Is it my lens??!

Reyna · Sep 3, 2010

Ok, here is a recent indoor photo I took with some seamless paper.

You can see the shadow under his little ears which is caused from my flash.

My issue is I cannot meter correctly indoors, without my shutter speed being so low that I can't even get a clear shot (like 10-20). Of course, that is just not near fast enough for a moving toddler!

So, I must use my flash and then I get shadows!

My question, do I need to get a lens with a higher f stop so I can get a higher ss? Or is there anything else I can do with my lens that only goes to f4?

Thanks in advance!!

ajkramer87 · Sep 3, 2010

Up your iso. Are you bouncing your flash?

astroskeptic · Sep 3, 2010

Getting a faster lens simply to avoid flash situations you're having problems with doesn't make sense. Even if that could help in a particular situation, it is not a general solution. Increasing the distance from the subject to the background will help with shadows. Bouncing the flash and using diffusers will help too. The idea here is to increase the size of the illumination source which will result in softer shadows.

Reyna · Sep 3, 2010

Well, anything above 400 iso is just tooooooo dang noisy on my camera (nikon d60). Even at 400, I see some noise, example:

how do you bounce your flash correctly? I have tried it but don't really see a difference with the shadows....maybe I'm not doing it right?

Reyna · Sep 3, 2010

astroskeptic said:
Getting a faster lens simply to avoid flash situations you're having problems with doesn't make sense. Even if that could help in a particular situation, it is not a general solution. Increasing the distance from the subject to the background will help with shadows. Bouncing the flash and using diffusers will help too. The idea here is to increase the size of the illumination source which will result in softer shadows.

Well, if I could use natural light with a higher f stop which will result in a higher ss then I could avoid the shadows b/c I wouldn't have to use a flash right?

AdrianC · Sep 3, 2010

Reyna said:
Well, anything above 400 iso is just tooooooo dang noisy on my camera (nikon d60). Even at 400, I see some noise, example:

(maybe it's just my eye but when I sharpen it with a higher iso it just looks bad)

how do you bounce your flash?

You could aim it at the ceiling. It'll bounce off that surface onto your subject.

Dao · Sep 3, 2010

Learn how to use your flash to avoid harsh shadow.

Sonoma · Sep 3, 2010

I am in no way an expert, but I was having the same trouble. Maybe this information from another thread will help you too.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sonoma

When using flash you still use the exposure meter built into the camera, correct?

This was posted by: Village Idiot

Not in the same way. The in camera meter still meters the scene like before. It does not take into account that there is a flash on your camera.

A photo taken using flash is essentially 2 exposures, an exposure created by ambient light and an exposure created by the flash. Ambient is controlled essentially by aperture, shutter speed and iso. The flash is controlled by iso and aperture.

That is the simplest way of looking at it without going into how shutter speed can affect the exposure and other variables.

So say you want to cut out the ambient as much as possible, you would shoot at your highest shutte speed and the flash would expose normally unless otherwise set by yourself to over expose or under expose.

If you wanted a scene mixing ambient and flash, you would use your meter to expose the scene properly with the camera, and the flash would fire and expose the scene just the same. You have to watch for light colors here, as the color temp of your flash is usually about 5600K and if you're shooting under a normal incandescent light, it'll be much warmer, giving an orange color mixed with the white from the flash exposure.

Read this:
Strobist: Lighting 101

mrpink · Sep 3, 2010

I would suggest some modeling lights, use the flash as a quick fill- not the main source.

Bouncing works, but you will still have odd shadows.

p!nK

Reyna · Sep 3, 2010

Dao said:
Learn how to use your flash to avoid harsh shadow.

very helpful info :lmao:

ababysean · Sep 3, 2010

I think they are too close to the background, pull them out some more.
Are you only using it on your camera? It is not going to give you the look with just that one on camera flash.
They are too close to the backdrop. I think that is your major problem, not your flash.
Take them again with them further away.

Taylor510ce · Sep 3, 2010

You could bounce your flash of the ceiling, or even pick up a couple cheapy slave flashes to use also in addition to the on camera flash. (Or just use some cheap homemade reflectors) Faster lenses definately help, but you would still probably want to use lighting of some kind for fill which would still cause the same issues. Plus unless you want insanely shallow DOF, faster might not help at all.