Sniff sniff ..... my BS detector is going nuts.

If you're using flash, then Av can trap you.  Flash used on 'P' mode
will expose for the flash illumination only, but flash used on Av mode
will set the exposure to allow for the ambient light in the background
as well as the flash, so in a relatively dim light situation the camera
will use a very slow shutter speed, maybe as low as a quarter or fifth
of a second, and any movement by the camera or the children will
register as blur.

Moral: use 'P' setting, pop the flash up with the little button on the side.

If you're not using flash, then note what the aperture and shutter speed
is in the viewfinder.  If the shutter speed is slow, longer than about
1/60 second, then that's your problem.

Colin D.

(...snip...)

It's difficult to say exactly what the problem is without seeing a
sample, but I'd guess that the problem is a slow shutter speed. This
would explain why the problem is less pronounced with the camera on a
tripod. When the shutter speed is too slow, you can get motion blur if
either the camera or the subjects are moving. With a tripod, the camera
shouldn't move at all (but with a cheap tripod, you'll probably still
get a little motion unless you use the self-timer). However, even with
the camera totally stationary, a slow shutter speed will cause motion
blur id the subjects are moving (pretty likely with toddlers).

I'm going to guess that in the automatic modes, the flash is popping
up. This would explain why you're complaining of washed-out colours;
the flash tends to have detrimental effects on colours in the pictures,
especially skin tones. If the flash is popping up, that's a good sign
that the light is low; the camera knows that it needs to use the flash
to add light so that the shutter speed can be fast enough that you
don't get motion blur.

What's your shutter speed? If it's 1/60 or faster, you should be good.
If it's slower (like 1/30, 1/15, 1/4...) then that's almost definitely
your problem.

Now, *assuming* that this is true, the next question is, what do you
do?

You have a few options.

First, use a tripod and use either a remote release or the self-timer.
This ensures that the camera won't be moving at all. This is a good
idea no matter what other solution you use.

Take a picture of something stationary (like a chair, or the wall). Use
the same focal length that you're using for your other pictures (that
is, zoom in the same amount). Look at those pictures. Are they blurred?
If not, great; you're halfway there.

If they are blurred, then either the camera's moving (which should be
impossible if you use a tripod as described above) or the camera isn't
focusing properly (is it in manual-focus mode by accident?). Once
you've got pictures of furniture turning out nice and sharp, you can
turn your attention to taking pictures of your kids.

So, take your pictures, and see how they turn out. If the people are
blurry, but nothing else (like the chairs) is, then they're moving. It
could be hard to get the toddlers sitting still enough to get the
picture, so you'll need to get a faster shutter speed.

Option #1: Use a large aperture (this is a low f-stop number). For the
kit lens, that's something like 4.0 or 4.5. If that doesn't cut it, you
could try a faster lens. The Canon 50mm f/1.8 is probably a good
choice, since it's cheap (about $100, probably less), high-quality, and
fast (f/1.8 is more than four times as fast as f/4.0, so your shutter
speed might go from 1/25 (bad) to 1/100 (good). Disadvantages: It's
fixed at 50mm (it doesn't zoom), and that's may not be the most useful
length for the type of photography you're doing. Also, the larger
apertures (low f-stops) have narrow depth-of-field (not as much of the
world will be in focus). In a group shot, it may be hard to get
everyone's face in focus at the same time.

Option #2: Use more light. That's what the flash does, but you don't
like the effects of the flash, so you'll have to either go somewhere
brighter, or turn on more lights. It's surprising sometimes how much
light you need to get before it's actually bright enough to get away
without a flash.

Option #3: Crank up the ISO (which you've already tried). Try 800,
1600, even 3200 if you've got it. Just like using a large aperture, you
get a faster shutter speed. In this case, the disadvantage is that you
get more noise (grain) in the picture. 3200 will probably be terrible,
but 800 should be usable, and 1600 might be, depending on your camera
and how picky you are.

Option #4: Use the flash. This is a lot like option #2, except easier,
more reliable, and more likely to give you results you don't like.
Getting good results with flash photography can be tricky, especially
if you're using the pop-up flash that's built into the camera. I don't
have a lot of useful advice in this department, because it's not
something I'm particularly good at.

If you're still having problems, it would be great if you could show us
one of the pictures. In addition to visually judging what might be
wrong, the camera embeds all sorts of useful information into the
picture (like shutter speed, aperture, and ISO) that helps diagnose
this sort of thing.

Feel free to contact me via email if you're having a hard time getting
this straightened out. Good luck!

- Darryl

On my Rebel XT I go to Manual mode set the shutter speed to 200 and
aperature to 5.6 and get pretty good results. It doesn't allow for great
distances and doesn't get much room light. You can pick any shutter
speed up to 200. I also have 580 EX speedlight which is great.