Another Attempt C&C Welcome

[Leigh4]

Took my daughter out to the park just to practice. I know the composition isn't great and I cut off some limbs (ugh!!) My goal was really just to keep working on learning all those buttons and maybe get a nice shot or two. My problem was that damned sun!! I moved her into every possible degree of sunlight and the results weren't so great. In shade the photos seem dull... in full sun, to blown out or severly shadowed. This is the best I managed to get. No PP done. First DSLR and an utter novice! C&C always welcome as I am learning, learning, learning and eager to improve! Thanks in advance.

Posted this earlier in beginner's forum. Sorry for repost...thinking this is where it should have been.

1. Taken in shade

2.Half sun...I know the side of her face is blown out. What should I have done differently?

3. Sun behind her and without her hands up for shade it wasn't working at all

4. Again, sun above. Anything I could have done to prevent the water and shirt from being so blown out?

 

[Derrel]

Your pictures seem at first glance to be suffering from a fundamentals mistake, which is using fill-flash in bright sunlight and thus over-exposing the non-flash-illuminated parts of the images. This is a problem that MOST d-slr cameras have; the top shutter speed for "regular" flash is typically 1/200 second,so like on the last shot, the background is totally,totally blown-out due to over-exposure.

The key to successfully shooting these types of marine sunlight shots is to use High Speed Synch (Canon's term) or Nikon's F.P. Synch mode, which allows the shutter speeds to go way,way higher, like say 1/2000 second, which will allow you to use a wider f/stop AND a much faster shutter speed to control the amount of light coming in from the sunlight in the areas behind where the flash reaches. You need a faster shutter speed to control the SUN-light; the lens's f/stop and the ISO control the FLASH-lighted part of the exposure, but whenever the on-board flash is popped up, or a "regular' flash is used, the top shutter speed is limited to the camera's maximum X-synch speed, which is as I said, usually 1/200 second (but on some cameras is 1/160 or 1/180 or even 1/125).

So...you need to enable High Speed Synch or F.P. Synch mode on your flash unit, if it is capable, or otherwise the background blows out and the highlights shift to that sickly yellwoish-white mess that digital gives when it is over-exposed. This type of strong marine scene backlighting is an area where an older CCD-sensored camera like a Nikon D40 or one of the Sony cameras that has the hybrid CCD/mechanical shutter will allow you to use "regular flash" connected by a PC cord to get control over the background.

What looks best here is to do what is called "overpowering daylight" OR what used to be called "synchro-sunlight shooting". Both are very similar techniques.