Taking clear pics in the dark

[TheGreatSatan]

Why so fuzzy? What do you look for in a camera to take better pics than this?

http://www.pcmodhouse.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/p1080027.jpg

[mDust]

There's too much contrast...the difference between light and dark. I believe you need to lower your ISO and raise shutter speed and aperture. You may need a tripod/stand when you do this as you won't be able to hold the camera still enough.

EDIT:
This can explain some stuff:
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/72927.aspx

[diluzio91]

he's right. use a tripod, and a timer, set the iso as low as possible. flick the button, run away

[slaveofconvention]

What everyone else says - I've had some long discussions with CJ about the baffling number of settings on my best camera - I've found a low (or auto works most of the time) ISO setting, with a longer exposure - a tripod is utterly essential for in-the-dark shots - and using a timer means that the tiny bit of shake you cause when you press the button is gone too...

[Twigsoffury]

make sure the lens doesn't have a finger print on it lol. (it happens more often then you think)

and what everyone else has said.

[SgtM]

What everyone else said.... +no flash.

[d_stilgar]

If you don't have a tripod, use the viewfinder. Your head is an amazing steadycam that will reduce lots of shakes if you hold your camera up to it.

But the best way(s) have been described already, tripod, timer, low iso.

[AmEv]

Or, if you had enough money, a camera with a remote........


All in all, all seems good advice.

[RogueOpportunist]

All the above advice will give you the best chance of getting a nice picture with the camera you've got but when it comes to low light performance most consumer-grade camera's just aren't set up for it mechanically.

If you wanted to get a more in depth understanding of light levels when taking pictures I would check out this little writeup on histograms (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml)... What camera are you using? Some cheap camera's are just going to have an inferior CCD and won't be good at low light but with most camera's (and for taking low light pictures in general) it's usually more a matter of staging and preparing the shot than it is the camera, camera's aren't naturally configured for low light pictures so you can't just point and shoot.

Besides the above mentioned tips of adjusting your shutter speed, ISO and using a tripod I would also adjust the lighting for your "scene"... If you want more than a "look at this blob of lights inside my case" picture you need to compose the shot. First I would put a soft light source coming from underneath your camera to illuminate the side panel a bit more, the idea is not to have that light source be bright enough to over-power the internal lights but keep it strong enough to illuminate the side panel so there is less contrast in the picture, people don't need the rest of the shot to be completely black see your lights.

I would also consider "staging" the inside of the case for the picture as well and undervolt the lights so they aren't glaringly bright, if you can bring the overall contrast of the real-world setting down as much as possible it will give your camera the best chance of getting a good picture... The less you have to try and "compensate" for in the camera the better the picture will be... Mess around with different lighting setups for the "scene", you can even use flashlights pointed at sheets of white paper to reflect their light back at the scene for some soft ambient light that wouldn't be as overpowering as say pointing the flashlight directly at the case... Good photography is as much about the scene as it is the camera.