First Lightroom 3 edits: C&C please.

[jwbryson1]

I bought a new SB-700 and tried to shoot some photos with bounced light at different angles to avoid flat lighting.

First shot is a "before" RAW image with no PP, and second is my first try to edit in LR3. Please let me know what's good and what needs work. Thanks!

1.

2.

 

[Big Mike]

Please let me know what's good and what needs work. Thanks!

Your approach to the problem needs work. :er:
All you need to do is expose properly in the first place, then you don't have to tag your images as 'Lightroom edits'.

On another note, don't you just love those Bumbo seats? From the time they can hold their heads up, until they are strong enough to get out of them, they are fantastic. But once they can get out, you need something else to 'trap' them in.

 

[jwbryson1]

Please let me know what's good and what needs work. Thanks!

Your approach to the problem needs work. :er:
All you need to do is expose properly in the first place, then you don't have to tag your images as 'Lightroom edits'.

On another note, don't you just love those Bumbo seats? From the time they can hold their heads up, until they are strong enough to get out of them, they are fantastic. But once they can get out, you need something else to 'trap' them in.

I agree that the first shot is underexposed but I was at or above ISO 800 and shooting hand held. I was concerned about noise and motion blur. This particular flash was an attempt to (i) not shoot directly with the result labeled as "flat lighting" and (ii) to create the shadows and soft lighting I keep reading about in this forum. I have other shots where I bounced the light directly over my shoulder and it was much better exposed from the beginning but it also appeared flat. So it was a "no win" situation to me.

How would you have adjusted this shot from the beginning?

The chair is terrific by the way.

 

[Big Mike]

Since you are shooting with flash, you probably could have increase the exposure, without having to push your ISO any higher than you wanted. Actually, you probably could have dialed it down to 200.

What is going on here, is a metering problem. What the camera sees, is a whole lot of white (highly reflective). The camera/meter doesn't know that it's seeing white, it just thinks that it's seeing middle grey (what it's programed for) but in more light. So it gives you an exposure that would be correct, in the light that it thinks you are in. However, your not in that much much light, so you end up with an underexposed image.
In this case, that is also happening with your flash metering. The flash uses a pre-flash, the light bounces off of the scene and the camera reads how much light is bounced back. Because your scene is very bright, it bounces a lot of light, making the camera/flash think that more light is coming back, than really is. So it sets the flash's power, for the actual flash, too low.

So what you need to do, is dial in positive Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC). This will case the flash to output more power, giving you more exposure. If you dial down the ISO, the flash will compensate by outputting even more power.

 

[jwbryson1]

That's a terrific answer and just what I was looking for. I understand this, and to be honest probably knew this before I took the shot, but you are correct that I shot in matrix metering (i-TTL) and did not consider the reflectivity of the white pillows. So should I have spot metered off her face? What about motion blur? In the limited lighting I had and at ISO 800, I think the shutter was at 1/60. If I had spot metered off her face, and pushed the ISO down to 200 wouldn't the shutter have been below 1/60? That's a recipe for motion blur.

 

[Big Mike]

Spot metering on her face would have given you better exposure, but probably not accurate. Her face is brighter than middle gray as well. Ideally, you could use a grey card or a flash meter, but without those tools, I'd start with an FEC of +1 and go from there. One thing to check (in your manual), is what metering mode/pattern your TTL flash uses. Just because you put the camera's meter into spot mode, doesn't mean that the flash will meter in just that spot.

As for the shutter speed....first I'd suggest getting the camera out of auto (at least when shooting with flash). Remember that shutter speed has no affect on flash exposure (as long as you stay below the max sync speed). So what I would probably have done, is put the camera into manual and set the shutter speed higher, maybe up around 1/200. This would mean underexposed photos if we were relying on ambient light...but we are working with flashed light here. Plus, by using a faster shutter speed, we are cutting down the ambient exposure, which is usually a good thing, because the color of the flash and the ambient light are probably different, and it's not good to mix the two.

So what I do, is to have the camera in manual mode (flash in TTL). I set the aperture for the DOF I want, I set the shutter speed for the ambient light I want and I set the FEC for the reflectivity of the subject. The ISO is also used to control ambient exposure.

With that said, I also keep in mind that using a wider aperture and/or a higher ISO, will mean that my flash doesn't have to work as hard. So for a wedding reception etc. I'll use something like ISO 400 or 800. It lets in a little more ambient (I don't want to cut it all) and by using less flash power, the flash recycles faster and the batteries last longer. For a portrait sitting like this, I'd use a lower ISO and more flash power.

Lastly, by using the shutter speed to control the ambient exposure, we can do a lot of different things. In this case, we probably want to lessen the affect the ambient light might have, because we don't want to mix the colors. But in many cases, you want to balance the flash exposure with the ambient exposure, which can make your photos look more 'natural'. This usually involves using a slower shutter speed, to let in more ambient lighting....it's often called 'Dragging the shutter'. This will often give you a color difference, but that may or may not be an issue. Ideally, you could color your flash with a gel, to match the ambient lighting.

And lastly, lastly...there is the issue of motion blur. Yes, a lower shutter speed can give you blur...but only from ambient lighting. The flash exposure will still be sharp, even if you have a two second shutter speed. So even when shooting with flash, you can still get motion blur, but only if there is enough ambient exposure in the photo. It's all one big balancing act.

 

[jwbryson1]

Spot metering on her face would have given you better exposure, but probably not accurate. Her face is brighter than middle gray as well. Ideally, you could use a grey card or a flash meter, but without those tools, I'd start with an FEC of +1 and go from there. One thing to check (in your manual), is what metering mode/pattern your TTL flash uses. Just because you put the camera's meter into spot mode, doesn't mean that the flash will meter in just that spot.

As for the shutter speed....first I'd suggest getting the camera out of auto (at least when shooting with flash). Remember that shutter speed has no affect on flash exposure (as long as you stay below the max sync speed). So what I would probably have done, is put the camera into manual and set the shutter speed higher, maybe up around 1/200. This would mean underexposed photos if we were relying on ambient light...but we are working with flashed light here. Plus, by using a faster shutter speed, we are cutting down the ambient exposure, which is usually a good thing, because the color of the flash and the ambient light are probably different, and it's not good to mix the two.

So what I do, is to have the camera in manual mode (flash in TTL). I set the aperture for the DOF I want, I set the shutter speed for the ambient light I want and I set the FEC for the reflectivity of the subject. The ISO is also used to control ambient exposure.

With that said, I also keep in mind that using a wider aperture and/or a higher ISO, will mean that my flash doesn't have to work as hard. So for a wedding reception etc. I'll use something like ISO 400 or 800. It lets in a little more ambient (I don't want to cut it all) and by using less flash power, the flash recycles faster and the batteries last longer. For a portrait sitting like this, I'd use a lower ISO and more flash power.

Lastly, by using the shutter speed to control the ambient exposure, we can do a lot of different things. In this case, we probably want to lessen the affect the ambient light might have, because we don't want to mix the colors. But in many cases, you want to balance the flash exposure with the ambient exposure, which can make your photos look more 'natural'. This usually involves using a slower shutter speed, to let in more ambient lighting....it's often called 'Dragging the shutter'. This will often give you a color difference, but that may or may not be an issue. Ideally, you could color your flash with a gel, to match the ambient lighting.

And lastly, lastly...there is the issue of motion blur. Yes, a lower shutter speed can give you blur...but only from ambient lighting. The flash exposure will still be sharp, even if you have a two second shutter speed. So even when shooting with flash, you can still get motion blur, but only if there is enough ambient exposure in the photo. It's all one big balancing act.

Thanks for the thoughtful post Mike. I've been reading about dragging the shutter on Neil van Niekerk's webpage and that makes a lot of sense. I was shooting these with my 18-55 f/3.5-5.6. I may want to switch to my 35mm f/1.8 in this low light.

Thanks again!

 

[Big Mike]

I may want to switch to my 35mm f/1.8 in this low light.

That may help, IF....you want a shallower DOF and more ambient light.

If, however, you want to use your flash (I thought that was the exercise here), it doesn't really matter because you may not want more ambient light.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Use shutter speed to adjust ambient light ( it has no bearing on flash unless of course you exceed you max sync speed )

Use Aperture to adjust flash. ( This also effects ambient light as it typically does in the standard exposure triangle, therefore if you open wide to make the flash brighter and in turn it also lightens the background more than you want, simply compensate by increasing the shutter speed a bit more.

ISO will effect both ambient and flash equally. So if you get the lighting balance right but its just too dim as a whole you can bump up the ISO which will keep the same balance between the ambient and flash. ) ISO adds noise though so in every instance of shooting, it should be a last resort IMO.


Also, I am not sure about Nikon, but I believe in most instances, when you are not in automatic modes, the flash is only adding fill light ( which is a reduced output ) to compliment the available light. Put the camera into manual mode and take some test shots at different settings.

Try bouncing your flash off of the ceiling ( I assume it is white? ) and put a white index card on the back with a rubberband to throw a little light forward ( or does the flash have a built in bounce card? ).

Also, do not forget that flash placement places a huge role. How far the flash is from your subject. How far the flash is from the object being bounced on and then in turn how far that object is from your subject etc.