Photo resolution question

[Corkster52]

I am not sure if this the correct forum to ask this question or not, but how do I get as much resolution as possible in the photos that I take so corrections are more possible after taking them? I had a couple of photos taken with my Kodak Z812 IS camera that had too much ISO and zoomed too far to correct them properly. One of the sages at this site said if the resolution were higher then more could be done. I have a daughter graduating from High School this week and even though I want all of the photos to be tack sharp, I would like to make sure I am taking the best resolution possible if they cannot. Thank you for any advice you may have as these memories are what I really want for daddy's little girl!

[Janet Petty]

Someone with more experience than me should jump in. I am, however, going to suggest taking a few test shots in the area where the graduation is going to take place and writing down the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture that work best in that situation. Then take your camera off automatic and program those settings into manual mode. Also shoot if RAW if your camera has that capability. RAW lends more latitude for image correction than either JPEG or TIFF.

Janet

[girlsfather]

Hi Corkster52
Janet Petty is right.
Check location if possible and do some test shots.
Shoot RAW if your camera gives you that feature.

To keep maximum solution don´t use digital zoom, as it reduces the resolution by cropping the picture. (It is better to do that later and only if really necessary.)
Instead of zooming too much, try to get closer.
Good Luck!!!

[acsi]

I don't think taking it off automatic is going to be best at all for someone who needs guidance and does not have the experience to change settings on the fly as conditions change at graduation.

To take the best pictures, you need a prosumer camera, and this is still a consumer superzoom, albeit a very good one.

I would

1. bring a tripod. borrow an aluminum one that's light, and bring it along. your best defense against blurry pictures is your shaky hand. I read the review on the camera and they say the image stabilization is good, but not as good as a few other superzoom out there, so the tripod will help, if it's possible.

2. Dont use digital zoom-- make sure you have it set to just analog zoom.

3. Zoom in to your subject. The more you zoom, the more you need to keep your hand steady. Prop your elbow into your stomach, or if sitting, rest you elbow on your knee, or anthing that will steady you.

4. Put the unit on continuous mode- hold down the shutter and keep real still. Let the camera take a bunch of shots in a row. out of 5-6, 1-2 will be sharp, with no eye blink etc. The rest you just discard.

5. Put the ISO on high, but not too high. High enough to combat blur (isos at 100-200 is not fast enough to keep moving objects clear, and 1600-3200 will introduce a lot of noise. Try to stay at around 400-800, possible 1600 if many people are moving

6. change your battery, bring along some sets of lithium single use AA's the manufacturer recommends. get some extra SD cards. You can always go home with unused cards or batteries, but you can never re-do the day if you run out!

7. try not to use the built in flash as it wont reach that far anyway. Put the camera in forced-no-flash mode.

8. try to have the sun behind you not in front.

9. dont forget the tripod! have fun.

10. if you zoom in a lot, make sure you have enough light. zooming in when it's getting darker wont make for great shots. the more you zoom in, the less light will be available to the camera, and the more steady your hand need to be. IS, image stabilization will help you, but steadiness will keep you from discarding more photos later.

11. take multiple shots, then try a different angle/location, shoot another bunch from there. you'll find out later which the best location was.

12. have fun!

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by Corkster52

... how do I get as much resolution as possible in the photos that I take so corrections are more possible after taking them? I had a couple of photos taken with my Kodak Z812 IS camera that had too much ISO and zoomed too far to correct them properly. One of the sages at this site said if the resolution were higher then more could be done. I have a daughter graduating from High School this week and even though I want all of the photos to be tack sharp, I would like to make sure I am taking the best resolution possible if they cannot. Thank you for any advice you may have as these memories are what I really want for daddy's little girl!

Corkster, if you are referring to the photo of your daughter that you posted, Craig (one of our sages ) mentioned that it was out of focus - changing the resolution is not really going to help that, but learning a bit more about ISO and your particular model of camera can help avoid getting out of focus shots. It IS true that trying to correct a high resolution shot is easier than working on a low resolution shot, so we'll talk about that also.

After reading up a bit about your camera, it does not offer the option of RAW, but it does take very nice photos in good light.

As Janet and Girlsfather have recommended, you need to practice taking photos -- if you can go to the graduation location AT THE TIME OF DAY that the graduation will take place, do so! Is it at night, or in the daytime; will it be outdoors or indoors? Even if you cannot go to the location, PRACTICE shooting at the time of day that the graduation will take place indoors or outdoors in a similar place. You can always erase these practice shots, but you will learn a lot and be more ready to take your important photos when the time comes.

Are you totally familiar with the menu choices, and shooting choices on your camera? If not, take the time to practice with those TODAY also!

In the Menu - choose "Picture Size" - choose either 8.0 (your camera's highest resolution) or 7.1 (if you use a EasyShare printer dock to print your photos) This is from your camera manual.

Choose AF Control and set it to Single AF -- your camera will auto focus when the shutter button is pressed halfway down (then you press it the rest of the way down to take the picture) -- this will help make sure that your subject is IN FOCUS since the shutter button will probably not work until the camera is able to focus the subject. In very low light, the camera will have trouble auto-focusing. If the graduation is at night, you will need to be near good lighting or use camera flash to take the picture. (It took me a long time to write all this and acsi posted in the meantime - setting it to continuous might work for you - try it out, but use whichever one helps get the photo IN FOCUS -- TRY IT OUT BEFORE the day of her graduation).

Your ISO should be set as LOW as POSSIBLE, BUT High enough to take the shot -- (What the heck does THAT mean???). The higher you set the ISO, the more noise will be added to your photo (you've tried out Noise Ninja, etc. in your other posts, right?). The lower you set your ISO speed, the less noise there will be, BUT the camera will be LESS able to shoot in low light. If you are shooting in daylight, you can keep your ISO at 64 or 100 or 200. As you have less light to see by, your camera will need to use a higher ISO - 400, or 800 or even higher. Many cameras can shoot photos at higher ISO speeds, BUT the photos are so grainy and noisy that they don't look very good -- even after using a noise reduction program like Noise Ninja. The newer cameras are getting better and better at shooting good photos at higher ISOs, so YOU need to shoot some practice photos at high ISO near sundown, and indoors during the day without flash to see how your photos look. Then you can figure out how high you can set your ISO and still get good photos. But you still may need to use flash if the ceremony is at night, the lights are low, and you have to use a lower ISO like 400. You will need to be CLOSE to your daughter to use flash - flash on your camera does NOT go very far. If you wait until after the ceremony, you can probably get close to her and her friends and take photos. As Girlsfather mentioned -- don't use "digital zoom" - use the regular zoom (you've got a lot of zoom on your camera) and/or get closer. ALSO - look at the shots after you take them - you can erase the bad ones (later) and take more after you fix the problem. But practicing BEFORE that day will give you a lot better chance to take winning shots! Oh, take some shots of her at home as she is getting ready also -- you end up with some more practice, some more good photos, and it can tell a story of her whole graduation day!

Definitely have one or more SD cards big enough that you don't have to worry about running out of room. You can take some shots that don't work without panicking if you know you have a big enough card to just take another shot AFTER you have figured out what you did wrong.
Keep asking questions if you have them -- it's an important day for her and for you, and we'd love to help you capture those memories!

I agree with acsi, don't set it to manual. You have a new camera, and need to get used to it before you start using manual mode. Try "Program" or the "Smart Scene" mode - actually try BOTH, and see if one works better for you. Program will try to make a well exposed photo and still let you make some changes, but you may not be ready to make "an exposure compensation" or change like that yet, so the Smart Scene might be better. But practice as much as you can before that day and on that day before the ceremony -- take as many photos as you can and get as good as you can BEFORE the ceremony. Hopefully, a lot of your practice photos will be keepers also!