Flash help!

[paulina152]

Well i went to a party last night and the lighting was dim so i used flash. But even when i used flash i was getting motion blur. I tried increasing the flash intensity but then everythinbg was to blown out and harsh. I couldn't get any really good pictures without having motion blur. I used all the types of options i could. Is it the flash in my camera or am i doing something wrong?

 

[fokker]

Were you shooting in Av mode?

 

[paulina152]

No i tried on M,S,A and all that and on automatic. It still does it. =[

 

[fokker]

Post examples?

Maybe the people at this party were doing a lot of cocaine or speed, people don't usually move fast enough to get motion blur with a flash unless you're dragging the shutter (which I know my canon tends to want to do in Av mode typically)

 

[DerekSalem]

Just because you're using a flash doesn't mean your shutter speed was fast enough. Should have upped the speed.

BTW, examples would help...

 

[KmH]

Well i went to a party last night and the lighting was dim so i used flash. But even when i used flash i was getting motion blur. I tried increasing the flash intensity but then everythinbg was to blown out and harsh. I couldn't get any really good pictures without having motion blur. I used all the types of options i could. Is it the flash in my camera or am i doing something wrong?

You are doing something wrong.

Basically, you don't yet fully understand how photography works. Without that, you don't know how to get the most performance out of the camera/lens/flash that you have.

When using strobed light (flash) you need to decide if you need the strobed light to sync on the shutter opening or to sync on the shutter closing.

In addition, you control the subject exposure with the lens aperture and control the background exposure with the shutter speed.

Stopping motion becomes mainly a function of the strobed light duration. Most built-in pop-up flash units will have flash durations of about 1/1000
second at full power.

You don't mention what equipment you were using so no one can give you more specific recommendations.

 

[cnutco]

what was your set up?

 

[paulina152]

Ok well what im using isn't much equipment...just a sony cybershot hx1. now here are some examples of when i used flash and still had motion blur in the back.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/200674-flash-help.html

 

[Village Idiot]

You camera's shutter speed is too slow.

Witha flash you get two exposures; one from the ambient light and one from the flash. If your setting are not set correctly to kill off the ambient or at least with a fast enough shutter speed to stop blur, then you're going to have the problem in your photos above. Can you fix that with your camera? I'm not sure.

 

[myfotoguy]

These almost appear like you have the flash to slow rear sync (or the camera set to night portrait). Which, actually is a pretty decent idea, to help capture the mood of the scene, but you would still need to over-ride it 9if your camera allows) and increase the shutter speed, posssible tweak the aperture of ISO too.

 

[cnutco]

You should be able to stop the problem.

Specs
Exposure
ISO Settings: Auto, 125 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
White Balance Settings: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash
Shutter Speed Range: 30 - 1/4000
Exp Adj Range (EV): +/- 2.0EV in 0.3EV steps
Metering Modes: Multi Pattern, Center Weighted, Spot
Aperture Priority: Yes
Shutter Priority: Yes
Full Manual Exposure: Yes

 

[paulina152]

so basically boost the shutter speed and leave it on flash?

 

[table1349]

First photo has a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second. Second photo has a shutter speed of 1/10th of a second. Both are far to slow. Set the camera on manual and set the shutter speed at 1/60th of a second and play with that a bit. The manual that came with the camera should tell you more about using the built in flash and sync speed.

 

[paulina152]

ok thank you guys for the help. ​