Cannon PowerShot A3200 IS questions
 

My neighbours would like to take pictures of their garden at night to show solar lights, to send to their son living abroad. I have offered to lend them my camera, however the instruction manual is very vague, I have tried to take photos of our garden in the dark and the lights are very blurry, anyone able to assist with settings please?

Re: Cannon PowerShot A3200 IS questions
 

Night photography usually needs a tripod or other device to keep the camera steady as the exposures are usually in seconds and hand held is unlikely to produce clear results.

You can try putting the camera on a table or chair and using a timer release.

Re: Cannon PowerShot A3200 IS questions
 

Thanks for that hero, I am completely confused with all the settings, but will persevere.

Re: Cannon PowerShot A3200 IS questions
 

Tripod/stand/surface is a must.

In terms of settings, you would need to increase shutter speed to allow the sensor more time taking in the light. to counter the blur, increasing the ISO level means you can then decrease the shutter speed. But increasing the ISO means the sensor runs hotter and introduces noise to the image. At that point, you can try reducing the F-Stop to allow more light in, but this will give you a narrower depth of focus (foreground and background get blurry).

If the camera has an auto-night mode, use that in conjunction with putting the camera on a surface. Otherwise, it's just some time playing about with F-Stop, Iso and shutter speed to get the image you want.

Re: Cannon PowerShot A3200 IS questions
 

I appreciate your response to my question, I do have a night mode on my camera but it just shows blurred images, but I do not have a tripod. I have no idea what F-stop means, however we have accepted that decent night shots cannot be achieved on my old trusty camera. So the neighbours are happy to take pictures in full daylight. Many thanks.

Re: Cannon PowerShot A3200 IS questions
 

You don't need a tripod. Just stand the camera on something solid. If you can use the self-timer, that will eliminate any vibration from your hands.

I've just looked up the spec of your camera. The "fireworks" mode may work well for this. But try auto too.

Re: Cannon PowerShot A3200 IS questions
 

Thanks for that Spiderplant, will bear in mind as camera still with neighbours.