Help with flash - photo attached

tirediron · Apr 2, 2015

Parker219 said:
Thats true. I nail the shots when I dont have to expose for both the inside and outside.

So... a'splain to me Lucy... how come for why you're in here posting and now practicing your indoor/outdoor exposures? Seriously; when something like this comes up, you need to get it weighed off. It's not difficult, but it does take a little practice. Spend a couple of hours on it, and you'll be good for life.

soufiej · Apr 2, 2015

Parker219 said:
How do I make the camera expose for the outside of the house, and then the flash lights the inside?

When I was taking this photo, I moved the little box over to the outside area, hoping it would expose for that, but then as you can see...it didn't.

Its too far gone to bring back those highlights in post...so this photo is shot...however I would like to know for next time.

Also this is shot at ISO 800, and I like to shoot my real estate photos at ISO 100, but when I put the camera in A mode and change it to ISO 100, the flash goes off, but the photo is still too dark...I am guessing that has to do with the shutter speed?

All I know is, this house has a water and golf course view, and I totally ruined showing that.

View attachment 98070

OK, I don't have every answer you need but let's start with this one sentence, "All I know is, this house has a water and golf course view, and I totally ruined showing that."

I assume you wanted to show the view through the large window. At the time of day and under the bright sunlight conditions you selected to take this photo, it's almost impossible to get the interior properly exposed and have the outdoor view also be properly exposed. It's a basic problem which has been discussed on photography forums over and over; your eye can perceive greater dynamic range than your camera can capture in one single shot. There are several answers to this. Don't shoot the interior when you include the bright sunlit window in full sunlight, shoot later in the day when the sunlight has moved away from the window. Shoot in Jpeg and have the exposure/dynamic range/shadow compensation circuits engaged. Shoot with your tripod and use the HDR capacity of your camera to combine several exposures into one complete image. I think I might have shot the interior with the curtains drawn or waited for dusk if I wanted to try for a shot with the view. Then you could show the view from the interior through the window and only include a bit of the interior. Or, best yet, don't show the view through the window, show it from just outside the window. But trying to cover such large differences in lighting will be difficult if not impossible for any camera.

Are you simply a photographer? Or, are you also a salesperson? "Yes, but the client was standing right behind me and I didn't know WHAT settings to change on the camera, and I didn't want to stand there and tinker with things and take 27 photos of the same view."

No need to take 27 photos. But, if you're a salesperson, you surely must know how to make lemonade out of lemons. You started off wrong by trying to cover too much dynamic range. You could have explained the situation to the client or you could have scheduled a different time. You could have captured the shots required in just a few well planned shots. Is the client paying you to be a photographer? Or, an agent? Your regular photographer was out sick and you are doing this yourself but you might want the photog to come back and touch up some shots. Make the client feel at ease but don't allow yourself to get bothered by the client. That's sort of Sales 101. I'm sorry but, if the client gets you that rattled, you may have chosen the wrong profession. Walk around and shoot your head off. It's a digital camera and shots are basically free. Tell the client you like to have lots of shots to pick from. C'mon, sell yourself!

"Also this is shot at ISO 800, and I like to shoot my real estate photos at ISO 100, but when I put the camera in A mode and change it to ISO 100, the flash goes off, but the photo is still too dark...I am guessing that has to do with the shutter speed?"

I don't think you're doing a good job of understanding your camera. If you put it in "Auto" mode, it makes all the decisions. But the camera still can't overcome the large dynamic range issue. Unless you are using a shooting mode where you absolutely control the ISO, the shutter speed and the aperture, the camera will make its best attempt at producing a well exposed image. You're simply asking the camera to do too much. But why take your photos at 100 ISO? Because you've read that's the "best" ISO? The "best" ISO is the one that gets the shot you want properly exposed. If that is 100 or 3200, you have to use the exposure that gets the shot. You have a digital camera, ISO is not that important. Don't stick to 100 ISO if the camera needs greater light sensitivity. How large are your images going to be when printed? If you are producing the average real estate brochure, you're not taking fine art photos. The shots will be tiny and tiny images don't show ISO noise.

I think, if this is now your job to take photos of the houses you should do two things. OK, three. First, sit down with your camera and the owner's manual one night and really get a grasp on how you camera operates and the features it offers to assist you in difficult shooting situations. Second, take a short course in photography. Most local camera shops offer a weekend course which will give you a better grasp of how the features actually work to your benefit. Then, relax and act relaxed in front of the client. If the client perceives you to be at ease, they will have confidence you can actually sell their house. Don't call the "little box" you moved the "little box". There's a name for it and a reason to use it or move it. You really need to understand how your camera works. And what it cannot do. It can't do what you wanted it to do in this particular shot unless you help it help you.

Bebulamar · Apr 2, 2015

The shot was at 1/125 and if you raise the speed to 1/250 the indoor would be the same but the outdoor receives 1 stop less light. That isn't enough I think. So lower your ISO from 800 to 400 would force the flash to put out more light and keep the indoor exposure the same but the outdoor would be another stop less light. That may be enough to get good exposure for the outdoor. You could change the aperture but you have decided to use f/5.6 so I don't want to change your DOF.

dennybeall · Apr 4, 2015

Guess I qualify as lazy. I'll try to balance inside and outside with the flash but usually I just take two shots and put them together in Photoshop.

Ron Smith · Apr 4, 2015

What dennybeall said ^. I worked with a very accomplished architectural photographer who did just that (multiple exposures combined in photoshop). He was not using any flash inside though, and as others have said - you can usually reach a fair compromise with ISO, shutter speed to get both inside and outside exposed right. Have to practice this and understand relationship of ambient light, flash and shutter speed and aperture. With a flash and camera on manual - shutter speed controls ambient (outside light) exposure, and aperture controls flash exposure. Changing the speed does not effect the inside exposure, but can bring the outside into the right range. It has it's limits - you can only go up to the sync speed of your camera to lower the ambient light to match weaker flashes. Lots on the web about fill light etc will help make this more clear. Same principle.

KmH · Apr 4, 2015

It really helps if you understand how the camera works.

Ron Smith · Apr 5, 2015

A couple of examples of what I'm talking about balancing ambient or outdoor light with flash.

Photo OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA in the album Motorcycles by Ron Smith Photography Forum
In this one I checked the exposure for the outside and used a 1/3s shutter but the flash needed f11 - this gave me a long exposure for the low light outside and a small aperture for the three speedlights on the bike. For a brighter outside than inside (more common I'm sure) you would go the other way with the shutter speed up to your camera sync. If you can't get the right exposure inside you sync range, then you need to lower your flash output or ISO to get the relative exposures to work.

Photo OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA in the album Motorcycles by Ron Smith Photography Forum
This is more like your problem, bright background (like out the window) and shaded subject lit with strobes. Here I shot at 1/320 at f8. The bikes were in deep shade and would have been nearly black without flash. Same idea as above - meter the trees and background to set a shutter speed that will expose them and then fill in with flash with an aperture for the flash to get the correct exposure on the subjects.

Why does this work? Flash is so fast or short duration that shutter speed does not effect it's exposure, only the aperture. There are a couple of ways to come at it to get the balance. You can start with the ambient and add flash or start with flash on the subject and adjust speed to blend the ambient. They both work, just depends on what your goals are for the image.

Braineack · Apr 5, 2015

this is simple --

setup camera for ambient like this:

add flash until interior lit how you want it.

mcap1972 · Apr 12, 2015

Meter for outside and balance inside with some extra flash.

Forkie · Apr 12, 2015

1. Meter for outside, take the shot.

2. Meter for inside, take another shot.

3. Merge the two together.

Parker219 · Apr 23, 2015

In case you guys ever wonder if the advice you gave was used...I had another photo shoot yesterday for a condo on the 23rd floor.

I took the advice you gave and metered for the outside and used the flash to light the room.

This is what I came up with.

1.