to the image, but if you have a look at the fence and at my wife's chin, you can see that they are also blurred.

At such a slow shutter speed, movement of the subject is always going to be an issue and with a baby, that's even more likely to be so, ordinarily I would have acccepted the blurring as movement. The fence was what got me going though. In deference to your opinion Niko, I must concede that the blur is probably a combination of both.

Which brings me back to the question still standing, is there any way to repair such a blur in post?

Yeah you're shooting with a D700 AND a 50mm f1.4 lens so your ISO is waaay too low for a shot like that. To me the blurring appears to be coming from the child moving and not so much from you "jerking shutter".

Why not bump up the ISO to get a better shutter speed? You are shooting with the D700 after all! Shoot that scene at ISO1600, and it would still be noise free!

In my haste to get this shot, I jabbed at the shutter, with the result that this really beautiful moment is (forever?) blurred.

D700 ISO 200 50mm F1.4 1/4 sec (handheld)

Is there any way to reduce this kind of blur effectively in post. I have actually thought of turning it into a soft gaussian blur to soften it and make it more intimate (I hope)