Digital cameras 101

[ken212]

  I am hoping someone could help me. I have only had my camera a little while now. Still new to digital. It is an Olympus C 770. Anyway I was trying to take pictures of my daughter on stage recently during a play she was in. I was very disappointed in the results.
 First of all the children in the play all had white eyes! Not red eye, but no color and their eyes were totally white.
 Secondly the pictures did not come out very clear. The kids were blurry and/or blotchy!
 I tried using the camera in different modes from auto to sports (for the motion). I also tried the flash different ways including auto and red eye reduction. But I was still very disappointed in the outcome.
 The area was fairly well lit, since there was lighting on the stage and the stage is connected to the gym and the lights were on.
 I want to try to avoid this white eye effect and want clearer pictures. At times when during plays it may not be as well lit where the audience is.
 I admit I was a way back, but I couldn't get any closer. I just bought a slaveflash for my camera, but haven't used it yet.
 I am wondering if the "zoom slave flash" will help with any of these problems??? Or if anyone has any other ideas. I know I may be able to get better pictures with my 35mm, but than I cannot enhance them or anything else before having them printed like I can with digital.
 I am just trying to get the best pictures possible before my daughters are all grown and I will not have second chance at things like this.
 Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[ShutterbugGail]

I'm not sure what is causing the "white" eye, though I suspect it's a reflection from any stage lighting.

Depending on where you sit, a flash may not be of much help. You must be within the flash range (check the manual). You can increase the ISO, but you may get some noise in the image which, imho, is preferable to a blurry photo. Don't forget to change the white balance setting to match the main souce of light in the room.

Here's more information about taking photos at a school play:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/camera-questions-and-answers/taking-photos-at-a-school-play.htm

[Deb]

Hi Ken212,
The problems you are encountering all appear to be related to light levels. That is, though the stage may appear brightly lit, the amount of actual light reaching your camera is slight and the stage is beyond the reach of your flash. That's why you have blown eyes rather than red (the retinas are not reacting to the flash); blurry images (shutterspeed was slowed down to try to acquire more light but was too slow for the action; blotchy images (camera was adjusting ISO which resulted in higher noise/grain); etc. You would get the same poor quality images if you were using a film camera shooting from the same distance because there would not be enough light reaching your film. If you push processed your film to, say 3200 ASA, you'd get coarsely grained images that you wouldn't be happy with.

To remedy this, you'll need to get very near your subject. A friend of mine shoots musician performances (Ray Charles, Pavarotti et al) on stage. He has to stand right at the edge of the stage (get permission to do this first), and only hit the trigger when the spotlight hightlights his subject. He very, very rarely uses flash because most venues don't permit them. So he then push processes his film and only then, does he see results he's happy with.

Unfortunately there are just some environments that aren't that easy to shoot. Don't give up. Try to get closer. Try to find a higher ISO value you are satisfied with. Then choose a shutterspeed/aperture combination that is correct (proper exposure) yet fast enough to freeze the action.