# "Subject is too dark"....



## dan.rpo

i like taking night pictures, however, sometimes the camera will flash and say "subject is too dark" and will not allow me to take a picture even if there is some source of light, though it may be very minute...how can i take a picture in whatever lighting conditions i want, even though the camera thinks its "too dark"?


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## gsgary

dan.rpo said:


> i like taking night pictures, however, sometimes the camera will flash and say "subject is too dark" and will not allow me to take a picture even if there is some source of light, though it may be very minute...how can i take a picture in whatever lighting conditions i want, even though the camera thinks its "too dark"?


 
Use a big aperture, but photography is all about light if there is none why shoot


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## TwoRails

What camera settings are you using?  Manual, auto, 'P' mode, with flash, etc.??


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## LaFoto

When there is only a small light source and a lot of darkness, your camera will register for "a lot of darkness" (actually it will "think" : "Hey, it is waaaay too dark out here for me to take a decent photo"). With auto focus settings this will lead to the fact that your auto focus can NO longer focus. There is way too little for it to see. Then it's time to quickly switch to manual focus and focus on the available light sources. Exposure will need to become a bit of a guess, I assume, since your camera will always keep thinking "it is too dark for me here". Assuming that you work with a tripod, you can test large apertures and comparatively short shutter speeds (which will still be a lot longer than those you get during daylight, of course), or - which will give you better defined light - a smaller aperture and even longer shutter speeds of up to 20 or even 30 seconds. You then best even set the camera on timer (if - like me - you don't have a remote control) and have it take the pic all by itself without you touching it, and letting it expose for those 30 seconds (which turns into a long time, you'll wait and see - my daughter swims the length of the Olympic sized pool in that time). After that it will turn into a bit of a game, which makes it extra pleasing, more so when you get a good result and begin to see more in the photo than you were able to see with your own eyes. But it means, of course, that you go ALL manual, since the automatics inside the camera will forever only register "darkness-darkness-darkness"!


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## AlexColeman

What are you using?


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## Garbz

You will need to override the camera somehow. Check the manual to see if it is possible. A lot of cameras will produce junk photos especially at nighttime when left to their own automatic methods.


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## SandShots

shoot in manual mode.


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## dan.rpo

when i got that message i was in manual mode...i had it on f/5.6, i dont remember what the shutter speed was for a "normal exposure" at the time...i was on a tripod and i DO have a remote control...the picture i was taking was a lonely street lamp on a very foggy night. that was the only light source and i was from a decent distance, id say a good 50ft from the light.....how could i have taken that picture without the camera prohibiting me and saying "it is too dark for me to take a picture"?


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## Josh66

What camera are you using?  On manual mode, I don't know why it would be preventing you from taking a picture...


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## epp_b

I think the reason why you can't get a photo is not because your camera thinks it's "too dark", but because it can't lock focus.  If there's not enough light for the AF system to "see", your camera can't lock focus, and it won't let you take the exposure.


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## dan.rpo

i am using a Nikon d40....well for example...i tried again another shot last night that had one very small light source in a completely dark room...i tried to take the exposure at big apertures (5.6, 8 etc) and it would give me the same "subject is too dark" message..however, when i got smaller and smaller, (f/32 - the smallest i could go i believe), i was able to take the shot with a 20 second exposure....so is that all i should have done in my first situation? increase the aperture until it let me take the shot?


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## Josh66

Sounds like you need to use bulb.  (You need an exposure longer than 30 seconds.)

Are you sure about those f/ numbers?  5.6 sound give you a much faster exposure time than f/32.

You could also raise the ISO.


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## skieur

I shot this picture for experimental purposes in the pitch dark. I could not even see my camera. I set the ISO at about 800, aperture at 2.8 and shutterspeed at a low flash sync of 1/60 sec. I also brightened the image afterward in Photoshop. I was surprised to get any detail at all beyond the first 10 feet since it was using the on-camera flash.


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## dan.rpo

O||||||||O...what is "bulb"? and yes im sure about the f/#s...when i was on 5.6, the shutter speed was i believe 1.3 sec for a normal exposure....and as i made the f/# smaller, the shutter speed would increase.my ISO was at 1600...f/32 was the only aperture that the camera would let me take a picture at, anything bigger than f/32, it gave me the "subject is too dark" message. 

skieur...i cannot get to a bigger aperture than 4.5, i have a kit lens...also, you are using flash. in my situation, i was not using flash and i did not want to use flash.


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## Josh66

I must have misread your previous post...  Sorry.

Bulb is the setting you use to get shutter speeds longer than 30 seconds.  You can leave it open for as long as you want.  I'm a Canon guy, so I'm not very familiar with your gear, but I seem to remember reading on here that the D40 doesn't have a bulb setting.  If that's true it's a shame...  There won't be much you can do other than use flash if that's the case (with still won't work in all circumstances).

Bump the ISO as high as it goes, use the largest aperture you have (smallest f/#) - if 30 seconds still isn't long enough there isn't really anything else you can do without bulb.


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## dan.rpo

i do have the bulb setting i believe...but i never used it, not knowing what it is. so essentially on the bulb setting...i can hold down the remote shutter button for as long as i want?


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## Josh66

Exactly.  If your remote is like mine it will have two settings.  Press & hold, and press once to open, again to close.

While the shutter is open on bulb there should be a counter on the display of you camera so you know how many seconds it's been open.


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## Flash Harry

Also if you have a bright light in the frame you'll still underexpose, take a reading with your camera on the darkest part of the scene you wish to reproduce then transfer the settings to your bulb shot. H


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## Josh66

I usually do it like this:
(example)
Meter what I want to meter for, look at meter - it's telling me 30 seconds at f/2.8.  I want to shoot at f/8.  To get the same exposure my meter is giving me I need to leave the shutter open for 240 seconds.  Using the remote I click it once to open it, sit there and wait for the counter to get to 240, then click it again to close it.


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## Battou

At the very least manual focus, it's the AF that is getting you, Even SLR's fall victom to this. After that invest in a fast prime 2.8 or bigger.


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## Sw1tchFX

Battou said:


> At the very least manual focus, it's the AF that is getting you, Even SLR's fall victom to this. After that invest in a fast prime 2.8 or bigger.


Ok, i'm glad that someone actually caught this. 

Who cares what the camera thinks is best, it's an idiot, cameras are dumb and miss that mark most of the time anyway. Switch your lens to manual focus, and it will go no problem.


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## Jetskiin4evr

.... I ran into the same problem with my D40 when using it for star streak night shots. Camera Said it was too dark...etc. Just like the gentlemen with the canon said..you need to set the camera to bulb to engage the shutter speed for longer than 30 seconds. However, you dont want to be holding down the shutter for that long and Nikon makes a cheap wireless remote ML-L3 which can be used to open and shut the shutter during the shot. This is nice when doing longer shots at night. Nights shots for me have been between an aperature of f/8 - f/11 and a 5-8 minute shutter speed. A low ISO is also ideal to get a clear shot, the D40 will only go down to 200. I hope this helps!

Very lightly edited exposure f/10 at I think 6 minutes. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/3146032079_8542bcd862_b.jpg


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