Advice for shooting indoors

[Nic]

Thank you for the advice everyone! I've put some batteries on the charge. Definitely sounds like the issue, it's taking a lot longer than 10 secs to warm up. I'm going to learn how to use the flash first & then I might look into a faster lens. Mad Aussie the sigma 18-200mm is f3.5, so no better than the two lenses I already have. It would be easier to have one lens instead of two. I don't think I'll worry about it though. I'm more interested in the faster prime lens. Where can you pick up cheap prime lenses Mad Aussie? The faster prime lense would also help with my other issue of background. Not always the best back drops in my house. Not that I limit myself to indoors, it's just where I have the most difficulty getting a nice shot.

I don't understand why I would have to set the flash to p either. I never shoot in p. I've probably misunderstood the manual. Will be doing more research about flash operation, I haven't got a clue.

Thanks again everyone!

[Mad Aussie]

I got my 50mm f1.8 prime for about $120 from Cameras Direct I think. I have no idea if there's a version to suit your camera though.

I do think that learning to use the kit lenses before spending big bucks on the Sigma is probably a wiser way to go. You can have all the great gear and no idea and still end up with crap shots. But with cheap gear, you can still get great shots if you know what you are doing.

Another thing is learn post processing! And learn to shoot in RAW. With those two elements, you'd be surprised what you can do with what looked like a crap shot due to exposure.

[Mad Aussie]

Just did a very quick search and found in the pentax forums these options for the K-r ...
SMC Pentax-FA 50mm F1.4 $221.44
SMC Pentax-FA 50mm F1.7 $120

Dunno whether those prices are US or AU ... but maybe search around a bit

[theantiquetiger]

Nic,
As a beginner, I too am learning how to get good ambient light indoors without a flash. I don't care for flash because of harsh light (and I haven't really learned to use my flash correctly yet). So, from a beginner to a beginner, here are some tips that helped me(other than buying a 50mm f/1.8 lens)

Set a custom white balance before shooting or make sure your white balance is set to the correct type of lighting you are using. This is not really helping the lighting, but your image maybe lit well enough, just your white balance is off, making your whites too dark. Setting a custom white balance is pretty simple, you just need a white sheet of paper.

Another VERY simple way is to take shades off of lamps in the room you are shooting (just make sure they are not in the frame :-) )

A third method I use is that if your camera has a small pop up flash like my Canon has, take a ping pong ball, cut it open to were it fits completely over the flash. This will soften the light of the flash. Be warned, when you use this, the flash also shoots back towards you, near blinding.

***any experts on the board, please let me know if any advice I just gave is bad***

[vyeko]

I am also Pentax user and I agree with all what they say about lightning.I have old Pentax 50 mm f/1.7 and my experiences is unbelievable. Is dead sharp sometimes too much (portraits). I use for mid night walk in my town for night shots.It is so fast that I can take image handhold too.For concert shotting too.Hope that will help you for easier decision.

[Nic]

Thanks for ur research Mad Aussie. I'm going to check Cameras Direct out after I attempt to learn how to use my flash. I'm still very tempted by a faster prime lens. I appreciate ur time & advice. I currently shoot in RAW & jpeg, although I have to admit to mostly using the jpeg images. I haven't played enough with RAW. I found a great vodcast that shows photoshop techniques for the digital photographer & have been playing around with high pass sharpening etc. I still have a lot to learn though. I have a graphic design background so I'm familiar with photoshop, but not so much the techniques used by photographers. I'm quite enjoying expanding my knowledge in that area. So far my post processing includes (if necessary) levels, high pass sharpening & some spot healing. If you don't mind sharing, what do you do?

I did manage to get my daughter to do an activity on our deck so I could shoot something for the one assignment. Much better with some extra light, although it was quite late in the day. The light is quite warm, I'm not sure whether it's too warm or not.

theantiquetiger, thanks for ur tips. I'm particularly interested in ur ping pong idea. A lot of the time I want to shoot my daughter I don't have time to attached my portable flash etc, so that would b perfect. I'm definitely going to try it. I've been using the custom settings for white balance since hearing on a number of podcasts that AWB is evil , but I haven't tried setting it with white paper. I'll give that a go too.

Thanks again for all your help! I've made a New Years Resolution to put more time into my interests & this forum is a perfect way to develop my photography skills.

[Marko]

Aside from a couple of strong lights ready to shine on her I can't really add to what Iggy has suggested.
You simply lack light so you simply must find a way to get more light to the camera sensor, whether that be via adding physical lights/flashes or getting a faster lens is your call.

100% agree. You could also try used video lights and bounce them. Those are way cheap if u can find them and they will add a good amount of light.
I have a smith victor 650 watt halogen bulb in a small smith victor head. The thing is ancient, but throws a lot of light. The bulb gets 3rd degree burn hot so you have to be careful, and the bulb is 25 dollars - but aside from that it works great in the situations you describe in the first post.

[Mad Aussie]

I have a graphic design background so I'm familiar with photoshop, but not so much the techniques used by photographers. I'm quite enjoying expanding my knowledge in that area. So far my post processing includes (if necessary) levels, high pass sharpening & some spot healing. If you don't mind sharing, what do you do?

I share all the time! Having a graphic design background (as I do) will help you in learning the photography side of photoshop for sure.

I used to use Lightroom, as many do, and that's a good program for sure. I used to use HDR software, as many do, and they can give some great results as well. Nowadays though, I use Adobe Bridge and Photoshop exclusively.

Bridge helps me view my RAW shots, arrange my photos and add keywords and other data I want. I can stack multi-exposures together etc and then launch the photo into Photoshop. The only downside is the preview is a bit soft.

When it opens in Photoshop I can then use all the RAW adjustments available to me, including adjusting the white balance as though I did it before shooting, sharpen, adjust 8 different colour groups in 3 different ways, levels, rotating, reduce chromatic aberration, and much more. All on the RAW before actually opening the photo completely in PS for further work or saving as a Jpeg etc.
Once in PS, and assuming the photo is pretty good to start with, I often do very little unless I want to really do something dramatic with it. Then I often use layers and layer masking to achieve the effects I want.

I've made a New Years Resolution to put more time into my interests & this forum is a perfect way to develop my photography skills.

Good decision. This is the best forum I've found for learners in years of visiting photography sites.

Where in Aussie are you Nic?

[Nic]

I'm in the Blue Mountains, NSW. I'm definitely going to start playing more with RAW. I don't currently use bridge as my camera shoots jpeg & RAW so it's easy to preview, but it sounds like a better way to organise my images.

Thanks again for ur help, I have lots of tips to play with.