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advice on flash iso etc
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Last night just before sunset we were in oysterhaven kayaking and when we were done i took a few pics of the lads sitting on the wall with the sun setting in the background.. i closed the apature to get the detail in the background.. the sky/sun/water and used the flash then to light up the lads… but it looked very unatural.. like as if i cut them out and put them in with an artificaial background.. how do i stop that?…to make it more natural like..
I’ve seen it recommended that you should dial in -1.7 stops on TTL flash modes to get more natural looking flash but if you have a Nikon, it’s balanced fill flash mode works quite well. You also want to get the flash off camera, up higher and to one side to get more natural shadows and make sure to use the flash on slow sync or it will set the shutter speed to 1/60 or whatever which may exaggerate the difference in lighting. Might be worth having a monopod handy too.
I’d say turning down the flash a little as suggested would have helped and also opening up the aperture a little more.
What aperture were you using? I don’t think you would have needed a very narrow aperture to capture the detail in this case.
Why did you ask about the ISO? What was that set to?
The reason the subjects looked superimposed is because they are being lit by two different sources – the ambient light and the flash.
I think this can be difficult to avoid. I see you’re using a point n’shoot so you can’t get the flash off camera as suggested above. I think this might help in such a situation.
If you put up the sample image that will help too.
markst33 wrote:
Post up a picture so people can see what you mean.
CianMcLiam wrote:
I’ve seen it recommended that you should dial in -1.7 stops on TTL flash modes to get more natural looking flash but if you have a Nikon, it’s balanced fill flash mode works quite well. You also want to get the flash off camera, up higher and to one side to get more natural shadows and make sure to use the flash on slow sync or it will set the shutter speed to 1/60 or whatever which may exaggerate the difference in lighting. Might be worth having a monopod handy too.
My flash is only a nissin one.. doesnt have those more detailed settings.. thanks for the advice on positioning.. natural shadows are key..
bingbongbiddley wrote:
I’d say turning down the flash a little as suggested would have helped and also opening up the aperture a little more.
What aperture were you using? I don’t think you would have needed a very narrow aperture to capture the detail in this case.
Why did you ask about the ISO? What was that set to?
The reason the subjects looked superimposed is because they are being lit by two different sources – the ambient light and the flash.
I think this can be difficult to avoid. I see you’re using a point n’shoot so you can’t get the flash off camera as suggested above. I think this might help in such a situation.
If you put up the sample image that will help too.Aperture was around 10 i think..
i asked about the iso because maybe the next iso setting up may brighten the lads while i keep the lens shut enought so it doesnt wash out the sky?.. im only learing.. early days..
arent point n shoot cameras-compact cameras?…. i have a canon dslr…Thanks for the replies lads..
Now this is leading to a long discussion but I would sumarise it to a couple of things
When you use flash you are dealing with two exposures. The flash and the ambient light. In order to achieve a natural look you should be able to balance these two elements.
The subject is very broad but generally the aperture controls the exposure on your subject and the shutter speed the ambient light or background (even though in some situations it would be wrong to say that).
F10 is very, VERY small aperture for your situation. Think more along f/4 f/5.6
Personally I would have put the camera on manual, meter for the sky, expose the sky correctly and then add fill flash (or TTL-BL for Nikon..I dont think there is any other camera out there Nikon :P ). If you are closer then 1.5-2m from your subject I would use a flash diffuser to minimize the specularity (blown gamma) otherwise keep the flash bare and pointed forward. You could also point the flash up at 45degrees and use the little white pop-up card that comes with most of the flashes but that would drain your batteries quite fast.
For photos taken at sunset/night I would set the camera on rear-curtain sync. This will allow you to use slow shutter speeds without the risk of having photos in blur.
Another option is to put the camera on P (for professional :) ) and dial in -1EV in the camera and +1EV int he flash. These values are not set. Play with them until you get the look you want. make sure the camera is NOT set on high-speed sync.
If you use the little pop-up flash that comes with the camera, put a small white plastic coffee cup in top of it and voila :) you got a diffuser. Dont laugh..you will be surprised how much can help.
Getting the flash off camera would be the ideal situation but unfortunately we dont have this luxury all the time. Quick shots..and God help us :)
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