First Pics with S90

[Didje]

Hey guys,

Here's a link to some shots I took last month in Roatan, with my brand new S90 and Canon housing. No strobe yet. I suck at taking pics but it's an amazing little machine. I'm very impressed.

Reef House Resort, Roatan, Honduras - a set on Flickr

Cheers,
Fred

 

[fuggler]

I think you did very well for your first time. I hope you get to buy strobes soon.

 

[madakuska]

Those pics are amazing!!!

I'm going to purchase the housing for my s90 too. However, my experience in photography is almost nonexistent. I'm fiddling with modes right now and kinda worried whether I'll be able to take decent photo or not. The setting is confusing me.

in Av: With f5.6, the shutter speed is set at around 1". How am I going to take a picture of something moving?
in Tv: With 1/60, the aperture is at f2 and the image is so dark that I've to crank the iso up to more than 400.

Well, this may be due to the indoor lighting environment. Haven't tried various settings in different places though.

edit: one more question, how did you take the photo of the fish with completely dark background?

 

[VictorP]

Very nice pictures Didje! I also added you as a contact to my flickr, thought I don't actually have an underwater housing so all my pics are topside.

@Madakuska cranking up the ISO to improve lightening has an adverse affect most often by increasing picture noise.
Best bet if you can would be to decrease shutter speed to let in more light that way (with a stationary target and if you have steady hands, 1/30 is about the lowest possible for hand held on stationary target) or decrease the f-stop this lets in more light and also blurs the background (decreases depth-of-focus).
Or you can also try and light up your subject with something like a flashlight or if the camera has it a flash. I'm speaking in general as I don't use an S90, so I don't know the individual functions of that camera.

 

[Didje]

Those pics are amazing!!!

I'm going to purchase the housing for my s90 too. However, my experience in photography is almost nonexistent. I'm fiddling with modes right now and kinda worried whether I'll be able to take decent photo or not. The setting is confusing me.

in Av: With f5.6, the shutter speed is set at around 1". How am I going to take a picture of something moving?
in Tv: With 1/60, the aperture is at f2 and the image is so dark that I've to crank the iso up to more than 400.

Well, this may be due to the indoor lighting environment. Haven't tried various settings in different places though.

edit: one more question, how did you take the photo of the fish with completely dark background?

The fish with the blackbaground was shot... at night. LOL

I shot most of my pics in AV mode, ISO 100 in RAW. You need somewhat good light but also use the internal flash, especially for macro shots.

I love this little camera.

 

[madakuska]

@VictorP+Didje

thank you both for the advice

 

[havnmonkey]

Google is a great resource! and so is Amazon/Barnes Noble/Local library...

quick help anyways:

in Av mode you set the aperture which controls how much light gets to the sensor, higher f/# equals less light. The aperture is like your pupil, in bright light it constricts and in dark light it opens up.

in Tv mode you set the Shutter speed to stop motion. example 1/60 means the shutter is only open for 1/60th of a second, freezing the action. 1" means the shutter is open for one whole second, without a still subject (and steady hands) the picture will be blurry.

Less light (indoors, sunset, underwater) usually require slower shutter speeds and wider apertures (f/4,f/2.8, f/2) or higher ISO... The use of a flash/strobe for underwater is usually a must.

as a very general rule... P&S camera pictures will suffer insdoors and underwater w/out the use of a flash/strobe. Photography and proper lighting/exposure is always daunting in the beginning... but the internet is a wealth of knowledge. Keep playing w/ your modes and remember which settings work in which conditions.

I'm going to purchase the housing for my s90 too. However, my experience in photography is almost nonexistent. I'm fiddling with modes right now and kinda worried whether I'll be able to take decent photo or not. The setting is confusing me.

in Av: With f5.6, the shutter speed is set at around 1". How am I going to take a picture of something moving?
in Tv: With 1/60, the aperture is at f2 and the image is so dark that I've to crank the iso up to more than 400.

 

[madakuska]

one more thing, what power level do you usually fire your flash at? I found that firing it at maximum level indoor is almost always overkill. The lighting looks really awkward but what's the case of underwater?

 

[Didje]

one more thing, what power level do you usually fire your flash at? I found that firing it at maximum level indoor is almost always overkill. The lighting looks really awkward but what's the case of underwater?

I don't know if you were asking me in particular, but anyway I used the flash at full power. Of course I played around with the white balance and exposure in post processing. The pictures don't look like that out of the camera!

 

[markster33139]

Could you tell me what f-stop you shot these pictures at