Teach a Technique...
11-23-2009, 01:52 AM
#41
Moderator Alumnus
Resurrecting this thread because I still don't know WTF I'm doing with my external flash.
Let's take a recent example. I'm taking pics in a hall that is not well lit. With Flash on, the camera is still trying expose for the background. Let's pick a random pic, where it wants to have a shutter of 1/25sec , F/2.8, ISO: 1600. I assume why this is happening is because the ETTL is causing the flash to only fire off as a weak fill flash, and is assuming I want to use the ambient light as the regular light.
1/25 shutter is too long, and I'm getting motion blur. Not to mention it feels semi retarded to have a big honkin' external flash, and I'm still shooting pics at ISO 1600. What I want to do is tell the camera to use the flash as the primary source of light, and let the ambient light be sort of a weak fill flash for the background. But how do I do that? Turn off ETTL as a flash setting? Crank up FEC? I feel like adjusting EV also adjusts the flash in sync.
I guess I'm trying to first make my camera shoot pics like a point and shoot, and then I can start dialing it back to some happy medium.
- Frank
Let's take a recent example. I'm taking pics in a hall that is not well lit. With Flash on, the camera is still trying expose for the background. Let's pick a random pic, where it wants to have a shutter of 1/25sec , F/2.8, ISO: 1600. I assume why this is happening is because the ETTL is causing the flash to only fire off as a weak fill flash, and is assuming I want to use the ambient light as the regular light.
1/25 shutter is too long, and I'm getting motion blur. Not to mention it feels semi retarded to have a big honkin' external flash, and I'm still shooting pics at ISO 1600. What I want to do is tell the camera to use the flash as the primary source of light, and let the ambient light be sort of a weak fill flash for the background. But how do I do that? Turn off ETTL as a flash setting? Crank up FEC? I feel like adjusting EV also adjusts the flash in sync.
I guess I'm trying to first make my camera shoot pics like a point and shoot, and then I can start dialing it back to some happy medium.
- Frank
11-23-2009, 08:03 AM
#42
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I don't have a Canon but the principle is still the same. I am assuming that you are shooting in AUTO. This is where the problem lies. In auto, the photographer has no control over any single aspect of the photo. It's on AUTO. The camera basically does everything for you. You need to get out of that mode. Practice shooting in MANUAL. Maybe even in APERTURE PRIORITY or SHUTTER PRIORITY. At least in those two modes, you have some picture control.
Next is the metering. In eTTL and iTTL for Nikon, metering tells the flash how strong it should be. In AUTO mode, I believe it looks at the entire photo and tries to get the whole photo exposed properly, you might not want that. To take control over this, DSLRs allow you to do a few things to help meter properly. You should have a little box indicating where you want to focus in your view finder. That box is also for metering. You should be able to move that box around so that when composing, that box will be on the subject. It will do two things, focus and meter. After that, eTTL/iTTL takes over to expose the subject properly.
It call comes down to learning how to use your camera. Cameras are basically blind and the photographer is the one that tells it what to do.
Next is the metering. In eTTL and iTTL for Nikon, metering tells the flash how strong it should be. In AUTO mode, I believe it looks at the entire photo and tries to get the whole photo exposed properly, you might not want that. To take control over this, DSLRs allow you to do a few things to help meter properly. You should have a little box indicating where you want to focus in your view finder. That box is also for metering. You should be able to move that box around so that when composing, that box will be on the subject. It will do two things, focus and meter. After that, eTTL/iTTL takes over to expose the subject properly.
It call comes down to learning how to use your camera. Cameras are basically blind and the photographer is the one that tells it what to do.
11-23-2009, 11:04 AM
#43
Moderator Alumnus
With my 40D, in the KTV room itself (which is a bit brighter), I still end up with things like:
Shutter: 1/30s F/4.5 ISO: 1600 Flash fired
Manual gives me control over aperture/shutter of course. I tried screwing around with different metering modes. I haven't gotten all scientific about it but I don't feel like it makes much difference - the subject and the background are both the same level of brightness. It's not like a backlight situation where you need center/spot.
Found this thread:
http://www.openphotographyforums.com...hp/t-1401.html
For some reason I thought EV (overall picture brightness) affected FEC (flash exposure compensation). Apparently it doesn't. So for that 'point and shoot' look, I could do something like Crank down EV to '-3' and crank up flash to '+3'. Assuming they are directly proportional. (which they probably aren't).
- Frank
Shutter: 1/30s F/4.5 ISO: 1600 Flash fired
Manual gives me control over aperture/shutter of course. I tried screwing around with different metering modes. I haven't gotten all scientific about it but I don't feel like it makes much difference - the subject and the background are both the same level of brightness. It's not like a backlight situation where you need center/spot.
Found this thread:
http://www.openphotographyforums.com...hp/t-1401.html
For some reason I thought EV (overall picture brightness) affected FEC (flash exposure compensation). Apparently it doesn't. So for that 'point and shoot' look, I could do something like Crank down EV to '-3' and crank up flash to '+3'. Assuming they are directly proportional. (which they probably aren't).
- Frank
11-23-2009, 03:55 PM
#45
Photography Nerd
Av and Tv modes will expose for ambient light and the flash will just be used for fill.
P and M modes will use the flash as the primary source of light.
Use Manual mode to dial in your shutter speed and aperture for depth of field, and the camera will dial in enough flash to expose your subject properly. Bumping the ISO up will just make the ambient levels brighter (and use less flash power) while maintaining subject exposure.
P and M modes will use the flash as the primary source of light.
Use Manual mode to dial in your shutter speed and aperture for depth of field, and the camera will dial in enough flash to expose your subject properly. Bumping the ISO up will just make the ambient levels brighter (and use less flash power) while maintaining subject exposure.
11-23-2009, 06:37 PM
#46
I drive a Subata.
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great thread!
12-01-2009, 02:38 PM
#47
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Av and Tv modes will expose for ambient light and the flash will just be used for fill.
P and M modes will use the flash as the primary source of light.
Use Manual mode to dial in your shutter speed and aperture for depth of field, and the camera will dial in enough flash to expose your subject properly. Bumping the ISO up will just make the ambient levels brighter (and use less flash power) while maintaining subject exposure.
P and M modes will use the flash as the primary source of light.
Use Manual mode to dial in your shutter speed and aperture for depth of field, and the camera will dial in enough flash to expose your subject properly. Bumping the ISO up will just make the ambient levels brighter (and use less flash power) while maintaining subject exposure.
Also, might want to try using 1 focus point instead. Personally, I can't stand the multiple AF points and trying to achieve focus becomes a crap shoot.
As far as shutter speed goes (assuming M mode), you could also try playing with slower speeds which could bring in some very nice effects, depending on surrounding light sources.